CONSERVATION GIS TRAINING & TTT DETAILED HISTORY

DETAILED CHRONOLOGY:

(For more details on early years see John Schaeffer Profile) . (Summary index timeline is here) xHistory xTTT

1999 Juniper GIS Is founded by John & Patti Schaeffer as a private GIS Consulting and Training firm .

2007 Kenya 2-day Conservation GIS course & technical presentations at the SCGIS Kenya Conference “ Organized by organized by Board Member & Kenya Chapter Leader Lucy Waruingi, with Patti and Leslie helping. Also did 3-4 technical presentations at the SCGIS Kenya Conference. -30 students in class, over 100 attendees at presentations. TNC provide $2,000 for this trip and Patti and I covered the rest.

2008- FIRST SCGIS SCHOLAR TRAINING: 3 days of advanced training at the University of California James Reserve

(Phot RIGHT:: John & Class at the James Reserve Main Gate)

(Photo Below Left: John teaching an SCGIS Pre-conference workshop in 2008)

2009-2016 – Lead instructor for SCGIS Scholars annual in-depth Desktop GIS training & Conservation GIS Project management “Made use of my conservation GIS training material that also incorporates scholars’ project work and presentation skills. I ran this more as “GIS Camp” where we keep the schedule a little more flexible so we can mix in consulting and project help with the classes rather than just traditional lecture\lab format.” ( Ed note, from 2017 onwards, the skill and experience of the TTT trainers allowed them to take over primary training responsibilities from John, although he continued to attend and support the courses as a volunteer & mentor in everything from logistics to curriculum.)

2009 – John Schaeffer is Lead instructor for second year for SCGIS Scholars

(Photos: 2009 SCGIS Scholar Class at the James Reserve with John)

2009 November: extensive reorganization of the scholar program begins, to better document it’s processes and policies and to better manage the increasing numbers of international volunteers interested in getting involved. The Moore Foundation funding had officially ended in 2007 but with careful management of discretionary and carryover funds we had been able to fund a smaller 2008 program at $32k and a 2009 program at $23k, with an SCGIS Board contribution each year of $10k. 2010 was therefore becoming a year of rebuilding and rethinking how we wanted the program to proceed and how we would be able to support it going forward. One decision was to increase the ask to SCGIS from 10k to 15k. Another was to approach Esri directly and ask if they might be interested in picking up where the Moore Foundation had left off, even with a modest first year request matching that of SCGIS’ 15k. Mike Hamilton had recently taken over directorship of the newest and largest UC Research Reserve, and offered it to the SCGIS program at no charge for lodging. It’s remote location however meant that food & catering costs were goint to be very high, offsetting much of the lodging savings. The SCGIS team leading this reorganization effort included : Charles Convis, Sasha Yumakaev, John Schaeffer, Eric Sandoval, Karen Beardsley and Mike Engels. Charles and John began a discussion about the possibility of incorporating Charles’ & Lance Craighead’s recent “Conservation Planning” book into the official SCGIS curriculum.

2010 Jan: in the 2010 Board Elections, John Schaeffer puts his hat into the ring and is nominated and elected to the board that March as a liason for the International Scholars Program.

2010 Feb 7 John Schaeffer & Juniper GIS write the Train-the-Trainer (TTT) Program Proposal

“Goal: Provide a cost-effective method of GIS training for people working in developing countries in environmental conservation applications. This would be applicable to SCGIS and other conservation groups around the world. The goal of this program is to help future trainers develop skills and course materials for teaching core GIS classes. This is not intended to compete with the current SCGIS scholars program, but to supplement and extend the program. Developing more locally qualified trainers will provide continued support to GIS practitioners in conservation organizations in remote locations.

Training Program: Provide in-depth GIS training to ensure potential trainers have a comprehensive set of core GIS skills. This will be a two-week course for 10-12 potential trainers that cover beginning to advanced GIS skills. Ideally, potential trainers will have good GIS skills, and this course will allow them to re-enforce their GIS skills and provide a solid base for teaching a core course. This two-week training module will be based on the GIS training taught at the James Reserve in 2009 – 2010 by John Schaeffer of Juniper GIS. Students will learn more ways to be effective with ArcGIS, both from the instructors and the other students, which will benefit them as teachers.

Upon completion of the full class, class participants will receive a certificate indicating they are authorized by Juniper GIS to teach a core GIS class. Students will have the skills to be able to teach this effectively to others back in their own countries or for other groups.

