Environmental Incentives, LLC

Our planet is home to a variety of healthy forests, one of our most valuable resources. However, we lose about 10 million hectares of global tropical forests each year—an area nearly the size of the U.S. state of Virginia. USAID is addressing these issues head-on through unique approaches with local communities. From reversing the trend of increased degradation and greenhouse gas emissions in eastern Cambodia to improving natural resource governance and reducing environmental crimes in the Philippines, USAID partners with local governments and communities to help build a sustainable and resilient future for people and nature. Learn more https://hubs.la/Q02FKJpk0

A successful day of learning and sharing! #RLA just wrapped up an incredible day and a half of learning and collaboration (June 25th & 26th)! The event kicked off with opening remarks from both Bersabeh Beyene, RLA Chief of Party, and Ms. Amber Lily Kenny, USAID EGR Office Director. They both emphasized the critical importance of cross-activity learning in USAID’s work. Partners left feeling energized, reconnected, and brimming with insights on food safety and food systems. * Discussions delved into the critical link between food safety and broader development goals, empowering partners to strengthen their programs. * Partners collaboratively revised the USAID Resilience Learning Agenda, ensuring it remains a powerful tool for all. * Partners gained valuable insights into regional cluster efforts, fostering stronger collaboration across the board. * Fun and engaging trivia games challenged participants to explore the treasure trove of resources on the #RLA Portal. Want to learn more, stay tuned for the release of valuable USAID EatSafes resources! #USAID #EGR #CollectiveActionPlatform #FoodSecurity #Development

Have you heard about USAID's bold new policy? In our latest blog, EI's Perry J. Pockros, CPF and Shawn Peabody share three reasons they're excited about USAID's groundbreaking Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning (KMOL) Policy. Through this policy, USAID is redefining and reinvesting in the enabling infrastructure for all of its development and humanitarian assistance—the principles and processes it lays out will enable everyone to achieve better development results. We're proud to have supported the Bureau for Planning, Learning, and Resource Management (PLR) in facilitating processes to develop the policy and navigate organizational change. Read more: https://hubs.la/Q02DptqM0

The journey of mastering facilitation continues at EI! In our first session on Advanced Facilitation Techniques for Activity Design, participants explored tools to enhance group creativity and resilience in the face change. One of our favorite Liberating Structures exercises? Critical Uncertainties. As our partner Ash Baker at Foundations of Success noted, the Critical Uncertainties activity is a great tool to address unpredictable factors and better plan for future scenarios. This week Eva Schiffer and Samantha Levine-Finley, ACC will lead our facilitation experts in session two on Using Advanced Facilitation Techniques in Pause and Reflects to support USAID activity design and implementation. Stay tuned for insights from session two! #facilitation #liberatingstructures #ourteam https://hubs.la/Q02DcV9l0

School might be out for the summer, but for EI’s Facilitation Experts class is just getting started! We recently kicked off our Advanced Facilitation Training Series, led by Eva Schiffer and Samantha Levine-Finley, ACC. This training is a masterclass, bringing together our experienced facilitators to dive into the Liberating Structures approach to participatory facilitation. Together, we continue our journey of learning and striving for excellence. In the first session on Advanced Facilitation Techniques for Activity Design, participants learned how to create more inclusive and effective meetings to support USAID activity design. Kyla Tripp noted the User Experience Fishbowl activity is especially useful to foster deep understanding and empathy across groups. Stay tuned and discover how we're integrating these powerful tools into our work. #liberatingstructures #facilitation #ourteam https://hubs.la/Q02CwFd00

All USAID-funded activities, including small grant programs, are required to assess potential environmental impacts prior to implementation—a complex process, especially for newcomers. To support USAID's localization goals and reduce barriers for local partners to achieve environmental compliance, we supported development of a context-specific, simplified version of USAID’s environmental and social risk screening checklist for use by prospective grantees. The revised checklist uses plain language to talk about impacts and focuses on the types of activities grantees will undertake—simplifying compliance, step by step. We're pleased to partner with Social Solutions International, Inc. on this work under USAID’s Pacific American Fund (PAF). Read more in our latest blog by Yair Cohenca, Jorge Salinas, and Flora Lindsay-Herrera. https://hubs.ly/Q02Clmf20

Pause and reflect is a critical part of USAID’s adaptive management process, enabling teams to honestly examine their progress and make thoughtful adjustments to changing circumstances or unanticipated results. We’re proud to have supported the Biodiversity Division in producing this toolkit under USAID’s Measuring Impact II. Check it out on Learning Lab!

Conservation works best when local people and nature can thrive together. See how USAID is working with locals to preserve the Philippines’ rich marine resources while improving the livelihoods of communities who depend on them: https://lnkd.in/da2FXq-b. Last week, we celebrated World Oceans Day, World Environment Day, and Day for the Fight Against Illegal Fishing. Whether it is an International Day or just a Tuesday, I am always grateful to work at Environmental Incentives, LLC to amplify important work like this. This was one of the first dynamic photo stories that I developed on usaid.gov and safe to say, I'm hooked! 🎣 🌏

The 2024 #ClimatelinksPhotoContest is now open! Submit your climate and development photos today for the chance to be featured on the Climatelinks site and in USAID materials. This year’s theme is “In Focus: Communities Confronting Climate Change”. Details here: https://hubs.la/Q02B6kJX0

USAID Ethiopia Resilience Learning Activity (RLA) kicked off its webinar series on May 15, covering the topic Human-Centered Design in USAID WASH Programming. This engaging learning event featured four #WASH practitioners from Ethiopia and around the world, who provided valuable insights and first-hand experiences on integrating human-centered design (HCD) principles into #WASH activities. Missed the opportunity to learn about how #HCD has been used to unstick difficult WASH challenges? Catch up on the webinar now: https://lnkd.in/dvtwr82p