Conservation and management is really about people, since people can affect resources as much as they benefit from their use. Therefore, socio-economic studies, which focus on people, are critical for effective conservation and management. Because of the importance of socio-economic research, Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) has been conducting socio-economic surveys for several years now. Thus, to support PICRC’s work on socio-economic research, their new researcher, Lincy Marino, who will focus on socioeconomic research, attended the six-day workshop on socioeconomic data analysis.
[restrict]
The Socioeconomic Data Analysis Workshop, organized by the Micronesia Islands Nature Alliance (MINA) was held at the Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) from September 12 thru September 17. The training was made possible with the support from the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Association (NOAA) and the Micronesia Conservation Trust (MCT).
The main focus of the workshop was to bring the Micronesia Challenge Socioeconomic Monitoring (SEM) Core Team together to build the team’s socioeconomic monitoring capacity for data analysis. The SEM Core Team includes representatives from Guam, Saipan, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Palau. This workshop is important because it reinforces the participants’ knowledge on data collection and analysis, as well as teaches new tricks for their respective socioeconomic research projects.
The training is a great first step for Ms. Marino, as she takes on the role as researcher at the Center. The training will help her with PICRC’s socioeconomic projects, to gather adequate data from the people of Palau, analyzing and interpreting the data correctly, and finally, presenting sound results back to the people. [/restrict]