Becoming a Juniper GIS Authorized Instructor: With the SCGIS scholars and Karen, after they complete the training, we sign a contract acknowledging them as Juniper Authorized Instructors and we make all Juniper materials available for them to use, including any updates, so that they are ready to teach a class the day they finish their teacher-training. For Cecilia, Carlos and Karen it was a rigorous process where they had to take the two-week class first so they knew the material very well, and then I worked with them on the lecture material, and why I organized it on a certain way, how they might change it for other classes or different skill levels, how to write exercises, managing classes, presentation skills, even little things like how I organize PowerPoints or create screen grabs. At the end, they will all be competent instructors capable of teaching a solid one-week in-depth Conservation GIS course, translating and developing their own material as they go.

2010 Jun 1, John Schaeffer formally submits the Train-the-Trainer proposal in an email to the board: “Hi, I have an item I'd like to have considered for the board meeting agenda at Asilomar. I've talked to Lucy and a couple other people about developing a "train-the-trainer" program that I think will be a very cost-effective way to increase GIS capacity in developing areas. I attached a proposal with more detail. What I would like to do is bring this up at the board meeting to see if there is support for this type of effort and if so to seek funding. Thanks John”

2010 Jul 10 John Schaeffer presents his proposal for a new “Train the Trainer” program to the SCGIS board for discussion at their 2010 Asilomar Conference board meeting. The board voted it’s approval to proceed but could not provide funding (For the time being funding is carved out of the annual international scholars program and TTT Candidates are supported as if they were a formal scholar.) Below taken from the board meeting minutes as recorded by Karen Beardsley:

“Train the Trainer discussion

Develop group of trainers with materials ready to go. 4 week program (2 weeks with current curriculum for SCGIS scholars, next 2 weeks on developing exercise material based on local projects and problems. This gives local flavor.
John licenses his training materials.
At end of 4 weeks, trainers know material but also have teaching materials for teaching one –week core class back home. John willing to travel to interesting places to deliver this training. Would help increase capacity. Instructor part will be 12 people, but might have 16-18 people in the first 2 weeks.
Would need core people, comfortable instructing.
International capacity-building theme. When fundraise, should build in money for those to teach at least 2 workshops in their regions when they return. Should have follow-through with those who go through scholarship program.
John wrote scoping paper, and will include a budget to the Board for what it may cost. We will explore, and perhaps with chapters like Kenya that have capacity already.

2010 Jul Work begins preparing TTT announcements and procedures, and the selection process for the first candidate TTT trainers begins.

2010 Mar: John Schaeffer is Elected to the board of directors for the Society of Conservation GIS to liase with the Scholars porgram and continue to serve as lead instructor for the SCGIS Scholars.

2010 Jun John Schaeffer is Lead instructor for third year for SCGIS Scholars.

(From the Juniper GIS Newsletter #1 of Jan 2011) “In the past few years, we have become involved the Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS), which supports GIS work in conservation groups all over the world. One of its missions is to bring scholars from conservation groups around the world to the U.S. to strengthen their GIS knowledge and skills, and to allow them to connect with the larger GIS community by attending the SCGIS Conference and the ESRI User Conference.

Here is a picture of some of the scholars with Jack Dangermond at the 2010 ESRI Conference.

(Photo: Scgis 2010 Scholars with Jack Dangermond, John Schaeffer and Charles Convis)

2011 - Cecilia Cronenberger becomes the first TTT Trainer chosen in the new program

“The first TTT candidate was Cecilia Cronemberger, a 2009 Scholar from Brazil. During the more than two-week Scholars training program, she assisted in the class as a helper and presented lectures, and during breaks, she and Schaeffer discussed how the class and course material work, typical problems students might have and how to solve them, and classroom management. Upon completing the program, she was granted her Juniper GIS Instructor certificate, along with the official Juniper GIS uniform, her own Hawaiian shirt. Since her graduation in July 2011, she has translated courses into Portuguese & taught eight classes to approximately 100 students in Brazil, greatly helping expand GIS training.” (https://www.esri.com/esri-news/arcnews/summer14articles/train-the-trainer)

(Photo Below: Cecilia (center) signs her TTT Trainer Certification papers, with help from Sasha (L) and John (R)

2011 Jul 2011 Scgis scholar Training at UC Davis

(Photos Newly-Certified Trainer Cecilia assists with the 2011 Scholar Training)

2012 Jun-July SCGIS Scholar & TTT Training, Davis, CA. June 27 to July 26, 2012

I was the lead instructor for this training, using a more detailed version of the ArcGIS for Environmental Analysis course, along with material from the Juniper Geodatabases and Linear Referencing and Spatial Analyst courses. This year we had 15 scholars.

Karen Beardsley and Leslie Backus provided assistance in the class, with Leslie teaching the GPS module. Besides helping in the class room, Karen provided most of the logistical support and planned most of the outside activities, as well as arranging for home-stays. Since most of us are familiar with this activity, and ESRI’s significant support, I don’t see any need for more detail.

