Essential Manager-Research (English) mooc-conservation

ESSENTIAL MANAGER - RESEARCH (EN)

The Essentials are online courses that are always available.

About this course

The Essential Manager-L is a short course for protected area professionals who need to plan, manage and assed the work carried out by field agents (see Essential RANGER). Thus, they need relatively technical skills depending on the matter, but also decision-making, staff management, result and impact assessment skills. This will help them readjust the PA planning accordingly.

Two sub-categories are proposed depending on which side the manager’s activity is leaning to: Manager-R who mainly focus on research activities, monitoring-evaluation and ecological monitoring, and Manager-L focusing mainly on law enforcement and the valorisation of the PA and its natural resources.

The Essential is made up of a series of 50 videos from the different mooc-conservation MOOCs. Between each video, a test (2 questions per video) will make sure the learner understood the topic. If you answer correctly to 75 questions out of a 100, an attestation of participation will be generated automatically for you.

About the Essentials

The Global Register of competences for protected area practitioners defines four levels of profiles/skills among staff involved in the management of these territories:

- N4 : managers working in central management of large organisations, in national and regional policy development, spatial and strategic planning, in cross-sectoral coordination and the direction of complex programmes and plans.

- N3 : “senior” managers working in the direction and management of medium-sized organisations, in planning and management of projects and programmes within strategic frameworks, in conducting and leading complex and technical programmes (according to specialty).

- N2 : “middle managers” involved in management, organisation and leadership of technical sections and teams implementing plans and projects, completing specific and complex technical assignments (according to technical specialty).

- N1 : “unskilled labourers” completing practical tasks under continuous supervision.

To simplify this and considering many skills of N2 and N3 overlap, we chose to merge these two levels. Thus, the Essentials answer the needs of three profiles of actors:

- Executing agents (Ranger = N1) who enforce decisions and ensure the implementation of practical activities inside the PA.

- Managing agents (Manager = N2 and N3) who define actions to conduct inside the PA, who share this amongst themselves and then transmit it to executing agents. They then supervise and assess executing agents.

- Senior managers (Leader = N4) who identify strategies to conduct, define priorities and have an active impact on the evolution of the conservation context as they provide guidance to managing agents.

Mastering the definition, diversity and history or function and roles of a Protected Area is a prerequisite for all these levels. Basic notions on governance and the Red List of endangered species is also important to all levels.