There is a lack of information on sooty falcons, particularly on the wintering grounds. There is a lack of trans-national collaboration within the range of the sooty falcon, particularly between the breeding range states and the non-breeding range states. These deficiencies undermine sooty falcon conservation. In addition, the sooty falcon is a potential flagship species, but because of a lack of public outreach and education this status, which would be beneficial to achieving wider conservation objectives, is not being harnessed. The whole of Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot. Similarly, Oman is biologically rich because of its diverse landscape that straddles the border between Africa and Eurasia. The main breeding areas of sooty falcons are designated as Important Bird Areas, and the Daymaniyat Islands (which hold about 40% of the known nests in Oman) comprise the only marine nature reserve in Oman. As a Category 1 species in the CMS Action Plan for the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey, the sooty falcon's conservation is a priority. This proposal supports the Action Plan's objective of halting and reversing the population decline of this Near Threatened raptor. This proposal also adopts and supports prioritiy actions cited by the Action Plan, including (but not limited to): protection from unlawful killing; conservation of sooty falcon habitats; protection and appropriate management of important sites; raising of awareness about sooty falcons (and other species); assessing and monitoring of sooty falcons throughout the Range States to establish reliable population trends; undertaking research to identify threats to sooty falcons and the measures that are needed to counter them; sharing of information between Range States; undertaking research into sooty falcon ecology and migratory behaviour; and building capacity for conservation actions (in relevant institutions and local communities in both Oman and Madagascar). The proposed work builds on the CMS funded Action Plan, and addresses sooty falcon-specific needs cited in that plan, including: identifying areas important to sooty falcons on migration and on the wintering grounds, improving sooty falcon protection, raising public awareness to promote sooty falcon conservation and conducting conservation focussed sooty falcon population monitoring and research. There are two phases to this proposal to link Madagascar and Oman, and promote a geographically and temporally-whole approach to sooty falcon conservation: 1) a visit during the breeding season to Oman by Malagasy biologist/conservationists, and then 2) a visit by Omani biologists to Madagascar during the sooty falcon non-breeding season. Visits at both times will have strategic planning and field research components, the aim of which will be to educate and build a team from Madagascar and Oman so that a holistic approach to sooty falcon conservation can be taken. These visits will be linked to one another in a way by the tracking movements of sooty falcons between the two countries using satellites. The purpose of the visit by a Malagasy team to Oman is to initiate the building of a partnership between the two countries by allowing Malagasys to participate in breeding ground surveys, fit sooty falcons with satellite transmitters and learn how to track them. Formal and informal discussions will aim to develop a strategy for continued cooperative work between the two countries, and consider how best to develop a multi-state, range-wide cooperative network based on an Oman-Madagascar kernel. It is worth noting that preliminary analyses undertaken in Oman in cooperation with researchers at Sultan Qaboos University have shown agricultural chemicals to be present in sooty falcons. Because Oman is not an agricultural country these chemicals must come from other areas, including Madagascar. The visit to Oman will enable Malagasys to discuss ways forward in contaminant sample collection and analyses to better understand their potential impact on the falcons. Funding will be used to purchase a single satellite transmitter and its satellite time for a year as a Malagasy "buy-in" to the larger tracking project being undertaken by the Omanis. This tag will be an identifiable fulcrum on which the results from other falcons being tracked by the OCE can be leveraged for public outreach and education, especially in Madagascar. Because this tag will be tracked at the same time as others, it will both benefit the effort to understand falcon movements by adding to the sample size, and receive benefit from the project by being tracked with other individuals. Funding is also sought to support travel by biologists working in Oman to Madagascar in early 2013. This trip will enable workshops/meetings to be held, and pilot field work to be undertaken in Madagascar. The aims of the field work will be to gather basic data on sooty falcon numbers and winter ecology, to gather information useful in planning future collaborative (particularly winter-time) work important for conservation, and to solidify the working partnership between Oman and Madagascar. The purpose of the workshops/ meetings will be to review the existing Action Plan, prioritize tasks and determine how those tasks might be tackled. The visit to Madagascar will allow the team to create a target list of likely funders and partners and to draft a global proposal that can be the foundation for approaches to funders. Recognizing that some funders/partners may be interested in only some of the priority tasks identified by the team, the global proposal should lend itself to being "dissembled" for the purpose of matching potential funders and partners with the priority tasks. This phase of the proposed work is of utmost importance. Having built a team that will have experience in both the wintering and summering grounds, it is important that the team is positioned to move beyond the CMS small grant stage and sustain a long-term effort aimed at conservation of sooty falcon across its range. Although the most important output of the proposed work will be the building of a team, the second most important will be a strategic plan and proposals that will enable future work and ensure that the CMS small grant investment pays off.