The Juniper GIS in-kind contribution was 12 teaching days, plus 40 hours of course preparation

Training for SCGIS Scholars: SCGIS sponsored 15 scholars this year. The core training took place at UC Davis, with scholars from South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Nepal, Zambia, Russia, Malawi, and more. Carlos De Angelo, a 2011 scholar from Argentina, returned this year to help teach new scholars and to become a Juniper GIS Authorized Instructor

(Photos: 1. The 2012 Scholars Class at their UC Davis Training Lab, photo courtesy of Diyan. 2. Carlos DeAngelo helps a student learn something new, photo courtesy of Sasha)

2012 Jul Second TTT Trainer: Carlos a 2011 scholar from Argentina, becomes the second TTT Trainer.

This was the second year where we brought back a scholar to work specifically to become a Juniper GIS/SCGIS trainer. The candidate this year was Carlos De Angleo, a 2011 scholar from Argentina. Carlos is a very good instructor and was also a large help in class, especially with the Spanish-speaking and Brazilian scholars. At the SCGIS conference Juniper GIS gave Carlos a certificate as an Authorized Juniper GIS Instructor, with authority to teach any of our courses, as well as the normal Juniper GIS teaching shirt. I provided Carlos with all of my 10.0 teaching material at the end of the training, and recently sent him all the 10.1 upgrades. Carlos has already taught one course for 14 people based on the ArcGIS for Environmental Analysis course and has another course planned for next June. I don’t know how to value my material, but one rule of thumb that I, and other instructors use, is that it takes 5 days to produce 1 useable day of classroom material. I provided Carlos with about 15 days worth of material and teacher training. Carlos has already taught one course for 14 people based on the ArcGIS for Environmental Analysis course and has another course planned for next June.” Carlos was also proactive in translating the ArcGIS Course materials into Spanish.

(Photo: Carlos DeAngelo receives his official TTT Certified Trainer Paperwork with help from John Schaeffer (L) and Sasha Yumakaev (R)

2012 Oct Brazil Scgis’ first TTT Trainer Cecilia Cronemberger teaches her first class as a TTT in Teresopolis, Brazil,

“The same week John was teaching a Juniper GIS class in Nairobi, Kenya (UTM Zone 37 South), Ceciilia Cronemberger de Faria was teaching a Juniper GIS class in Teresopolis, Brazil, (UTM Zone 23 South), and a month later John was teaching in Hawaii, (UTM Zone 4 North).

Cecilia, a former SCGIS Scholar, became a Juniper GIS Authorized instructor in July, 2011, working with John for two weeks teaching the SCGIS scholars in Davis, California.

For her first class, Cecilia translated the Juniper GIS course into Portuguese and created exercises with local data. Cecilia looks forward to teaching more classes in Brazil.”

2012 Juniper GIS Newsletter4 Juniper GIS/SCGIS 2012 Training Report

“I am writing this to document my activities so that Sasha and Charles can show how the software, books and other support provided by ESRI has helped conservation work globally, and also to fulfill the requirement mentioned by Eric Sandoval for a activity report for SCGIS Board Members. For each activity, I’ll try to quantify the results in terms of beneficiaries, costs, and value as an in-kind donation for my time.

Summary: In 2012, I taught GIS to 83 students in 1-week classes, 15 for a two-week class and 12 for a 1-day workshop, not including the SCGIS conference workshop, in some sort of “volunteer” capacity related to SCGIS. It’s been a lot of fun and I hope to keep doing this. I greatly appreciate ESRI, represented by Sasha, for all the support.

The course taught in most of these classes was ArcGIS for Environmental Analysis, which is an intensive, 5-day course designed to teach core GIS skills using conservation oriented data and scenarios, with an introduction to Spatial Analyst for Habitat Analysis so that students can see how to perform analysis using both vector and raster techniques. Because each group of students has different skill levels, I adjust the pacing and level of detail as needed. For each class, I also include some local data in an introductory exercise, and then work with student data on the final day if time permits.

2012 Oct 8-12, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Training, Pietersmaritizburg, South Africa, October 8 – 12, 2012. “Organized by 2012 Scholar Debbie Jewitt

This class was organized by Debbie Jewitt, a 2012 Scholar, for her organization – Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. This quasi-government agency is responsible for conservation and biodiversity planning in the province of KwaZulu Natal. There were 15 students in the class, all from her organization. Debbie was the class assistant, and she also provided lodging and meals at her house out of her pocket, plus all the logistics, including of getting me to/from airports. ESRI provided 10 books and 17 ninety-day evaluation copies of ArcGIS 10.1.”

