Helping Conservation Partners Improve Monitoring

Monitoring the implementation of Acción Andina’s restoration and conservation work is crucial for tracking the progress of each season’s activities. It allows us to assess the impact of our 15 partners in the field and report results to donors and key allies. This process requires a standard system of data reporting, and the growth of Acción Andina since its establishment in 2018 has necessitated a more robust system to effectively support and enhance current monitoring practices.

During the 2023-2024 fiscal year, GFG and Acción Andina lead implementing partner, Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), began work on a new system to improve stakeholder relationships and track and communicate restoration activities. The system will incorporate a Salesforce-based impact management platform that provides a central hub for conservation partners to report key metrics and restoration activities. The platform will feature a data dashboard to track long-term progress across the entire Acción Andina initiative, as well as a grant lifecycle tool to measure the impact of funds over time and reduce the burden of grant reporting.

With a more streamlined and standardized system, GFG will be able to monitor and evaluate restoration and conservation progress in near real-time, allowing for better decision-making, more cost-effective programs, and improved transparency and accountability to donors and other stakeholders.

“While our implementing Acción Andina partners already collect detailed data, this new system will provide a holistic view of our restoration progress and how funds are supporting on-the-ground conservation,” says Stephanie Arellano, GFG’s conservation program officer. “The project is still in its early stage, but we no longer will have to manually synthesize data and create static, periodic reports. We will be able to share up-to-date progress with our supporters and how we are helping to create more resilient communities and ecosystems in the Andes.”