CEPF is a grant-making mechanism that provides funding and technical support to civil society organisations to work towards conserving globally threatened species, priority sites and conservation corridors. KFBG is working with the Myanmar Environment Rehabilitation Conservation Network and IUCN to form the Indo-Burma Regional Implementation Team (RIT) for CEPF.

The capacity building workshop included a site visit, games, group discussions and Q & A sessions, allowing attendees to identify their strengths and weaknesses as organisations and also strengthen relationships with the other members. This could later prove vital if the CSOs decide to form partnerships on potential future projects.

Additionally the workshop educated the grantees about the advantages of accurate data capture and analysis, and thorough project planning and conceptualisation. Attendees were also given the opportunity to discuss the challenges they faced when applying for funds and meeting the requirements laid out by CEPF. As a result, the participants received feedback from workshop facilitators and gained vital knowledge about how they can improve their approach to applying for grants

Overall KFBG felt that it managed to answer all the questions and correct all the shortfalls that the attending CSOs had regarding the CEPF application process. “Based on the data from the feedback form which was handed out to the grantees, everyone seemed happy with the outcome of the workshop,” said Dr. Michelle Hang Gi Wong, Senior Conservation Officer, KFBG. “All the participants left feeling inspired and confirmed that they now possess all the necessary tools needed to proceed with their CEPF grant applications.”