CORAL staff in Mexico
Standing (left to right): Kate Trevelyan-Hall (Foundation and Grants Associate), Candace Leong (Conservation Programs Associate), Kenneth Johnson (Mesoamerican Regional Manager/Mexico), Jenny Myton (Honduras Field Manager), Rick MacPherson (Interim Executive Director/Conservation Programs Director), Heidi Williams (Fiji Field Manager), Moala Tokota'a (Fiji Field Representative), Sirilo "Didi" Dulunaqio (Fiji Field Representative), Naneng Setiasih (Coral Triangle Regional Manager/Indonesia)
Kneeling (left to right): Valentine Rosado (Belize Field Manager), Kara Osada-D'Avella (Hawaii Field Representative), Liz Foote (Hawaii Field Manager)

In December 2010, CORAL staff from all of our international project sites and headquarters converged in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, for an intensive week of strategic planning, training, and collaboration. After a year of big changes, including a significant transfer of management responsibilities to field staff as we continue to build empowerment for local communities, the meeting provided the perfect opportunity to share lessons learned and advance new initiatives. We're excited to now be integrating the progress, plans, and ideas from this tremendously productive meeting into all of our conservation activities.

The Week in Photographs

To begin, we should be clear that the majority of our week looked like this:

Training session CORAL staff working CORAL staff working

Although these meetings and planning sessions were the scene of our most exciting work, the photos just don't do justice to the accomplishments they represent. So, let's move on to some of the week's more visually interesting events.

Early in the week, each project site team received a Flip Video™ camera. Staff got great practice filming each other at the summit, and you can see the results on YouTube in the clip that Val (Belize Field Manager) put together. We're looking forward to being able to share more stories from the field through video! Jenny with her Flip cam Flip cam practice

 

 CORAL staff at the Cozumel cruise ship terminal Wednesday we visited our project site on the island of Cozumel. We first stopped in at the cruise ship terminal to see the CORAL-sponsored photographic display that is helping to raise conservation awareness for tourists visiting the island.

Cruise ships at Cozumel

 

CORAL staff got to meet with staff from the Cozumel Reefs National Marine Park and do a monitoring dive in the MPA. (A big thanks is due to Sand Dollar Sports for donating equipment for the dive!)

CORAL staff diving CORAL and Cozumel MPA staff Monitoring dive
After the dive, we ate a meal at Las Perlitas, a local restaurant that is helping to deal with the problem of invasive lionfish by serving them to diners. CORAL staff did our part by devouring several dozen of these destructive (and tasty) fish.

Lionfish meal

 

Kava ceremony At the end of the week, Moala (Fiji Field Representative) led a kava ceremony to close the meeting. We are all looking forward to implementing new ideas and strategies in our on-the-ground work and, of course, to the next time we meet again!  

 

CORAL staff in Playa del Carmen

 Find more photos on CORAL's Facebook page »