The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has been awarded a grant to facilitate planning for a Madagascar Lemurs Portal. This planning grant will be used to form partnerships with the lemur conservation community and determine what role a data portal could have in advancing conservation goals. It is vital that, if a portal is to be developed, it serves the needs of the lemur conservation community in Madagascar and worldwide. If sufficient demand for data access is evident, partners will articulate a consensus vision for a technically and scientifically robust, user‐friendly, open‐access data portal. The partnership approach of this planning grant aligns technical knowledge with experience in data mobilization to achieve the goals of submitting a project proposal to JRS and identifying co-funders to support the development of the portal.

The objectives of the planning grant for the Madagascar Lemurs Portal are to bring different actors, users, and data communities together to:

1. Develop a common vision for an open-access, multi-user “Madagascar Lemurs Portal”
2. Develop a detailed project plan as the basis of a consolidated grant proposal for the development of the Madagascar Lemurs Portal for submission to JRS
3. Identify additional partners and potential co-funding sources to leverage additional resources for development of the Portal.

• Solidified participation agreements from Developing Partners
• Identification of main user groups, end uses, and data providers.
• Development of project plan demonstrating agreement on vision, objectives, user needs, conceptual model, technical design, and priorities for project activities.
• Grant proposal developed for submission to JRS.