About this manual

This manual supports the coaching and sensibilization activities of the Central-BIC project (Activity 3.3 and 3.4). It provides coaches and facilitators with background knowledge, practical methodologies, sector-specific tools and session guides to engage producers, market actors, communities and public administrations toward sustainable, biodiversity-based models through Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes and Biodiversity Stewardship Communities (BSCs).

Chapter 1 sets out the project context, the rationale behind the coaching approach, and the three pilot sectors in which coaches operate: livestock and pastures, agriculture and local products, and integrated tourism. Chapter 2 defines the coaching approach itself, laying out its core principles, a five-phase coaching process, and the target groups and entry points coaches should use to engage producers and stakeholders on the ground.

Chapters 3 to 5 are sector-specific. For each of the three pilot sectors, the manual explains why the sector matters for biodiversity, identifies the key ecosystem services coaches should communicate to producers, outlines the relevant PES opportunities, and provides practical session guides — for example a fully scripted first coaching visit to a livestock farmer (opening, landscape walk, ecosystem-service explanation, PES opportunity discussion, BSC introduction, next steps), as well as guidance on overcoming common resistance from agricultural and tourism operators.

Chapters 6 and 7 cover the two central mechanisms of the project. Chapter 6 explains what a PES is in practical terms, distinguishes public and private PES typologies, gives coaches key messages for explaining PES to producers, and sets out a six-step PES design process. Chapter 7 does the same for Biodiversity Stewardship Communities: what a BSC is, the principles of BSC governance, and the step-by-step BSC formation process.

Chapter 8 provides ready-to-use facilitation tools: a standard format for individual coaching sessions, a full facilitation guide for community workshops (including timed agendas for territory walks, small-group work on ecosystem services and payment models, and plenary consensus-building toward Local Action Plan priorities), and a bank of open questions coaches can use in the field. Chapter 9 closes the operational core of the manual with monitoring and reporting requirements for coaches, a set of coaching indicators to track, and a structured method for capturing lessons learned after each significant coaching activity.

The manual is completed by six annexes: a glossary of key terms; a list of key reference documents; a post-coaching evaluation questionnaire (used to measure participants' knowledge before and after each session, their attitudes, and the perceived usefulness of the coaching, across dedicated sections on Ecosystem Services, PES and BSC); a full practical sub-manual, "Identifying Your Ecosystem Services and Building PES Schemes," addressed directly to operators in the three sectors and structured around the same six-step PES design process; a companion practical sub-manual, "How to Build a Biodiversity Stewardship Community," again organised by sector; and a BSC Annual Management Report & Planning Template, to support the long-term governance of the communities once established.

Taken together, this structure is what allows the manual to function as the durable, self-standing instrument the territories requested: a single reference document that partners, coaches and, eventually, third parties can use to replicate the coaching, PES design and BSC formation process independently of direct project support.

D.3.3.3 COACHING MANUAL

Guiding Producers and Stakeholders toward Biodiversity-based Sustainable Models · PES & BSC

https://www.interreg-central.eu/projects/central-bic/