2012-WWB-LAC-CATIE

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This Single Source Award is being made in accordance with Department of Interior Policy 505 DM 2.14 B(1), which allows for award without competition to an applicant who is uniquely qualified to perform the activity based on a number of criteria. In this case, CATIE is in a unique position to create a new Master in Conservation Practice (MCP), focused on biodiversity conservation, by leveraging the core components of the interdisciplinary curriculum for their Master of Development Practice (MDP), which has been in existence for over two years and is focused on sustainable rural development. The interdisciplinary, "learn through practice" approach to training field practitioners of the MDP incorporates the critical components of the program the WWB-LAC outlined in the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) to develop a graduate-level conservation training program for future conservation professionals. The curriculum for the MCP program will include the same interdisciplinary courses offered in the MDP but the MCP students will then take specific courses focused on biodiversity conservation instead of sustainable rural development. Developing and then successfully implementing the interdisciplinary approach to training future conservation professionals is a difficult challenge for academic institutions in the LAC region. CATIE has overcome many of those challenges with the MDP, and now will be able to demonstrate how it can be done with the MCP for biodiversity conservation.

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