2012 Oct 15-19 Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, “Buffelskloop Nature Reserve, South Africa, organized by 2011 Scholar Mervyn Lotter

This class was organized by Mervyn Lotter, a 2011 scholar, for his organization - Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, which has the same responsibilities as Debbie’s organization, but for the province of Mpumalanga. There were 21 students in this class, all from Mervyn’s organization, with all working directly in conservation. Mervyn was the class assistant, plus he took care of all the logistics of organizing the class, and getting me to/from airports and to the class location. (Photo Class at Buffelskloof Reserve. ESRI provided 10 books and 24 90-day evaluation copies of ArcGIS. (photo: John lets students take a break for a game drive, (but they must come in early the next day to catch up on the work.)

2012 Oct 29 – Nov 3 South Africa Wildlife College, Klaserie, South Africa Organized by Mervyn Lotter and Juniper GIS

This was an entrepreneurial class organized by me, Mervyn, and Patti Bailey. Mervyn suggested that there was a need for GIS training for university students and that they would be willing to pay a modest fee. But as we started planning this, the schedule didn’t work for most university students, so we decided to open the class up to any takers. Mervyn arranged to rent a lab at the South Africa Wildlife College for 6 days, and also arranged for them to provide lodging and meals.

We offered the 5 and a half day class for $575 including lodging in shared rooms and all meals, with an added fee of $30 for a single room. Out of the fees collected, Juniper GIS paid for all meals and lodging for the students, facility use fees, bank transfer fees, and covered the meals and lodging for Patti, Mervyn and I, and for Mervyn’s mileage.

There were 17 people in the class, including 11 from South Africa, 3 from Ghana (2 from the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Services at the University of Ghana), and 1 each from Tanzania, Swaziland, and Sierra Leone. Including the students from Ghana, there were 7 university students; 3 from private organizations, one minister in training, and the rest from non-profit conservation groups. Most of the non-South African students actually paid more in airfare than in class fees.

Mervyn and Patti both assisted in the class, and in the logistics and registration. It was quite a job to keep track of registrations and money collected in two different currencies on two different continents and dealing with so many different agencies. Many agencies needed documentation from Juniper GIS or from the South Africa Wildlife College to obtain permission for paying for the class and or to get visas for South Africa.

The response was more than we thought and next time, we will probably charge more per person, mostly to compensate for all the time spent on logistics, including organizing transport to the class for some of the students. Based on our experience, we will probably try this again; and I also think that this might be a model for SCGIS chapters to organize and help pay for training. ESRI provided 10 books and 19 90-day evaluation copies of ArcGIS.

2012 Nov 3 2011 Scholar Mervyn Lotter becomes the third SCGIS TTT Trainer.

Because Mervyn was willing to assist and work with me for two weeks on the South Africa Wildlife College class, I offered to work with Mervyn on training skills and course presentation skills. Because Patti was also assisting in this class, Mervyn and I could take some time during class to discuss training strategies, course development and evaluating student needs. We continued these discussions most evenings. At the end of the second class, we gave Mervyn a certificate recognizing him as a Juniper-authorized instructor for the ArcGIS for Environmental Analysis class.

2013 Arcnews Article about the new Train-the-Trainer program:

“To expand the TTT program, in 2013 a new approach was taken, which was to send Schaeffer to the SCGIS Scholars in their home regions to provide the TTT training. This program, for two to four trainees, consists of a three-day advanced GIS class for the trainees and GIS users from local conservation groups, a five-day ArcGIS for Environmental Analysis (AE) class in which the trainees served as helpers and gave some presentations, and three to four days during which Schaeffer and the trainees work together on teaching skills and issues. After reaching out to the SCGIS International Chapters, Schaeffer and the SCGIS International Committee chose SCGIS Russia from among several offers, for this first effort. (https://www.esri.com/esri-news/arcnews/summer14articles/train-the-trainer ) “

2013 Mar 3 John proposes a way to mass-certify many TTT trainers at once "Hi everyone,I am working with the SCGIS grant person to apply for a grant to expand the Train-the-Trainer program. Hopefully most of you know of this program, as we have been bringing back a past scholar the last two years to work with me and become a Juniper GIS Authorized trainer. The purpose of the grant is to create a 3-week program, in some part of the developing world (anyplace other than the US, Canada, or Western Europe), where I will work with 8-10 former scholars, who have taken the 2-week SCGIS training from me, to become new trainers.” We failed to find any funding for the proposed workshop

2013 Jun-Jul John Schaeffer is Lead instructor for UC Davis TTT & SCGIS Scholar Training

This year SCGIS sponsored training for 21 international scholars, and John was the lead instructor. The core training took place at UC Davis in California with excursions to ESRI UC in San Diego and the SCGIS Conference in Asilomar. All scholars made presentations about their projects at both conferences. Countries represented were Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, Nepal, Philippines, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Uruguay, Zambia.

