May 2023 Update
Friends –
For those of you who know me, I have built my entire career around the idea that strong relationships are the pathway to the most enduring, impactful conservation outcomes. I believe that our greatest challenge is to grow our ability to lead collaboratively and act collectively. (I am so passionate about this topic that I wrote the book on it).
I am excited to report that Keeping Forests launched a partnership in May 2023 with Visible Network Labs to illuminate the web of individuals, communities, and organizations who play a critical role in the future of Southern forests. We will be working throughout the year to develop a network mapping and analysis tool that will answer questions like:
Who are the partners in the Keeping Forests network?
How are they connected to each other and others within the region?
Who are the key influencers? Who are the key partners?
How do information and resources flow within the network?
Where are relationships strong? Where are there gaps in relationships?
What collaborations or partnerships can be leveraged to create efficiencies?
The answers to these questions will help strengthen relationships, measure the value and outcomes that collaboration creates, and build bridges between gaps in our network. The result will be a web-based platform that analyzes, records, and tracks networks to enhance our collective ability to create change.
Keeping Forests believes wholeheartedly that the future of conservation is collaborative. To collaborate consciously, the network map and analysis (known as a “Social Network Analysis”) will enable us to look beyond the borders of our traditional networks. We see this as a powerful step forward to include communities impacted by forest conservation issues and identify “unlikely” partners.
I am proud that Keeping Forests has recognized the importance of relationships from the beginning. Everything that we have created has been partner-driven. It has not always been an easy road and it has taken time, but it has led us to a place where we are enacting our core values:
We are collaborative: We engage leaders across all sectors to understand cross-cutting challenges facing Southern forests that cannot be solved by any single organization.
We are systems-based: We develop solutions with the greatest potential to address Southern Forest loss within an interdependent socio-ecological and economic system.
We are innovative: We create the enabling conditions for Southern Forest conservation by investing in innovations that can be readily adopted, adapted, and scaled.
Executing on these values requires dynamic energy that comes from a diverse array of perspectives. We recognize that certain voices are missing in our partnership, but we sense those voices are somewhere within our existing networks. This tool will allow us to see the big picture of the community that we know and draw in the community that we don’t.
In the coming months, we’ll invite you to engage in this work in different ways. The tool we build is only as robust as your participation. One specific way that we will be asking for support is for you to connect us with your networks. The data we gather through your networks will turn our interwoven community from invisible to visible.
We’ll share this and other opportunities in our monthly newsletter. You can subscribe here. I hope you’ll join us.
In partnership,
Laura
Laura Calandrella
Keeping Forests Executive Director
Since Keeping Forests launched in 2016, Laura has been an advisor to Keeping Forests on the development of collaborative partnerships and collective impact strategies.
