Working collaboratively to define common visions at regional scales,

mutually supporting near term agendas with priorities, objectives and strategies tailored to the places and issues addressed by each partner.

Gulf of California, Mexico

Working with the Environment Program of the Walton Family Foundation (WFF), SustainaMetrix was invited to meet with some grantees in the Gulf of California to think holistically and strategically about grantee performance and the results they catalyze in highly complex, rapidly changing ecosystems. The system is based on the Orders of Outcome framework (Olsen, Page, Ochoa 2009) that is designed to make the principles of ecosystem-based management operational through a deep understanding of the sources of governance that are shaping ecosystem conditions. The framework addresses both the processes and the sequence of outcomes that can mark the path to a desirable future. Periodic applications of the Orders of Outcomes framework provides a way to sum up performance of an initiative and its advance towards a vision for the future while identifying specific priorities for monitoring, adaptation and learning.

The SustainaMetrix team led a 2-day workshop to increase understanding of the Orders of Outcome framework with three of the WFF grantees in the Gulf of California : NIPARAJá, NOS, and COBI. Use a relevant case example in the Lower Gulf of California as a group exercise to both define a shared vision for work in the region and demonstrate the applicability of the framework to collaboration and learning;

We also led a half day session with some members of the Plataforma Bahia La Paz to introduce the framework and apply it to through an exercise to simulate how one would develop a vision for a desirable future with diverse stakeholders. Reflect on the meeting and summarize results, lessons learned, potential benefits and challenges, raised by the use of the Orders of outcome framework;

Finally, we worked with grantees to discuss specific place-based aspects of proposals for new initiatives that could benefit from the Orders of Outcome framework and suggest strategies for planning and selection of examples of metrics and indicators.