Through CEPF support, Christy Bragg has been researching porcupines in South Africa and their importance to plant diversity in the Koue Bokkeveld.
What was the most important lesson learned?
To be aware that long distance, long-term ecological projects need a contingency time period written into the budget time plan.
Describe how you learned this and whether / how you have adapted your approach or specific project elements as a result.
My project was ecological in nature, thus relying strongly on weather and porcupine behaviour for outputs. The project was also based 400km from the institution which was managing my funds (students may find themselves somewhat at a disadvantage in terms of financial administration per the institution's policy that does not allow direct access or management of donor funds). This resulted in project delays due to the fact that I literally had to wait months for the administration procedures to get research funds to my account.
Being far away meant that I was not always in the foreground of the minds of the institution's administration staff , and any staff turnover (occurring 3 times during the course of my project) meant that nothing was processed for months as staff had to relearn the system and get acquainted with my special case.
I learned that one must carefully select the institution that will manage funds, preferably choosing one that is small and effective. I also adapted by asking for special permission to have certain financial procedures by-passed in my special case (being remotely located). In terms of the ecological delays, there is not much one can do about controlling nature, but I especially asked for a 4 year project duration right from the outset to try to include possible delays due to weather and unpredictable ecological patterns.