ABSTRACT
Managing staff, finances and assets lies at the heart of a protected area organization's capacity to operate. People are needed to achieve an organization's primary mission. Staff (and contractors) must be hired and paid. They need a base from which to operate. Hence, offices and workshops must be purchased, constructed or leased. People need to be mobile and to have access to equipment and materials. This may require the use, hire or purchase of transport, vehicles, heavy construction plant and other equipment. Staff also need a supportive operating framework, which ranges from employment contracts to workplace safety rules and skills training. Financial budgets need to be secured and managed. Bills have to be paid. Staff should be treated fairly. Workplaces need to be safe. Systems need to be in place to evaluate and monitor the staff 's performance so that professional standards remain high. Numerous routine administrative tasks and systems are required to support the conservation of a protected area. Organizations must operate fairly and equitably relative to their staff, and need to be accountable. Well-designed administration systems help to manage these needs. In this chapter we give an applied perspective on such basic systems.
