PRCF has operations in a number of countries in Asia and globally. I had the opportunity to directly observe PRCF's support programme for community-based forest management (CBFM) in West Kalimantan, Indonesia and to collaborate with its Director on establishing support for CBFM in Papua New Guinea. In Indonesia, I found that PRCF had developed a comprehensive support model for CBFM that links biodiversity conservation and restoration with the development of community institutions, capacities and sustainable, land-based livelihoods. I was able to observe that PRCF had successfully secured long-term financing to support CBFM through payment for ecosystem services, and is set to grow this approach, aiming to reduce the role of intermediaries and increase the amount of resources flowing through to local communities. PRCF has built strong trust relationships and a solid reputation with the communities it works with, as well as government and non-government stakeholders from local to central levels. It has a growing cadre of highly committed staff and is set to grow its operations within Indonesia and globally. I found PRCF to be an impressive organization that other institutions are increasingly seeking to partner with.
I first began to have a deeper understanding of conservation and the type of people active in conservation when my daughter Clea became passionately involved in conservation in her teens. (Almost 20 years later she is still as passionate). After coming to live in Vietnam I met similarly dedicated conservationists. One organization's name consistently came up in their discussions as truly dedicated to both conservation and support for minority people. That organization was (and is) PRCF, People Resources and Conservation Foundation. As the years went by I met more people working for and with PRCF and had the opportunity to see first-hand some of the work they were doing in Vietnam. In every case I was struck by their dedication and professionalism. I was honored when invited by PRCF to work with them in my areas of culture development, team building and strategic development. In that role I have had the opportunity to work with PRCF people from several countries. Their dedication and professionalism is shown by their every action and the results they have achieved. They are an exceptional group of people in an exceptional organization.
PRCF’s activities have been directly contributing to the enhancement of conservation effectiveness and livelihood opportunities at the local level. Lessons from PRCF’s community-based conservation and development approach should provide useful information to national and sub-national policy making processes to make conservation policies and practices more effective and sustainable and work for local people. Because of such potential impacts, PRCF deserves more support and funding to expand and intensify its work in Asia and other parts of the world.