CANARI receives MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation recently announced that CANARI is one of eight winners of the 2009 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, and the first-ever winner from the Caribbean. In making these Awards, MacArthur does not seek or accept nominations. To qualify, “organisations must demonstrate exceptional creativity and effectiveness; have reached a critical or strategic point in their development; have budgets of less than $5 million per year; show strong leadership and stable financial management; have previously received MacArthur support; and engage in work central to one of MacArthur's core programs”.

CANARI’s relationship with MacArthur dates back to the late 1980s and the Institute is currently implementing two MacArthur-funded projects:

  • Climate change and biodiversity in the insular Caribbean
  • Going from strength to strength: Building capacity for equitable, effective and sustained participation of civil society organisations in biodiversity conservation in Caribbean island.

CANARI intends to use the US$350,000 grant that accompanies the award to test and apply new strategies in the following areas:

  • enhancing the Institute’s long-term financial stability, notably through the development of an endowment fund;
  • enhancing the technical capacity of the Institute’s staff through short ‘mini-sabbaticals’ which will enable staff to focus in more depth on key aspects of CANARI’s research than is usually possible under project funding; and
  • communications research, with a particular focus on how research conducted by CANARI and its partners has influenced policy making and community-level action.

On June 11, 2009, awardees will be honoured at a ceremony at MacArthur's headquarters in Chicago, which will be attended by CANARI’s Executive Director, Sarah McIntosh, and Board Member, Dr Patrick McConney. Additional information about the award is available at www.macfound.org/macei/2009.

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