The Common Ground Forum does not represent any particular views or positions, its purpose is to help build trust and relationships between people whose work is connected with deer management, so they can work together to find solutions to integrated, sustainable upland deer management.
Current areas of focus
Creating a cultural shift in CGF organisations
Our aim is for the ethos of working to the spirit of Our Common Ground Accord to become embedded within the upland deer management sector – and we are working primarily with the individuals and organisations of the Common Ground Forum to achieve that. This involves bringing different audiences within the CGF together regularly, to build relationships, discuss current issues and check for the “heat” in the conversations.
Increasing capacity within the sector
As part of this cultural shift, we need a critical mass of individuals to have the capacity and confidence to take forward the purpose of the CGF in their everyday working lives, embedding the change in their networks. We are training, coaching, and supporting individuals within the Common Ground Forum to have the skills and confidence to become “change makers”, influencing their peers, colleagues and wider networks. It’s these people who can help bring people together and work through difficult issues that affect the progress of the sector.
Increasing reach and influence
Expanding the reach of the Common Ground Forum, which includes linking to and building bridges with overlapping initiatives, will help to widen the impact our work is having and embed a legacy. Through events and communications we are engaging more people in the upland deer management sector to embrace working in the spirit of Our Common Ground Accord.
Linking government with practitioners on the ground
This is an area that is rising in significance as we bring together people from the various aspects of the deer management sector. We are building relationships between the government and those working on the ground to be able to have constructive conversations, demonstrating that there is a better, more effective way of finding the way forward on deer management, through meetings, field trips, and discussions.
Evaluation and shared learning
As a new approach to a decades-old problem, it’s important to monitor, evaluate, and learn from the results of the work, and assess the impact it is making. This learning is applicable to other areas where conflict is prevalent, so we produce annual evaluation reports which are publicly available.