2013 Jul John Schaeffer first mentions the idea of a TTT Summit brining back prior TTT trainers in an email

“Returning Instructors: You mentioned something about bringing back one of the previous trainees to help in the scholar training and as a refresher for their own skills. I think this would be good as this person would be a great resource for helping with projects and in class, and also it would be good for them to do some refresher work. And, it would be a good way to keep up the scholar connections. “

2013 John's trip to Russia (From Juniper 2014 Newsletter #1)

John taught two classes in Russia last September, for Greenpeace Russia and other conservation groups, as part of SCGIS Russia’s first ever “Regional Conference on Conservation GIS” During these classes, he trained three new Juniper GIS Instructors, including Ilona Zhuravleva & Anna Komarova, from Russia and Ela Segina* from Slovenia. He also made presentations at the SCGIS Russia Conference in Moscow, where he gave away two of his Hawaiian shirts.

After the classes, John visited St. Petersburg and some smaller towns around Moscow. Since he has a degree in Slavic Studies, this was a great chance to see some of the places he studied as an undergraduate. While in Russia, John was able to stay with SCGIS scholars and their friends, who were all great hosts, and made his trip especially memorable. (*Our apologies to Ela. The program we use for the newsletter would not let me use the special characters in her name.)

(Photo Left: John's presentation announced in Cyrillic)

(Photo Below L-R Ilona Zhuravleva, Anna Komarova and Ela Segina receive their TTT Training Certificates)

2014 Apr 4 Formal funding request for the new TTT Program goes to Esri

Below is the formal request for creating the new SCGIS global train-the-trainer program that I mentioned as one of my top 3 must-do's for SCGIS for 2014. Although based on a long history of John Shaffer's support to SCGIS and some great success stories with prior trainers, we are treating this as a startup effort to fund over a 2-year development cycle, hence my mention of opportunities for 2014 thru 2015. Given the growing distributor interest, we have great hopes for their involvement to help make this self-sustaining. As usual, I am deeply indebted and grateful for your ongoing support to SCGIS. I hope you'll agree that this new program presents a valuable opportunity for Esri to play another leveraged role in growing international conservation GIS capacity with our tools. regards, Charles Convis, esri conservation program

2014 TTT FUNDING PROPOSAL

Request for $20k core funding to establish new Esri-SCGIS-Juniper GIS global training program for 2014 thru 2015

Train the trainer (TTT) is a partnership between SCGIS and John Shaffer of Juniper GIS that began in 2009, as an extension to the core UC Davis/SCGIS scholarship experience. In TTT a single outstanding scholar from prior years, who has demonstrated ongoing SCGIS leadership & GIS skill, is funded to return to UC Davis. There they become a certified trainer for the full catalog of Juniper conservation ArcGIS classes, and help teach the new group of scholars with John Shaffer. Esri and UC Davis already support this program from existing resources. What this proposal is requesting is support for globalizing the TTT program so we can certify more than 1 new trainer per year. (John has done similar train-the-trainer work for the US National Science Foundation and several workshops for the Jane Goodall Institute in Kigoma and Uganda)

Past trainer certifications and subsequent successes:

-2011 Cecilia Cronenberger, SCGIS Brazil, Trained and Certified at the UC Davis Program. has since taught conservation GIS in 8 classes to over 100 students.

-2012 Carlos DeAngelo, SCGIS Argentina, Trained and Certified at the UC Davis Program. has since taught 2 classes to 29 students, several more classes planned for 2014.

-2013 Global In-country program begins (unfunded) in Russia: Ela Segina, Ilona Zhuralvleva and Anna Kamarova are all given initial trainer training by John at an SCGIS workshop cosponsored by SCGIS and Greenpeace Russia, but resources were insufficient to get all 3 to full certification in all ten conservation GIS classes taught by Juniper).

Business model: The train-the-trainer program piggybacks atop SCGIS training workshop events organized by international SCGIS chapters. They obtain their own funding and sponsorship from local NGO organizations, SCGIS itself, Juniper GIS, and lately, Esri Distributors. Train the Trainer is an added cost requiring more intensive interaction and one-on-one time with the candidate trainers that SCGIS cannot cover from local resources. We feel TTT presents an appropriate opportunity for Esri Redlands to become part of this exciting new program as a core sponsor, to help it graduate from an ad-hoc workshop opportunity to a more formal, strategically managed capacity building program for SCGIS which can more effectively take advantage of growing Distributor interest in SCGIS and conservation GIS training.

