MEG GAWLER

CURRICULUM VITAE (08/2007)

SYNOPSIS:

Meg Gawler is committed to helping build a world in which we humans live in harmony with ourselves, with others, and with nature. She brings to this a lifetime of endeavour, and over twenty years of academic and professional experience in ecology, conservation, and the links between conservation and human development. Her experience includes ten years in the Africa & Madagascar Programme of WWF International, and five years as the Founding Director of ARTEMIS Services.

Originally a plankton ecologist in North America and Europe, Meg has published refereed scientific papers on plankton dynamics and ecosystem functioning. During her tenure at WWF, Meg produced two ten-year conservation strategies for WWF’s work in marine and freshwater ecosystems in the Africa region, and supervised important marine conservation projects in Tanzania, Mozambique, and Mauritania. Her work at WWF focused strongly on strategic planning, programme development, project design, and project and programme evaluations. Meg played an active role in setting standards for evaluation practices within the organization, and in promoting a learning culture within WWF.

In carrying out evaluations, Meg’s focus is on a humanistic and analytical process that both enhances institutional learning, and builds capacity for the project team who are at the heart of the evaluation. Meg is trained in: practical programme evaluation; qualitative methods such as interviewing techniques, and formative and participatory evaluations; implementation analysis to improve programme performance; cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analyses; and participatory monitoring and evaluation using PRA/PLA. She has participated in 43 evaluation and review missions, mostly in developing countries, in both English and French, serving as team leader, sole author, or trainer for 33 of those.

Meg has long experience in the design of conservation projects and programmes. She is trained in strategic planning, project cycle management, goal oriented project planning, logical frameworks, and workshop facilitation, and has facilitated over fifty workshops worldwide. Her emphasis in planning is on ensuring absolute transparency, helping the team to develop vision and strategic thinking, and making sure that this is linked with the realities of the field and of the implementers. Meg also provides training courses in project design / project cycle management and in participatory monitoring and evaluation.

Having founded ARTEMIS Services in early 1999, Meg has had the opportunity to work on a broad range of projects contributing to nature conservation and human development, including: synthesizing key strategic results areas for all programmes worldwide of IUCN - the World Conservation Union; gender issues in tropical forest integrated conservation and development projects; regular training in project design for senior staff of WWF worldwide; strategic planning for IUCN’s West/Central Asia and North Africa Programme; evaluation and strategic planning for WWF’s Madagascar Programme; editing the proceedings of the 2^nd International Conference workshop on Wetlands and Development on Best Practices in Participatory Management; a framework for marine protected areas in the North-East Atlantic; a long-term strategy for the Global Biodiversity Fund; CoralWeb (an initiative to enhance conservation delivery in coral reefs worldwide); a paper on equity in conservation for the IUCN Social Policy Programme; global conservation strategies for tigers, great whales, and Asian elephants and rhinos; regional consultation on the environment strategy of the World Bank for the Middle East and North Africa; a strategic framework for the Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat; strategic planning and research for WWF’s Freshwater Programme; a strategic review of WWF’s North-East Atlantic Programme; the final evaluation of an IUCN project to support community wetland management in Mali's Inner Niger Delta; an evaluation of IUCN's Global Biodiversity Programme; an evaluation of WWF's project on sustainability assessment of trade agreements; strategic planning for the Missouri Botanical Garden's Madagascar Programme; evaluation guidelines for the participation of BirdLife in the Convention on Biological Diversity; strategic planning and proposal for the Niger Basin Initiative; review of IUCN's North Africa Biodiversity Programme; review and synthesis of UNICEF evaluations in Central and Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic States; organizational assessment of TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network; the final evaluation of a regional rural development project in Mali; content analysis of all of IUCN's evaluations worldwide over the last five years; evaluation of a GEF/UNDP project to set up Tanzania's second marine park; training of young people in participatory evaluation in Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and TFYR of Macedonia; a survey of youth participation in the CEE/CIS region for UNICEF; a conservation audit for the MAVA Foundation of WWF's Mediterranean Freshwater Programme, etc. Each new assignment is a learning opportunity, and as such, a rewarding experience.

