Story from Sarah Cotter, Emily Gonzales, Brenda VanSleeuwen, and Heather Barna
This Spring, Parks Canada and Nature Conservancy Canada collaborated on a virtual introductory training series for the Conservation Standards v4.0, adapted to a Canadian context. At its peak, the training was attended by 190 participants, representing 72 organizations and every province/territory.
Participants evaluated every session so that we could adapt and improve as the training progressed. Highly rated elements of the training included:
- Simple, relevant warm-up activities during and between sessions so that participants could practice applying the principles of each CS step
- A “knowledge check” to help participants assess understanding
- An optional 15 min “coffee chat” at the beginning of sessions, during which participants could ask the trainers questions or connect with other practitioners
- “Stories from the field” at the end of sessions, during which a guest CS practitioner illustrated how their team applied that step in the field
A report about the training, the recordings of the sessions and the presentations are available from Sarah.Cotter@canada.ca
Image credit: Parks Canada & Nature Conservancy Canada
