A capacity-building training workshop on Business Planning for Protected Areas was conducted in Port Moresby during the second week of the Protected Areas Forum, supported by UNDP through the Sustainable Financing of Papua New Guinea’s Protected Areas project. The training, which focused on business planning and financial management for communities and organizations that manage Protected Areas, was held from June 06-08, 2022.
The training sessions were conducted in partnership with the PNG Biodiversity and Climate Fund to strengthen the planning and implementation of sustainable financing options to reduce the funding gap facing the country’s Protected Area network.
The sessions saw participants receive focused information on the processes involved with developing a Protected Area business plan, providing practical exercises and examples from other countries. Stakeholders also received training in financial management as well as working on grant proposal writing. An aim of the training programme was to help Protected Area implementers consider how they can plan and administer self-financing options that contribute to the management of Protected Areas, as well as increase the capacity to apply for potential funding options and manage and report against funding grants.
The training materials will be published on a national website which already contains a toolkit for Protected Area managers – www.pngbiodiversity.org. Additionally, guidelines on business planning for PNG’s Protected Areas will also be produced as a resource tool for Protected Areas to develop and implement their own business plans.