Announcing BCN's Forthcoming Final Annual Report
The 7-Year Itch - A Summary of BCN’s Close-out Activities
On September 30, 1999, after seven years as a USAID-funded program, BCN will come to a formal close, as planned, and BCN staff will begin to move on to the next challenge and adventure.
In fact, that process has already begun, and we want to quickly shed some light on the process of phasing out, and the valuable individuals who are no longer working directly for BCN.
Between November 1998 and March 1999, BCN offices in Fiji, India, and the Philippines closed. All of the staff from those offices has now moved on. Seema Bhatt and Chiranjeev Bedi (India), Diane Russell and Jessica Stabile (Fiji), and Ganesan Balachander, Chato Capili, Hazel Mascunana, Chuck Encarnacion, and Manuel Mejia (Philippines), and Nick Salafsky (Washington, D.C.) all contributed mightily to the overall BCN program as well as the individual project partners with which they had direct contact. And many of these individuals will continue to work with BCN and its partners on an informal basis. Basically, the work was sometimes overwhelming and frustrating. But that same work, and the personal and professional relationships that grew from it, is also downright interesting and compelling -- to the point that it’s hard to walk away for all of us.
And what of those who remain? BCN funding for each of the 20 projects it supports will come to a formal close as of June 1999 (many have already done so). To oversee this close-out (as well as the process of putting out various communications and analytical products), Connie Carrol, John Parks, Cheryl Hochman and Jennifer Jordan will continue to operate from BCN’s Washington, D.C. office, and Bernd Cordes will continue his presence in Indonesia.
This is not to say, however, that the projects themselves are ending. The BCN as a program will end on September 30, but almost all of the 20 projects will continue to do conservation and development work with alternative support. This won’t be the last time you hear about the Padaido Islands, Indonesia or Verata, Fiji, or Humla, Nepal...
