Assessment of Capacity Development Needs of Protected Area Staff in Eastern Europe

This report presents the results, conclusions and recommendations arising from questionnaire-based surveys conducted in 2011-2013 of capacity development needs of protected area personnel in 23 countries (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine) in Eastern Europe. The survey is probably the most comprehensive assessment of competence and capacity development needs for protected areas conducted in the region. A General Questionnaire was completed by 354 respondents, representing 1070 protected areas and managing agencies in 23 countries responsible for over 11,000,000 ha, and with nearly 13,000 staff. A detailed Self-Assessment Questionnaire was also completed by 1,457 individuals from 208 protected areas and managing entities in nine of the countries. The use of three different ways of assessing capacity needs (assessment by managers, self-assessment by individuals and identification by individuals of personal preferences) offers quite different perspectives on needs and priorities. Results presented in this report have been aggregated across the whole region; results for the individual participating countries are published in supplementary reports.

The results of the surveys provide information on staffing profiles (numbers, job levels, gender, age, education and experience), training provided in the past three years and structured assessments of competence in 125 specific protected area skills across 10 categories of protected area work.

Authors: Michael R Appleton, Alina Ioniță, Ruxandra Nițu, Erika Stanciu

The publication can be downloaded here.

Table of contents:

1 Summary

2 Background and purpose of the survey

3 Method

3.1 Selection of participating countries

3.2 Design of the questionnaires

3.2.1 General Questionnaire

3.2.2 Detailed Self-Assessment Questionnaire

3.3 Deployment of national consultants

3.3.1 Main tasks of the consultants

3.3.2 Selection and training of consultants

3.4 Selection of sample protected areas and personnel

3.5 Completion and processing of the questionnaires

4 Results

4.1 Organisation and management of protected areas in the participating countries

1. Management systems coordinated by National Agencies for Protected Areas or dedicated services within central authorities

2. Management by individual public institutions directly subordinated to the central authority for the environment (without a national level coordinating body)

3. Management by a mixture of state and other actors (according to PA category)

4. Management systems without dedicated bodies for PA management

4.2 Results from the General Questionnaires

4.2.1 Coverage of countries and protected areas

4.2.2 Personnel

4.2.3 Staffing numbers and density

4.2.4 General assessments of competence by managers of personnel in their organisations

4.2.5 Training

4.3 Results from the Self Assessment Questionnaire

4.3.1 Coverage

4.3.2 General information about respondents

4.3.3 Self assessments of competence by individuals

4.3.4 Ranking of individual competences and personal preferences

4.3.5 Comparison between countries

4.4 Comparison between assessment methods

5 Discussion and Conclusions

5.1 Overview

5.1.1 Limitations and challenges of the survey

5.1.2 Comparisons between surveys

5.1.3 Conclusions

5.2 Staffing of protected areas

5.2.1 Staffing density

5.2.2 Staffing structures

5.2.3 Individual characteristics of staff

5.2.4 Overall conclusions on staffing

5.3 Training

5.3.1 Overall provision

5.3.2 Overall training requirements

5.3.3 Training topics

5.3.4 Training providers

5.3.5 Future priorities (from the General Questionnaire)

5.3.6 Modes of capacity development

5.3.7 Funding for training

5.3.8 Overall conclusions on training

5.4 The competence assessments

5.4.1 Management of finance and physical resources (FRM)

5.4.2 Management of human resources (HUM)

5.4.3 Communication, technology and information (CTI)

5.4.4 Field craft (FCR)

5.4.5 Conservation planning, assessment and management (CMP)

5.4.6 Sustainable development & communities (SDC)

5.4.7 Protected area policy, planning and projects (PAM)

5.4.8 Law enforcement (LAW)

5.4.9 Recreation and tourism (RTO)

5.4.10 Awareness, education and public relations (AWA)

6 Recommendations

6.1 Overall recommendation

6.2 Regional strategic recommendations

6.3 Specific capacity development recommendations

7 Annexes

7.1 General Questionnaire

7.2 Cover sheet for the Self-Assessment Questionnaire

7.3 Full list of competences used in the self Assessment questionnaire

7.4 Resolution of the workshop held on the Isle of Vilm / Germany from 3- 5 June 2013

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Assessment of Capacity Development Needs of Protected Area Staff in Eastern Europe