The focus of Work Package 1 (WP1) is Stakeholder involvement, policy, society, and sustainable financing. The overarching aim is to develop a framework that supports the implementation of pondscapes as nature-based solutions (NbS) for climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and other ecosystem services. Part of the work of WP1 is guiding and supporting DEMO site leaders in stakeholder workshop organisation and data gathering.
Over the last few months preparations for the first stakeholder workshops to be organised in each DEMO-site this autumn 2021, have been in full speed. WP1 have developed detailed guidelines on how to organise the workshop, what each particular session of the workshop should include and important issues to think about when inviting stakeholders and planning the workshop.
In September 2021 WP1 partners organised a set of meetings with DEMO-site partners to discuss follow up on these guidelines, respond to DEMO-site questions and check the overall progress in the workshop planning. During the meetings a lot of questions has been raised and discussed. For example, there was a discussion on the use of “technical” terminology when talking to stakeholders (terms such as Nature-based solutions and Nature’s Contributions to People), and concluded that the language used should be adjusted to local context and level of stakeholders understanding. There were also discussions about the length of particular sessions and how to organise them in practice. In addition, gender issues were discussed, and the need for recording gender of the stakeholders and the gender composition of break-out groups during the workshop was highlighted. The DEMO-site partners also requested support from WP1 team in preparation of more detailed nformation about the aims and outcomes of particular sessions of the workshop. The first workshop took place in Switzerland on 19 October 2021, and the last one will take place in Uruguay on 13 December 2021. Representatives from the WP1 team have been joining the workshops to help with facilitation of the different activities and provide guidance when needed.