Building sustainable financing capacity 

For MPA practitioners, the focus is on conservation skills – financial skills are often underdeveloped. Some key concepts can build capacity specifically to obtain and secure long-term funding for your MPA.

Five key concepts for building capacity

Although not every MPA practitioner needs to be a sustainable financing specialist, it’s useful to at least have a grasp of key frameworks and concepts. Basic conservation finance literacy and being able to deliver reliable information on the context and financial situation of your MPA will help you interact productively with any technical support personnel, and build trust (transparency, accountability) with stakeholders involved in the different financing mechanisms.

Five key concepts for building capacity are:

Which of these you need will depend on your desired (and current) level of conservation finance literacy.

Figure 1. Sustainable finance framework. Source: Wolfs Company, 2021. Copyright 2021 by Wolfs Company. Reproduced with permission.

Going through the whole process of developing sustainable finance for your MPA requires some general management skills as well as more in-depth knowledge on financing mechanisms. When identifying the skills that an MPA partitioner could develop for sustainable finance, we follow the steps of the Sustainable Finance framework (Figure 1).

Financial health check

This is a rapid review of key financial information to describe the financial baseline of the MPA financing strategy. The basic financial training needed for this is essential for any MPA manager. You can build this kind of knowledge through general courses on finance for non-financials with recognized institutes, varying from basic Excel budgeting training to online university courses such as those provided by the University of Cambridge. More dedicated conservation finance courses are provided by, for example, the Conservation Strategy Fund.

Context analysis

For this, you should be able to assess key ecological, socioeconomic and governance aspects that determine the success of current and potential financing mechanisms. You need the skills to apply a SWOT analysis (identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) to recognize internal assets and vulnerabilities, and external risks and opportunities for MPA financing. A general management course can build these skills. However, it may be more efficient to learn from the guidance of external experts as part of a complete sustainable finance process dedicated to your MPA. Conservation finance experts from Blue Seeds, Conservation Strategy Fund or Wolfs Company, for example, will share their knowledge applied to your specific case. Your MPA network, such as MPAConnect or MedPAN, can help you to select experts.

Prioritizing finance streams

As part of the feasibility process to implement financing mechanisms and to create commitment from your stakeholders, you should involve local experts (e.g., on legislation), community representatives and politicians. For this, you need to be able to organize interactive sessions with the relevant actors, address obstacles and create enabling conditions to realize the financing mechanisms identified. This skillset can be learned in general management courses, or you can draw on the support of an external expert, either to provide coaching or to host the session itself.

Building the roadmap

This consists of preparing a practical implementation plan, outlining responsibilities and specific steps and interventions to tackle possible obstacles or bottlenecks. For this, you need not only writing skills, but also marketing, communication and selling skills. An important part of implementation is engaging with funding providers. A general course on “sales” can be very helpful – these are available through various platforms such as EdX, Coursera and Udemy.

Budgeting and financial planning

Budgeting and financial planning are fundamental for the implementation of the whole MPA financing strategy, as well as for specific financing mechanisms and implementation solutions.

Internally, these skills can inform financial management and performance monitoring, or can help refine strategies for fund generation or cost reduction. Budgeting and financial planning results can be used to communicate funding needs and possible solutions in compelling cases to stakeholders outside the MPA management team. This requires a combination of financial, communication and selling skills.

Soft skills 

Soft skills are also vital, such as social graces, communication and personal habits that characterize relationships with other people. You need these skills to build a long-lasting relationship with your stakeholders to gain and retain their (financial) support.

Be sure to participate in the knowledge and experience exchange platforms and webinars provided by MPA networks, such as MPAConnect, MedPAN, CamPAM, ICRI and Conservation Finance Alliance. These networks provide a platform to learn from colleagues about their experiences in implementing specific financing mechanisms. Some also provide guidebooks on MPA sustainable finance, such as the MPAConnect guidebook and the Mediterranean guidebook.