Help ASANA Conserve Costa Rica's Pacific Coast

ASANA continues to mature as an organization, but I must say, it is all on the shoulders of our exceptional executive director, Andrea Herrera.  Somehow, Andrea does it all – and then some. She does all of our project design, planning, management, monitoring, and evaluation work. She does all of our outreach work, including interacting with local communities and businesses, the Costa Rican Government, institutional donors (including the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the CR-USA Debt for Nature Swap Fund), and other partners organizations.  She does most of our fundraising, including developing and submitting proposals. And, ultimately, she does all the actual work of ASANA…. Heck! She even washes the ASANA vehicle and cleans the ASANA office!  In other words, and in all seriousness, ASANA would be nothing if not for Andrea and her smarts, passion, commitment, hard work, and good nature. I’m going to share here, with you, a few examples of the things Andrea produced, virtually by herself this past month:

• Facilitation of the Path of the Tapir Biological Corridor local council to produce a first draft of the first-ever 5-year strategic plan for the Corridor;
• Closing out our two major grants – UNDP and CR-USA Debt for Nature Swap – including wrapping up all program activities and closing out the financial books;
• Training local water commissioners how to consider and incorporate climate change adaptation issues into future water management;
• Management of monitoring of wildlife “camera traps” in two major protected properties in the Corridor;
• Representation of ASANA in the 1^st Congress on Wildlife Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Release in Costa Rica;  
• Design, production, and placement of new signs marking the boundaries of the Corridor along the three major entrance routes;   and
• Draft production of a short video on the Path of the Tapir and the Savegre River Watershed to be used for promotional purposes.

Is this woman Superwoman, or what?!?! I think you’ll agree that this represents a significant amount of work for one person in such a short amount of time. 

I desperately want to show Andrea in these coming months just how much she means to ASANA and conservation in the Central Pacific Zone. That’s why I am dedicating fundraising efforts, between now and the end of December, to Andrea – to show her just how much we all care about and appreciate her work.  So, I urge you to join me in supporting Andrea by supporting ASANA.  I will kick-off this campaign by making an additional personal donation of $200. Please join me and do what you can! And if you do want to make your donation in Andrea’s name, please indicate that on the GlobalGiving site.

Thanks,

Richard