Establishing a community-based organization (CBO) is the step between the FPA process and signing a Conservation Agreement. CBOs are created with ECF’s guidance and are responsible for:

i) securing and implementing a Conservation Agreement

ii) the fair and equitable distribution of benefits among the community

iii) acting as the legal entity representing the community in a Conservation Agreement.

CBOs are formed under the national law that is appropriate to its purpose, country and region. If creating a CBO is not possible, an NGO can act as a CBO in the Conservation Agreement. 

To establish a CBO the local community must make a long-term commitment to cooperation and take responsibility for conservation actions. In this way the CBO contributes to strengthening the social capital and increasing sustainable land-use practices. CBO’s help build community connectedness, communication and resilience related to nature conservation efforts. CBOs are encouraged to consider biodiversity as part of the local economy and work closely with ECF to agree on sustainable land-use. CBOs are encouraged to seek other sources of funding for community projects and to develop their activities as a sustainable business during the implementation period of the Conservation Agreement. 

The WWF Nature Academy cycle ends with a final event were all ambassador schools present the results of their projects and the protected area they are an ambassador of. The final event is hosted by one of the participating protected area and the goal of the events is to share success, lessons learned and promote networking among the ambassador schools and PAs. An important element of the final event is the press conference for local and national media.

During the academic year the ambassador schools share their results on the WWF Nature Academy Facebook page (a closed group for project participants), on their school websites and Facebook groups and they communicate them to the local media together with the protected area.

After the final event each ambassador school becomes a mentor to a new school participating in the academy and hands them over the “mentoring box” with suggestions, motivational messages and handmade souvenirs. In this way ambassador schools of the same protected area start to cooperate and in time build a school network of the protected area.  

Very important for the end of the academy cycle – celebrate the success at a thematic biodivesity party! 

Cooperation between PAs and local schools had benefits for both sides. PA staff implements education activities according to their management plan and gets a strong partner in local schools for promoting PAs natural and cultural values to the local community. The schools get the chance to implement outdoor activities and enrich the extra curricula activities in the school. 

Cooperation between the PA and the schools includes: 

1. Ambassador school project teams in cooperation with PA focal point develop a detailed program for the school project. The program includes specific activities and a timeline for implementation.

2. Implementation of project activities is from December to May. Activities can be implemented in the school (during winter months – workshops, surveys, art work) or outdoors in the protected areas (during spring months) and should include as many pupils as possible.  

3. Ambassadors schools promote the values of the PAs and their project results to the local media.

4. Each project team writes the final report and submits it to WWF prior to the final event. 

The education program aims to develop key competencies of teachers and their students that lead to active citizenship for nature conservation. Each school participating in the program implements an environmental project in cooperation with the management of the protected area in their close proximity.

The education program is divided into two phases: 

1. Developing the WWF Nature Academy guidebook with 5 chapters: protected areas, ecological footprint, active civic participation, project management, and working with the media. 

2. Five days training for teachers and students using the previously developed WWF Academy guidebook. The training has a strong focus on interactive and hands on activities in nature. After the training schools become Ambassadors for the protected area they live close to. Each school receives an Ambassador plaque and an “Explorer toolkit” with various didactical tools and materials, including the WWF Nature Academy guidebook. 

The informal collective trademarking system was jointly developed by the Potato Park communities (represented be the Association of Communities of the Potato Park) and ANDES, through a joint process including several community meetings facilitated by ANDES researchers. The informal collective trademark allows microbusinesses and biocultural innovation in the Potato Park region to present a distinct, place-based Potato Park identity to others, clustering the diverse microbusinesses operating within the territory and generating cohesion among park communities who are otherwise quite fragmented. The trademark is collectively owned by and linked to the Potato Park. 

Related to the trademarking is the process of equitable benefit-sharing; 10% of revenues from trademarked products and services – such as tea, food or toiletries – go into a communal fund, before being redistributed to communities as per the benefit-sharing agreement. This equitable benefit-sharing, alongside the intangible benefits of social cohesion and sense of place, encourage community engagement with the Potato Park and enhance local capacity, in turn bolstering support for and sustainability of the park.