Skip to main content
WCS
Menu
Library
Library Catalog
eJournals & eBooks
WCS Research
Archives
Research Use
Finding Aids
Digital Collections
WCS History
WCS Research
Research Publications
Science Data
Services for WCS Researchers
Archives Shop
Bronx Zoo
Department of Tropical Research
Browse By Product
About Us
FAQs
Intern or Volunteer
Staff
Donate
Search WCS.org
Search
search
Popular Search Terms
WCS History
Library and Archives
Library and Archives Menu
Library
Archives
WCS Research
Archives Shop
About Us
Donate
en
fr
Title
The state of capacity development evaluation in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management
Author(s)
Sterling, Eleanor J.; Sigouin, Amanda; Betley, Erin; Zavaleta Cheek, Jennifer; Solomon, Jennifer N.; Landrigan, Kimberley; Porzecanski, Ana L.; Bynum, Nora; Cadena, Bailey; Cheng, Samantha H.; Clements, Kaylin R.; Finchum, Ryan; Geresy, Mallory; Gomez, Andrés; Groom, Martha; Loffeld, Thirza A. C.; Miller, Daniel C.; Rakotobe, Domoina; Rao, Madhu; Roberts, Ryan; Shinbrot, Xoco Anna; Willigan, Erin; Jones, Megan S.
Published
2022
Publisher
ORYX
Published Version DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605321000570
Abstract
Capacity development is critical to long-term conservation success, yet we lack a robust and rigorous understanding of how well its effects are being evaluated. A comprehensive summary of who is monitoring and evaluating capacity development interventions, what is being evaluated and how, would help in the development of evidence-based guidance to inform design and implementation decisions for future capacity development interventions and evaluations of their effectiveness. We built an evidence map by reviewing peer-reviewed and grey literature published since 2000, to identify case studies evaluating capacity development interventions in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. We used inductive and deductive approaches to develop a coding strategy for studies that met our criteria, extracting data on the type of capacity development intervention, evaluation methods, data and analysis types, categories of outputs and outcomes assessed, and whether the study had a clear causal model and/or used a systems approach. We found that almost all studies assessed multiple outcome types: most frequent was change in knowledge, followed by behaviour, then attitude. Few studies evaluated conservation outcomes. Less than half included an explicit causal model linking interventions to expected outcomes. Half of the studies considered external factors that could influence the efficacy of the capacity development intervention, and few used an explicit systems approach. We used framework synthesis to situate our evidence map within the broader literature on capacity development evaluation. Our evidence map (including a visual heat map) highlights areas of low and high representation in investment in research on the evaluation of capacity development.
Keywords
Biodiversity conservation; capacity development; conservation outcomes; evaluation; evidence map; literature review; systems approach; systematic map
Access Full Text
A full-text copy of this article may be available. Please email the
WCS Library
to request.
Back
PUB27218