Meg has worked on short- and long-term assignments in 60 countries, including many developing countries, and has good multi-cultural, interpersonal abilities, whether with peers, Ministers, or villagers — skills essential to conducting successful evaluations and to moderating productive workshops where all participants contribute fully to the analytical and planning processes. A skilled writer, Meg enjoys crafting thoroughly professional documents, as well as popular articles. She is also a published photographer, specializing in people, their links with nature, landscapes and seascapes.

EDUCATION:	University of California, Berkeley. Phi Beta Kappa. Master of Science, 1984, in Engineering Science - Applied Ecology. Bachelor of Science, summa cum laudae (with highest honours), 1980 in Conservation of Natural Resources.
WORK EXPERIENCE:
1999 - present:	Founding Director. ARTEMIS Services for Nature Conservation and Human Development.
1991 - 1999:	Programme Officer, Africa & Madagascar. WWF International, Gland, Switzerland. Responsible for planning, development, monitoring, supervision, and evaluation of nature conservation projects and programmes, with special emphasis on marine and freshwater ecosystems.
1988 - 1991:	Project Administrator, Africa & Madagascar. WWF International. Management and administration of WWF conservation projects in East & Central Africa, and Madagascar.
1983 - 1987:	Research Fellow. Institut de Limnologie - Institut national de la recherche agronomique.Thonon, France. Interdisciplinary research on the ecology of Lake Geneva, on zooplankton / phytoplankton dynamics, and ecosystem functioning.
CITIZENSHIP:	American and French.
LANGUAGES:	English mother tongue. Fluent French.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:	Western Indian Ocean Scientific Association Society of Wetland Scientists EU-certified Moderator applying Goal Oriented Project Planning American Evaluation Association European Evaluation Society International Development Evaluation Association Career Women's Forum, Geneva (Vice President)
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING (selected):	Project Design (John MacArthur, Development & Project Planning Centre, Univ. Bradford, UK, 10/91) Logical Frameworks (Anthony Plumbe, Development & Project Planning Centre, Univ. Bradford, UK, 10/92) Public Speaking (Clemency Bridle, Heinz Goldman Int. Foundation, Switzerland, 4/93) Project Cycle Management and Appraisal of Project Documents (Herman de Vries, PCM Consortium, Brussels, 4/96) Workshop Moderation applying Goal Oriented Project Planning (Erik Kijne & Frank Little, Insight Partnership, Brussels, 3/97) Metaplan Moderation, and advanced follow-up (Christine Krys, Metaplan, Paris, 12/97 and 5/98). Leadership in Management (Bob Jones, PA Consulting, Sundridge Park, UK, 4/98). Implementation Analysis for Feedback on Program Progress and Results (Arnold Love, Toronto, Canada - The Evaluators' Inst., San Francisco 1/01) Practical Program Evaluation: A Checklist Approach (Michael Scriven, Claremont Graduate Univ. - The Evaluators' Inst., San Francisco 1/01) Using Qualitative Methods in Evaluation (Joseph Maxwell, George Mason Univ. - The Evaluators' Inst., San Francisco 1/01) Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (Jed Kee, George Washington Univ., Washington DC, 7/01). Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation using PRA/PLA (Françoise Coupal and Helen Patterson, Mosaic Int., Ottawa, Canada, 9/02). Participatory, Collaborative & Other Qualitative Evaluation Methods (Michael Quinn Patton, Union Inst. and University Graduate School - The Evaluators' Inst., San Francisco 1/04). Analysis of Qualitative Data (Patricia Rogers, Royal Melbourne Inst. of Technology - The Evaluators' Inst., San Francisco 1/04) Most Significant Change ( Rick Davies and Irene Guijt, UK and Netherlands, 9/06) Conducting Professional Focus Group Research ( Martin Steinmeyer, USA, 10/06 Systems Concepts in Evaluation ( Bob Williams, New Zealand, 2/07) Informing Practice Using Evaluation Models and Theories (Mel Mark, USA, 7/07).
PROFESSIONAL TRAVEL TO DATE:	Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russian Federation, Georgia, Moldova, TFYR of Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam Canada, Mexico, United States, Venezuela Fiji, New Zealand.