Karen Lawrence

Impact meausurement manager , NGO

London, United Kingdom

I am a Conservation and Global Strategy expert operating at Director level for well-known global organisations (the WWF, ZSL, the EU and others). An innovator of ideas who fosters practical solutions, I am very aware that conservation professionals must adapt to the culture where they seek to deliver solutions. I am now seeking a career defining role for me to make a lasting impact.

Contact Karen Lawrence
Area of Expertise:
  • Agriculture, Livelihoods, Microfinance, Rural
  • Capacity Building, Training, Advocacy
  • Director, CEO, COP, President
  • Environment, Climate, Energy, Water, Sanitation
  • Monitoring, Evaluation, Policy, Research, Analysis
Professional Experience:

I have vast experience of developing conservation strategies that deliver in an unusually broad set of contexts in the field, delivering programmes on five continents. I have professional credibility, a very deep international network and the ability to get the best from teams (more than 10 people based in five countries), colleagues, supporters, partners and funders.

An adaptive strategist who ensures people remain valued, I am an active contributor to my organisations’ successes, improving outcomes and building permanent capacity.

Driven by evidence to settle on a pragmatic strategy and managerially able to lead it to success, my achievements have included:

• Fostered a greater understanding of both conservation strategy and impact measurement among ZSL’s Directors, leading to a deeper shared knowledge of its conservation programmes, their objectives, results, and how they could be measured.

• Built strong working partnerships with colleagues in the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, Brazil, Colombia and the UK to embed evaluations and impact measurement in the WWF network’s programmes globally.

• Led more than seven staff across five countries to deliver innovative deforestation analysis and carbon emission assessments for WWF resulting in new information being published and shared.

• Led more than twenty staff on a project delivering a USAID funded programme linking small businesses with bio-diversity in the Philippines.

• Turned around the WWF-UK´s EU LIFE funded marine policy implementing project, called “PISCES” using creative, innovative and cost-effective solutions, resulting in an EU award for “The Best Documented Project”.

• Successfully delivered a bid strategy winning £10m from DfID (the UK’s development ministry), creating a persuasive overarching narrative in a highly competitive field.

Education:

Ph.D. Geography (political ecology), Geography Dept. Kings College London University, UK. From Sept 1999 to Dec 2002. Negotiated Biodiversity Conservation for Local Social Change, a case study of Northern Palawan, Philippines. Using a relationship theory of power (Foucault) examined why local people want to participate in protected area planning processes; considering non monetary benefits, and impacts on environmental governance.
MSc. Land and Water Management (Environmental water management). Silsoe College, Cranfield University, UK. Assessed the effectiveness of Environmental impact assessment processes for hydro-electric dams built in developing countries.
BEng (hons), and masters courses in renewables.

My multidisciplinary formation enables me to design innovative quantitative and qualitative applied research frameworks for exploring the complexity of conservation and for providing a breadth and depth of data for various applications. A PhD in political ecology in 2002 enabled me to explore social theories relating to natural resource use but focusing on why people want to participate in protected area planning processes. This resulted in a positive application of foucault, and identification of sense of place, assertion of governance and local knowledge as being key motivations. I applied these findings in a practical manual on community based forest management planning. Were key theoretical concepts were translated into everyday practical tips and guidance to guide participatory planning processes. My research skills have been applied in the design of participatory learning processes, assessments, studies and effective M&E processes for a variety of NRM projects and programmes, specialising in impact assessment and evaluation methods.

I have been incredibly fortunate to work in 4 tropical rainforests, the last but not least is the Amazon. This has been an incredible journey professionally and personally. My original motivation for learning Spanish was to be able to work in the Amazon and since joining WWF I have also learnt Portuguese (I realised this was necessary to work in the region). This learning journey is not over

Affiliations and Achievements:

2December 2016 – July 2017 (maternity cover): Impact Measurement Manager, ZSL Ltd (London Zoo)

ZSL is the parent body of the London Zoo, Whipsnade Zoo and the Institute of Zoology (IoZ). All three run global conservation programmes in addition to running UK based visitor attraction and educational activities.

Role: Working with the Director General and the Directors of Finance, Zoos, IoZ, Development, Commercial HR and Acting Director of conservation programmes I helped them understand their current organisational conservation impact and then created with them a shared understanding of future impact and how to measure it.

Selected Achievements:

• Identified a virtual team of around ten internal champions to further ZSL’s global impact measurement journey, and mentoring them.

• Enabled ZSL’s Directors to pursue a more sophisticated overall strategy based on an enhanced understanding of impact management, a new subject for them, leading to a more robust challenge.

• Fostered co-ownership at Director level of decisions on strategic conservation objectives, their goals and the resulting impact measurement.

• Completed the project by its tight and challenging deadline of 6th June 2017.

• Analysed the existing global portfolio of conservation programmes managed across the organisation in different institutional silos, to centralise knowledge on activities in progress and likely impact.

• Provided, through this portfolio analysis (using lifetime value as a proxy for level of investment), the data needed to enable a transition to a smaller number of larger programmes.

• Turned around ZSL’s relationship with an external consultancy and put their landscape and wildlife trade programmes back on track by injecting a greater level of conservation knowledge and credibility.

2013 – 2016: International Design and Impact Advisor, WWF UK/Conservation Scientist to Living Amazon Initiative, WWF-International

This was my second, more global, role at one of the world’s leading conservation NGOs.

Role: This built on the success of mainstreaming design and impact measurement capacity in WWF-UK and UK supported WWF offices (see below) Over the three years 80% of my time was spent delivering technical impact support to the WWF-UK focused programme portfolio (Brazil-Amazon, Seafood timber, Extractives and finance and UK Marine policy). Another20% supported the conservation impact of the Living Amazon Programme of WWF-International.

Selected Achievements:

• Delivered, with WWF Brazil, an in-depth impact evaluation of the SKY Media funded Rainforest Rescue Project, a three million hectares site (£6 million), very public programme, demonstrating the avoided deforestation attributable to the project was 8.3 thousand hectares and resulting in 3.76 million tonnes CO2 equivalent of avoided emissions.

• Successfully supported a global portfolio of at least 20 conservation projects and programmes, providing insights and building capacity in social economics, value for money, spatial analysis and ecosystem services.

• Developed with at least five WWF GIS and forest policy experts in the Amazon region, an innovative analysis of deforestation trends in the vast Amazon Rainforest area, which resulted in three publications.

2010 – 2013: Design and Impact Advisor, WWF UK

Role: My main focus was to mainstream design and impact measurement across all of WWF-UK´s global programmes. This would enable it to demonstrate the impact of its £43m conservation portfolio, create an overarching narrative to attract future funders and meet the outturn requirements of existing ones.

Selected Achievements:

• Improved the design of programmes and reporting of WWF Brazil by working with the head of forests, negotiating with the director of Global programmes and WWF-NL to fund the hire of a design and impact strategist, I then mentored the person in this position guaranteeing their effectiveness in the role and

Available for:

  • Job opportunities
  • Being headhunted – make me an offer

Years of Experience:

More than 20 years

Highest Qualification:

Doctorate

Languages:

English, Spanish, Portuguese

Nationality:

United Kingdom

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