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Will Allen - Introduction

Dr Will Allen

Principal
Will Allen & Associates

Mob: (+64) 274 934 213
Skype: willallen_nz
[email protected]

My work seeks to support policy and management initiatives that are outcome focused - and build on participation, collaboration, social learning and adaptive co-management. I have more than 25 years management and communication experience across a range of sectors - encompassing organizational and sustainable development, agriculture and natural resource management. Over the past 20 years I have worked primarily as an action and systems researcher and evaluator to support multi-stakeholder and integrated initiatives in complex situations.

I am particularly interested in the development of planning, monitoring and evaluation tools that are outcome focussed, and contribute towards efforts that foster social learning, sustainable development and adaptive management. I specialize in working in and supporting multi-stakeholder and integrated approaches in complex settings. As an independent consultant and systems researcher I work to design and facilitate processes that contribute to these aims at a number of points in the wider management (or program or policy) process including:

Before developing my own consultancy and research practice, I worked for Landcare Research (1993-2010). My work encompassed a range of issues including rural development, biodiversity, biosecurity, and integrated catchment management. Recent clients have included CRI's, Regional Councils, MfE, DOC in New Zealand, and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) internationally. For the past 15 years I have managed this Learning for Sustainability (LfS) website as an on-line guide providing annotated links to several hundred key international information sources that support the underpinning processes required for successful collaboration, integration and innovation. I am a founding member of the Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association (anzea) in 2006 and 2007, have co-chaired and am currently on the steering committee of the anzea Southern South Island Branch.I have experience in a number of different stakeholder sectors (including local, national and international NGOs, commercial farming, government agencies, the United Nations, and research organizations), and in bringing different sectors together. This includes regional experience in Australasia, East Africa and the Pacific; and global experience through the CGIAR and IUCN.

You are welcome to get in touch with me for further information about any of the topic areas covered in the website. I am also interested to share ideas, or discuss a potential involvement, with teams and organizations looking to use outcomes-oriented and collaborative approaches more effectively.

In addition to my involvement in convening and facilitating collaborative processes, I also work to promote the use of collaborative decision-making. I lecture and have published numerous articles on the management of collective processes as refereed journal articles, book chapters and contract reports.

A copy of my short curriculum vitae can be found here. References to my recent publications, with links to on-line copies in many cases, can be found here. Publications are also listed through my google scholar page.

Another related initiative is my management of this Learning for Sustainability (LfS) website as a portal that deals with the intersection of social learning and sustainable development. In particular this site attempts to link people and information that spans the health, environmental and development sectors. More recently I have initiated the sparksforchange blog, as a complenet to the main LfS site.

The site was originally developed as part of my PhD study undertaken through the Institute of Development Studies at Massey University. This certainly provided the opportunity to bring together information from the range of community-based processes required for effective information sharing and collaborative management and planning. The site began as NRM-changelinks (1998-2006) and is being maintained as Learning for Sustainability. The resulting site structure (see the index on the left) has come out of my own paid (and unpaid) work experiences in different community sectors (including local, national and international NGOs, commercial farming, government agencies, the United Nations, and research organisations).

An on-line copy of my dissertation can be found at: Allen, W.J. (2001) Working together for environmental management: the role of information sharing and collaborative learning. PhD (Development Studies), Massey University.

I can be contacted directly through this site by using the site feedback form, or directly by emailing me at [email protected].