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A Few of Our Favorite Things... from the FRAMEweb Staff
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FRAMEwebinar: Food Security and Wild Food
By Sarah Schmidt
This year F RAMEweb hosted its first ever webinar with great success. Presenters Diane Russell, USAID Biodiversity and Social Science Specialist, and Natalie Bailey, Coordinator for the African Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG), shared their experience with Wild Food Security and Bushmeat. The dynamic format allowed for participants to interact in real time with presenters via polling, live chat and questions and answers through Twitter and FRAMEweb. But, it was the rich participation of over 100 registrants, representing 26 countries and more than half joining from developing countries that made this one of my favorite things of 2011!
If you missed this webinar, don't worry, you can watch the recorded version on FRAMEweb here. We'll also be hosting more webinars in 2012, so don't miss out on being part of this rich interaction!
GeoExplorer: NRM Activities around the Globe
By Carmen Tedesco
FRAMEweb's GeoExplorer online mapping tool launched in 2010, however this year's improvements and a blossoming of uploaded activities from all over the world make it one of my favorite things from 2011. We now have the ability to look at activities with environmental data overlayed - protected areas, biomes, freshwater ecoregions, landcover, soils, country boundaries and labels, as well as a layer for examining tropical forest cover. The addition of a map key with legend information and new physical basemaps and street maps enhance data visualization. The link from a GeoExplorer activity contributor to their profile on FRAMEweb now increases opportunities to share and discuss activities and link back to ongoing communities of practice.
FRAMEweb members added 50 new activities this year in Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Southern Europe, so if you haven't taken a look in a while, check it out! http://gis.frameweb.org
FRAMEweb at the 27th Annual Interaction Forum (InterAction Forum 2011)
 By Karishma Patel
In August, we had the opportunity to showcase FRAMEweb and GeoExplorer at the 2011 InterAction Forum in Washington, DC. The Forum is one of the largest gatherings of international development and humanitarian professionals in the US and plays host to a variety of workshops and expositions. FRAMEweb was featured with GeoExplorer at its Climate Change Adaptation Marketplace along with eight other tools. It was a fantastic opportunity to show off FRAMEweb's Communities of Practice and geospatial tool, but what made it one of my favorite things of 2011, was the sharing and learning about other successful programs our colleagues have been building around the world to tackle the issue of climate change. Sub-categories that were addressed in these programs illustrated just how critical the issue of climate change actually is, especially to development. They spanned sectors and topics from agriculture, to economic growth, conflict management, biodiversity conservation, health, and education. Take a look at the rich set of presenters and their case studies, tools and methodologies here.
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Hot Topics!
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Here's a recap on some of the most popular discussions of 2011:
How do we start using what we know from climate change researchers to implement adaptation strategies and take action in responding to its consequences on the ground level? The most helpful answer ranked by FRAMEweb members: 
It would appear that for a while now, we have had relevant innovations in the pipeline that are not fully to scale. In addition to implementing all the new tools reducing vulnerability, the wide scale spread of interventions we already know work well and are relatively cheap, ought to be a major priority. Seemingly simple and straight forward innovations that have been known and practiced at small scales for several decades should be aggressively taken to scale. Read more of this response and the rest of the discussion here.
How can coordination of CBNRM activities and initiatives be improved?
Well, in my opinion, I think it can be improved through early and participatory planning, where all the stakeholders shall be present or represented. Further, the community shall be prepared as well to prioritize their development objectives, special when there is a new NGO or CBNRM. They cannot remain vulnerable to NGOs priority. Read more of this response and the rest of the discussion here.
Connecting Faith and Conservation?
We have produced a sermon sheet being distributed among community leaders in Guatemala including pastors. This is part of public awareness campaign for the protection of the watersheds.
In Malawi, we have some faith based organizations that are engaging their followers in conservation, emphasizing the need for the faithful to respect God's creation for human survival (originates from Genesis Chapter 1.0 in the Bible. Read more of this response and the rest of the discussion here.
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New on FRAMEgram
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Getting to know the network - FRAMEweb Featured MemberDid you know that FRAMEweb has about 2,500 members, representing over 120 countries? In 2011 over 550 new members joined. To help users get to know who these members are, FRAMEgram launched the Featured Member space to highlight those who have been exceptionally active! Here are some of the FRAMEweb members that we featured in 2011:  Harold Williams* is an environmental journalist by profession, a Sierra Leonean by nationality. For the FRAMEweb site, he considers STEWARD a valued partner. He freelances continually and belongs to the African Network of Environmental Journalists, Climate Change Media Partnership, Earth Journalism Network and the Sierra-Leone based Environmental Forum for Action. Gabriel Tucker*, is a forester who recently, from 2004 to 2009, managed agroforestry and natural resource management projects, as an Associate Peace Corps Director in Benin and Togo. He mentions he likes FRAME because it helps him to better stay up-to-date on development topics that are important to him and also to share information with other colleagues.  Yuko Kurauchi* is a Programme Officer working at the UNDP Drylands Development Centre based in Nairobi, responsible for dryland-based disaster and decentralized governance of natural resources issues.
*Remember you need to log-in to see member profiles!
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New on FRAMEweb
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FRAMEweb Help Community
The FRAMEweb Help Community was launched in 2011 to provide members with support and information on how to make the most of social media tools and their accounts. The space provides an area to ask the FRAMEweb team and other users how to find content, suggest improvements and discuss user focused questions.
The space also provides a one-stop-shop for "How To" information about FRAMEweb - featuring instructional videos and user guides. Also new this year is the FRAMEweb Blog, published weekly to help guide members towards hot topics, interesting information related to natural resources management and how to take advantage of all the tools FRAMEweb provides.
Have a question or an idea for the Blog? Let us know!! This space is dedicated to FRAMEweb members.
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Coming in 2012
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Here's a sneak peak of what's to come in 2012:- FRAMEweb will host two webinars - keep a look out in early Spring and Summer;
 - a new Community focused on Biodiversity and Governance capacity building in Guinea will be established;
- we will launch an improved user interface and functionality for GeoExplorer;
- USAID's Capitalizing Knowledge, Connecting Communities (FRAMEweb's parent program) will be hosting a Stocktaking Wrap-up Workshop featuring FRAMEweb and GeoExplorer tools in Washington, D.C. in late Spring...
and much, much more! We are looking forward to this new year and hope you will join us through your continued participation. We wish you all a prosperous and peaceful 2012! |
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