If funded, Charles Convis, Sasha Yumakaev, Karen Beardsley (UC Davis) and John Shaffer will act together to plan and manage this program on behalf of Esri and SCGIS, reviewing opportunities, organizing Distributor support, allocating funds carefully and strategically, and compiling short reports and additional articles back to Esri (one is already in the works for the current issue)

We are requesting a flat $20k endowment to begin this program, to be allocated among the following current opportunities and help create new opportunities over the rest of 2104 thru 2015.

Current Opportunities and estimated costs

Fiji: 2 week conservation GIS workshop sponsored by Global Visions International in May 2014. If a TTT component is funded, in cooperation with SCGIS New Zealand and the new SCGIS Hawaii, then a trainer could be certified there to help start a new SCGIS Fiji for about $5k

Colombia: The Esri Distributor has already offered to cover all local expenses and logistics for a conservation GIS training workshop if we can find a way to fund John’s airfare. This will be a mix of commercial/govt students selected by the distributor who will be charged nominal course fees of $250 per week. We have 3 strong SCGIS trainer candidates selected who could be included and certified for $9,200

South Africa: 3 week workshop in November organized and sponsored by SCGIS, South African National Biodiversity Institute and others. 2 trainer candidates identified who could be included and certified for $6400. (This class corresponds in timing and location to what Rina Kurnia could support, so that we can add the same successful 3-day cloud training segment we offer in UC Davis to this group in South Africa. I'm working with Dean Angelides to try to get her approved to support this event)

Indonesia: 3 week workshop in early 2015 organized by SCGIS. 3 trainer candidates are identified and costs for their travel and certification will be $8,950.

2014 Jun-Jul John leads the 2014 UC Davis TTT & SCGIS Scholar Training

(Photo: 2014 Scholars on the Trans-Bay Golden Gate Bicycle tour organized by John Schaeffer each year. Photos courtesy of Sasha Yumakaev))

2014 July: John Receives Special Achievement Award from ESRI

From Esri Press Release: “John Schaeffer received a Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award at the Esri International User Conference in San Diego, California held July 16, 2014. This award acknowledges vision, leadership, hard work, and innovative use of Esri's geographic information system (GIS) technology. John teaches GIS internationally, using Esri ArcGIS technology to help GIS users develop skills to solve problems and analyze issues in their home countries. He works closely with the Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS) to train international scholars and has recently developed a program to "Train the Trainer," developing GIS training capacity in countries around the world. His students are studying, analyzing and developing data to help with issues of wildlife, natural resources, population growth, climate change, agriculture and telecommunications. In recent years, John Schaeffer has taught classes in Mexico, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Africa, Fiji, and Russia. Each year, the "Train the Trainer" program selects former students to become qualified instructors to develop GIS training capacity for conservation and international aid work throughout the world. Read more about the "Train the Trainer Program", on page 8, of the Summer issue of ArcNews. Juniper GIS currently has authorized instructors working in Russia, Slovenia, Scotland, Honduras, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and South Africa.”

2014 OCT: ”GIS Instructors Teaching on 3 continents: Africa, Asia & South America (From Juniper Newsletter)

On October 20th of this year, Juniper GIS TTT instructors were teaching classes simultaneously in South Africa, Argentina, & Bhutan. On that day, Karen Beardsley from Davis, California, who became a Juniper Authorized Instructor in 2013, and M Abdullah Abu Diyan(Diyan), from Bangladesh, who became a Juniper Authorized Instructor in 2014, were teaching in Bhutan. A few hours later, as the sun rose in South Africa, John was starting a class near Kruger National Park, working with Mervyn Lotter, who became a Juniper Authorized Instructor in 2014. And about eight hours after that, as the sun rose in Argentina, Carlos De Angelo, who became a Juniper GIS Authorized Instructor in 2012, was starting a class in Patagonia. Juniper GIS has truly become an international player in Conservation GIS training!

2014 OCT: The class in Bhutan was taught at the Royal Thimphu College (RTC), situated in a serene forested area nestled in the mountains about 20 minutes from Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. The classes Karen and Diyan taught were also in conjunction with the National GIS Exposition, the launching of the Bhutan Geospatial Portal by Her Majesty the Gyaltsuen, the lovely 24-year old Queen of Bhutan. Karen and Diyan also helped RTC install and initiate their Esri university site license. Some of Karen's expenses were covered by an award from the Esri Education Ambassador program and Diyan's expenses were covered by SCGIS. Also see this Arcnews Article on Karen's 2014 Course in Bhutan:

(Photos: LEFT Karen Beaardsley (seated front row center-right in pink shirt) next to SCGIS TTT Trainer Diyan (on her right) and Esri Trainer and longtime SCGIS Scholar Program Online GIS Trainer Canserina Kurnia (Karen's Left) with the participants of their Cloud GIS Training course at Royal Thimphu College, Bhutan) RIGHT: Scgis Trainer Diyan (L) and Karen Beaardsley (R) at the beginning of their Conservation GIS Training Course.

