Plan Vivo › Project assistance

Project developers may need some level of external assistance to develop a Plan Vivo project. The Plan Vivo Foundation can provide guidance on support needs and sources of support.

The following table summarises the abilities required to implement and coordinate a successful, long-term community-based ecosystem services project.

Potential project coordinators should consider the following areas in terms of where they may require project development support or capacity-building.

Area:	Functions:
Administrative (and coordination)	Recording plan vivos Identifying project supporters and selling Plan Vivo Certificates Recording service agreements with producers Administering and recording payments to producers Coordinating project reviews i.e. validation, annual reporting, verification
Technical	Developing and updating technical specifications Assisting development of plan vivos by producers Evaluating plan vivos Monitoring plan vivos and providing extension support and training Collecting other data as required by the project (e.g. tree growth data)
Social	Advising on the engagement of communities, assessing organisational capacity, stability of the area, identifying local conflicts or issues Assessing the security of land-tenure rights Conducting discussions and workshops with groups, dispute resolution Building local organisational capacity

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Project support

BioClimate (BioClimate Research & Development Ltd) practically assist organisations to develop ecosystem programmes and projects with rural communities. They transfer skills and knowledge to partners and work with them to create tools that make project development and management straightforward. BioClimate assist organisations throughout all stages of programme and project development, including the assessment and scoping of opportunities, preparation and planning, government engagement and support building, community engagement and capacity strengthening, technical development, the definition and implementation of project activities, and the establishment of mechanism for making payments to communities for ecosystem services.

BioClimate was established in 2002, although its founders have been involved since the mid-1990s in the developing community based ecosystem projects around the world using the Plan Vivo System.

To contact BioClimate regarding project development support, send an enquiry to info@brdt.org

For more information visit their website -