Image credit: Hupp, Lisa, USFWS
From time to time, we get questions about what we mean by a well-being approach to conservation. We believe sharing an overview of this work is beneficial and possibly even encourages other conservation organizations to implement a well-being approach.
Why well-being?
OneNature’s mission is to “advance the interconnection of nature, wildlife, and human well-being so animals, people, and the planet can thrive.” OneNature brings a focus on human well-being to development, conservation and climate projects, supporting transformational financial, programmatic, and community outcomes. We expand understanding and awareness of the wellbeing/conservation connection through data and stories that inspire hope and create transformational change.
OneNature’s human-centered program design, monitoring, and evaluation approaches and capabilities put communities in the center of the work. We have validated, peer-reviewed tools and participatory processes to measure and enhance community well-being, which are critical for measuring social impacts, for adaptive management, and as an early warning system for conflict. Our approach, developed through decades of experience, is a key step to the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of investments to reverse the extinction and climate crises and to secure human rights and social resilience. OneNature’s research and projects lead to more socially just and long-lasting policies and approaches, and to thriving resilient communities.
This approach can be used not just to support communities but can inform and encourage decision-makers to better understand the value and connection communities have to wildlife and nature. This information and OneNature’s research into the values wildlife and nature have for people, can then be used to develop more socially just and sustainable policies and funding to increase human thriving, protect species and habitats, and improve long-term economic sustainability.
Here is an overview of our approach.
The Five Steps
We start by immersing ourselves in local communities with our local partners. Together we will meet with leaders and members and observe their day-to-day lives to understand their values, perspectives, and relationships with wildlife and their habitats. We select and train community data enumerators in data collection at this time.
Step 2: Adapting the Survey and Collecting the Data
We then apply our localized learning to revise our peer-reviewed “Wild Happiness” index to the community context. This will generate a well-being baseline for future monitoring and evaluation of the project and inform local decision-making. Local community data collectors will administer the customized survey that collects both quantitative and qualitative well-being data for the community.
Step 3: Participatory Planning for Well-being
We analyze the data and present the “Wild Happiness Report Card” to our project partner and the local community as a basis for participatory planning. A handbook of successful conservation/well-being projects is available to support community capacity for decision-making and implementation of the project. We support the development of objective well-being indicators with our local partner and the community to track throughout the life of the project. If desired, we will build capacity and provide photography/video equipment to selected community members to track their community’s well-being through a “photo voice” methodology of participatory photography.
Step 4: Monitoring, Evaluation, and Adaptation
We provide the tools and processes to monitor and evaluate community well-being and perspectives over the course of the project. This monitoring will enable reporting of true community impacts of the project. It can also serve as an early warning system for unintended negative consequences directly related to or external to the project. Project activities can be adapted accordingly.
Step 5: Scaling and Building Partner Capacity
Results from this work can be scaled to other projects and can be used to build the capacity of the local partner to implement this approach. This may include the creation of training materials and other tools.
If this sounds interesting, we encourage you to check out our Resources page for links to research papers and reports explaining and supporting this approach. We will be providing specific resources for each of these steps in the coming months! Please reach out with any feedback or to learn more.