Carlos's class, Herramientas de SIG para Ecologia y Conservacion to use the Spanish name, was taught at La Pampa, Northern Patagonia, as a postgraduate course. Carlos's course used Juniper GIS material for the core part, supplemented with Carlos's own material.It was hosted by the National University of La Pampa and the Center for the Study and Conservation of Birds of Prey. It included a short visit to a provincial reserve where it is possible to see the vast Patagonian steppe and its most incredible sunsets.

2014 South Africa Classes & Training Trainers The class in South Africa, ArcGIS for Environmental Analysis, was taught at the Southern African Wildlife College, just outside of Kruger National Park, and was taught to people from several conservation groups in the region. This is the second class Juniper has taught there. It's always nice to see giraffe and impala as you walk around the campus. After teaching the class at the Southern African Wiidlife College, John and Patti visited Kruger National Park and then Victoria Falls in Zambia. On the way back from Zambia, we ran into Griffin Kaize Shanungu, a 2014 SCGIS Scholar from Zambia in the Johannesburg Airport. It is great to run into and work with SCGIS Scholars from all over the world, it shows the reach of SCGIS. Then we went to Cape Town, where John taught two weeks of classes at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, which lies at the base of Table Mountain. Besides people from South Africa, there was a student from Nigeria and a student from Tanzania who had taken a Juniper GIS class in Kenya in 2007. As part of the two weeks of classes, John worked with two former SCGIS Scholars, Debbie Jewitt and Fahiema Daniels to become Juniper GIS Authorized Instructors through our Train-the-Trainer program.

(Photo Below: Debbie Jewitt (L) and Faheima Daniels (R) receive their formal TTT Trainer Certificates

(Photo Below: the 2014 Conservation GIS Training Class of the Southern African Wildlife College

2016 Feb TTT training in Colombia.

Dates: TTT Training - ArcGIS for Environmental Analysis January 25-29 and Advanced Topics for ArcGIS, February 1-5 at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota. This was sponsored by the university as a continuing education class, where they advertised the class for a fee in order to pay for the course. The university paid me a $2,500 fee and covered lodging and meals. There were 41 students total for both classes.

TTT Trainees: The two trainees were Federico Germán Riet Sapriza, a 2012 Scholar from Uruguay who was the primary local organizer and was teaching biology at the university at that time; and Nicolás Lois, also a 2012 Scholar, from Argentina.

Notes on Photos: Photo1 – Students and us at the end of the last class. Photo 1 Federico, John, and Nico in Juniper shirts and with their certificates. Photos courtesy John Schaeffer)

2016 Jun-Jul John Schaeffer is Lead instructor for UC Blue Oaks Ranch Reserve TTT & SCGIS Scholar Training

Current Events and News Media, http://www.blueoakranchreserve.org/in-the-news.html

May 29, 2016 Article: The World of GIS has arrived to Blue Oak Ranch Reserve

16 International scholars and 5 instructors have gathered at BORR on May 25 for a month of hands on training in the use of Geographic Information Systems for conservation. These courses are provided jointly by Society for Conservation GIS, Juniper GIS, ESRI, UC Davis Information Center for the Environment, and UC Berkeley Blue Oak Ranch Reserve

(photo 1: The 2016 was hosted by Dr. Michael Hamilton, (center) appointed director of the newest and largest of the University of California Research Reserve, the Blue Oak Ranch Reserve (BORR)

https://ucnrs.org/mapping-for-conservation/ 2016 June 28 “Mapping for conservation” Article By Kathleen Wong

Global reach: This June, conservation professionals from around the world have come to the NRS’s Blue Oak Ranch Reserve east of San Jose to sharpen their GIS skills. Armed with their own data and mapping projects, the sixteen scholars hail from fifteen different countries ranging from Cameroon to Uruguay, Belarus to Congo, Cambodia to Venezuela.

(photo 2: An aspect of the Scholars program dating back to its origins is the provision of recent-but-used laptops to every scholar, many of whom were previously struggling along with ten-year old computers or worse)

The 2016 Conservation GIS scholars gather before the Blue Oak Ranch barn with Charles Convis, cofounder of workshop sponsor Society of Conservation GIS. The scholars include Andina Anastasia Krey (top row, far left), Ricardo Sandi Sagot (top, third from left), Iurii Strus (top, far right), Maholy Ravaloharimanitra (bottom, second from left) and Cintia Giesele Tellaeche (bottom, third from left). Image credit: Mike Hamilton

2016 Jul TTT training in Cameroon.

Dates: TTT Training - ArcGIS for Environmental Analysis July 11-15 and Advanced Topics for ArcGIS, July 18-22 in Limbe, Cameroon. The class was initiated by Buh and there was EFN funding for the WWF participants. There were 25 students total for both classes from about 10 different conservation groups.

