Situation Analysis

1. Conservation Coaches Network Coach Training Situation Analysis Understanding the Context for Strategy Development

2. What Is The Question? Situation Analysis What are the drivers and opportunities associated with the threats to the conservation targets?

3. Key Points to Introduce this Step Situation Analysis • Situation Analysis: a process for analyzing and creating a common understanding of the context of a project. Context includes: • the biological environment and • the social, economic, cultural, political and institutional systems that affect the project’s conservation targets. • Conceptual Model: ONE way to document a situation analysis.

4. Key Points to Introduce this Step Situation Analysis An example of a slice of a conceptual model: What/who is causing this threat? Possible action Why? (Who?) Direct Threat Target Raise consumer awareness Consumer demand Profitable option for landowners Conversion to palm oil Tropical Forest Content is more important than format. The quality of a conceptual model is only as good as the quality of a project team’s understanding of the situation. A good conceptual model will greatly facilitate strategy selection.

5. Key Points to Introduce this Step Situation Analysis • Situation analysis helps you develop more robust conservation strategies by… • Evaluating factors that are driving the perceived problems • Identifying key individuals/groups (supporters as well as non-supporters) • Articulating and making explicit our understanding of the site conditions • Highlighting points of intervention

6. Key Points to Introduce this Step Situation Analysis • Possible sources of information: • key informants (resource users, community members, scientists, project managers, partner organisations, etc.) • existing literature (scientific publications, grey literature, etc.) • new or primary research conducted by your team

7. Key Points to Introduce this Step Situation Analysis • Preparing for the Discussion (before you get together): • Involving the right people is KEY • To develop robust strategies, you must have knowledgeable people involved who can help you to understand what factors are driving the current situation • This step should be given enough time so that your team can adequately understand key issues for strategy development. This may involve more than one round of discussion, so plan accordingly.

8. Key Points to Introduce this Step Situation Analysis • Facilitating the Discussion: • Start with a target and a critical threat ranked Very High or High • What is driving this threat? Who? Why? • Probe for opportunities, not just indirect threats

9. Key Points to Introduce this Step Situation Analysis There is no one right way to facilitate this step… • Some coaches and teams use conceptual models to capture and stimulate discussion • Others find it more valuable to allow a free flowing discussion and capture key points on a flip chart page • All use probing questions

10. Key Points to Introduce this Step Situation Analysis

11. Key Points to Introduce this Step Situation Analysis „Stopcutting down trees. Whatwouldyou do ifyoudid not haveoxygenfromtrees? Youwould die, exactly! So thatswhyyoushouldn‘tcuttrees. Thanks!“

12. Situation Analysis Critical Questions Reflecting on the Discussion: • Does the situation analysis focus on the factors contributing to critical threats and/or targets with impaired viability? • Have all relevant types of factors been considered? (e.g., economic, political, cultural, institutional) • Have inconsequential, irrelevant or redundant factors been excluded?

13. Situation Analysis Critical Questions • Have key constituencies been identified, and the major factors that motivate them? • Who are the key decision makers • Who stands to gain • Who stands to lose Note: Stakeholder analysis is a component of analyzing the situation as a whole (not a separate step).

14. Situation Analysis Critical Questions Are there any opportunities that could contribute to reducing a direct threat? Careful! Opportunities ≠ Strategies • Opportunities = factors that are out there (independent of you) that could contribute to reducing a direct threat (e.g., strong consumer interest in certified seafood) • Strategies = Actions you could take (e.g., promote consumption of certified seafood)

15. Common Issues & Recommendations Situation Analysis • Finding the Appropriate Level of Detail: • Too much detail can make a conceptual model into a spaghetti-mess. • If the team identified >10 direct threats, either combine some or don’t identify contributing factors for the lower ranked threats. • Try to keep the total number of contributing factors to a max of ~25. You can incorporate more details into the results chains.

16. Common Issues & Recommendations Situation Analysis • Remember… • This is an iterative process, so the team can (and SHOULD!) change their model as new or different information becomes available. • This exercise may require more than one round of discussion for the team to gain a good understanding of their project’s context.

17. Helpful Hints Situation Analysis • Best to analyze one target and critical threat at a time… but make sure that you capture factors that contribute to more than one threat. • Best to have your “probing questions” close at hand. • Three Basic Questions for every threat: • What is causing this threat to happen? • Who is involved -- directly or indirectly? • Why are they doing it?

18. Helpful Hints Situation Analysis • Conceptual Models (box & arrow diagrams) • Tools: sticky tarp and cards (or post-it notes and flip-chart paper) make the process more participatory • Capture results with photograph and transfer to document. • Unless your group is small, usually best to use Miradi to document your conceptual model – not to build it.

19. Example of Probing Questions

20. Does achieving a goal or reducing a threat require influencing a key decision-making body? What key decision maker or decision-making body will/can determine or influence the outcome? What legal standing, authority or other influence do they have? What constituencies might be adversely impacted by the threat? Can they influence the decision-maker? What constituencies stand to gain from the threat? Can they be neutralized? Are there other key players who could influence the decision or action? What motivates each of the key constituencies? e.g. $$$, ease, peers, recognition What information about the threat or possible alternatives is essential to influence the key players?

21. Example Conceptual Model (documentation of situation analysis)

22. Thematic Project on Conversion of Tropical Forests for Palm Oil