Guidance Package: Leadership and Management in Protected Areas

This document contains the Leadership Development Guidance Package, which was created within the framework of the project "Protection and Sustainable Use of Transboundary Protected Areas of Sharr Mountain, Mavrova and Korab-Koritnik" funded by PONT and implemented by ALCDF together with partners LAG Dibra Turistike and CSCD.

This package was developed by experts from the Resource Center for Training and Technical Assistance (ANTTARC), and summarizes the basic concepts of knowledge development on Leadership for the group of managers at middle and senior levels of Protected Areas (PAs), and other potential environmental actors seeking to improve their knowledge and leadership skills. This guidance package has been tested in Albania and in many countries of the Western Balkans, with actors from public institutions, civil society organizations, and the private sector by the ANTTARC center.

The package is aligned with the standards of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), which aims to increase the number of protected areas managed effectively and equitably. Based on these IUCN standards, Protected Areas take into account the local contexts in which they operate, and to manage them well they focus on four main principles that are: (1) good governance, (2) good design and planning, (3) effective management, and (4) achievement of conservation objectives.

These very principles are a challenge that Protected Area managers often face in setting objectives, managing their protected areas well, and incorporating the interests of local communities.

The purpose of the Leadership Guidance Package is to provide guidance, tools and methodologies to help Protected Area managers and potential environmental actors improve and promote their managerial and leadership skills, using professional models and tools. Additionally, leadership development aims to explore effective strategies and guidance for leadership development applicable to the unique environment of managing protected areas in the Sharr-Korab mountain massif.

The Leadership Guidance Package for protected areas is a collection of guidelines and instruments for leaders of protected area structures and other environmental actors in these areas, and is structured in five main chapters as follows:

• Foundations of Leadership Values: The 4 E's Model: Envision, Enable, Empower, Energize

• Leadership Practices

• The Manager as a Leader in an Organization: Opportunities and Challenges

• Foundations of Management

• Management of Protected Areas