TTT Trainees: The two trainees were Gaston Buh Wung, a 2009 and 2013 Scholar from Cameroon who was the primary local organizer; and Claudel Tshibangu Lukusa, also a 2013 Scholar, from DRC.

(Photos: 1. Buh Gaston and Claudel Lukasa happy to be certified as TTT Trainers. 2. Students happy to make it to the last day of class

2016 Oct TTT training in Uruguay & Argentina

Dates: TTT Training - ArcGIS for Environmental Analysis October 3-7 and Advanced Topics for ArcGIS, October 10-14 at the University of the Republic – East Region University Center in Rocha, Uruguay. There were 23 students in this class from several conservation, university, and government groups. This was a Fulbright project, with Mariana Ríos Balletto, a 2013 Scholar from Uruguay, being the primary organizer.

Non-TTT training in Uruguay - a 3-day advanced workshop in Montevideo at the National System of Protected Areas - National Directorate of Environment office. This was mostly for their staff, and Cata, one of the trainees, helped me in this class. There were 15 students in this class and a total of 38 for both classes.

Non-TTT training in Argentina - a 3-day advanced workshop in Bariloche, Argentina. Since Patti and I were going to Argentina, visiting with some former scholars, I offered to do a class for Alejandro Vila and WCS-Chile. WCS-Chile paid me $750 for the 3 days, out of which we paid for our hotel and meals. There were 10 students in this class and a total of 48 for all three classes I taught in South America.

TTT Trainees: The two trainees were Caterina Dimitriadis Pampin, a 2016 Scholar from Uruguay; and Diana Marisol Paredes Olmedo, a 2015 Scholar, from Ecuador.

Funding: Almost all my costs were covered by Fulbright; the TTT costs were $3,967 and came from the funding that Jack provided.

Photo1: TTT Candidates Diana Olmedo (L) and Caterina Pampin (R) as newly-certified TTT Trainers

Photo2: Many former Uruguayan scholars attended this class

2017 Jun-Jul UC Davis TTT & SCGIS Scholar Training

Photo1 : 2017 Scholars with Doost, the undisputed master of the selfie. courtesy c. convis

Photo2: the traditional trans-bay bicycle trip.

2017 Oct TTT training in Bali

Dates: TTT Training - ArcGIS for Environmental Analysis October 9-13 and Advanced Topics for ArcGIS, October 16-20; held at the Indonesia Australia Language Foundation, located in Denpasar, Bali. There were 14 students who took both classes. 8 students were from WCS, including one from Uganda, and the rest from several conservation, university, and government groups, including US AID. Rina came down from Singapore to do 2 days of Web GIS training, with her expenses out of her own pocket and from course revenue.

TTT Trainees: The two trainees were Andina Anastasia Krey (Tasya), a 2016 Scholar from Indonesia; and Lucy Peter Liew, a 2017 Scholar, from Malaysia. Tasya was the prime organizer for this class and handled all the local arrangements.

Funding: This was a completely self-funded class.

Photo 1: the Bali Conservation GIS TeachingTeam2017_Tasya, Lucy John, Rina – The instructors.Photos courtesy of John Schaeffer

Photo 2 EndOfClass – Students and instructors with certificates

2018 Jun-Jul UC Davis TTT & SCGIS Scholar Training

(Photo1 : 2018 Scholars give a thumbs up for meeting their heroes Jack & Laura Dangermond

Photo 2 TTT Trainers Mervyn, Aaria and John prepare for the class

2018 Nov TTT training in Chile

Dates: TTT Training - ArcGIS for Environmental Analysis November 5-9 and Advanced Topics for ArcGIS, November 12-16; held at the Böll Foundation in Santiago, Chile. There were 15 students in the first class and 13 in the second class. Most of the students were from WCS, but one was a doctoral student I had met in Davis.

TTT Trainees: The two trainees were Alejandro Rubén Vila, a 2014 Scholar from Argentina; and Johanna Prüssmann, a 2017 Scholar from Colombia. Alejandro was the primary organizer and while he lives in Argentina, he has been working with WCS-Chile for several years as their chief science officer.

Additional Presentations: I was invited by the Centro de Observación de la Tierra, Hemera, de la Universidad Mayor, through a connection made by Janet Nackoney, to do a presentation on Coordinate Systems. Before I went into the presentation, I presented about 10 slides on SCGIS and the TTT program. I will attach the invitation.

Photo 1: the Chile Conservation GIS TeachingTeam2017_Ale, Johanna and John – The instructors. Photos courtesy of John Schaeffer

Photo 2 EndOfClass – Students and instructors with certificates