The priorities of the Darrell Posey Fellowship for Ethnoecology and Traditional Resource Rights reflects some of the key lessons learned by Darrell in his lifetime of working on applied ethnoecology and traditional resource rights:
- It is often the small, grassroots organizations with little visibility and limited administrative capacity which carry out some of the most effective and important, even if at times unrecognized, work;
- Because these small groups often lack the necessary networking, fundraising and reporting skills and capacities, they often face financial difficulties;
- The one-year funding cycle adopted by many funding schemes is too constraining and limiting;
- Ethnobiologists, especially those working outside of academia, have an extremely difficult time receiving financial support for their work;
- Ethnobiologists working within academia also often receive little financial or institutional support for their work, since ethnobiology and applied work generally does not fit easily within academic institutional priorities and promotion structures.
In response to these constraints, the Fellowship Program:
- Draws on a more inclusive nomination and selection process involving an extensive network of nominators and selection committee members representing a wide range of backgrounds and kinds of expertise.
- Provides a range of different grants aimed at supporting individuals with an outstanding record (Field Fellowship), small organizations or projects (Small Grants) and students (Student Fellowships).
- Has simple application and reporting requirements- recipients are selected because they do good work, have solid reputations, and we know that funds will be used effectively.
- Includes two years of support for most grant categories.
The process continues to evolve in response to our experiences, and we welcome any suggestions or comments.