6.44 Regular staff meetings to communicate and evaluate ongoing work
See option 3.4.2, Volume 1
44a. Three-day meetings for staff to review progress
Madagascar
The Biosphere Reserve Project in Mananara-Nord holds a three-day staff meeting every month. On the first day the technical committee (which includes the National Director, the Technical Coordinator and all the technical staff) discuss what they have achieved during the month in relation to what they had planned to achieve. The committee also tries to resolve any problems within the project. On the second day each section has a briefing from the relevant field agents. On the last day, all the project staff gather for a general briefing. The National Director and/or the Technical Coordinator give an overview of the project, then each section gives a brief review of their team's activities. Following that, the meeting is opened up to general discussion.
44b.Staff meetings to review programme and resolve field problems
Nepal
Within the Annapurna Conservation Area Project there are two forms of regular staff meetings: weekly and quarterly. Programme Committee meetings are held monthly to discuss and review programmes, progress and problems. Disagreements are aired and development issues discussed before decisions are reached, based on what is acceptable to the majority.
The quarterly meetings last for three days and involve all the regional field staff and officers from headquarters. Their purpose is to discuss and review programmes and resolve any specific field problems.
6.45 On-the-job capacity building
See option 3.4.3, Volume 1
45a. Training widens horizons for staff and local conservation
Nepal
On-the-job training and opportunities for professional enhancement are two of the priorities of the Annapurna Conservation Area Project. A wide range of appropriate short-term or long-term training programmes have been offered to staff at various levels. Project staff are sent to in–country training for appropriate skill development, leadership, training of trainers, communication and resource management. Some of the senior staff are sent abroad (e.g., to the Philippines, Thailand, Greece, Scotland and the United States) for training in administration and financial management, community forestry, agriculture technology, conservation education, wildlife management, etc.
This emphasis has brought important returns, and there are a number of success stories to attest to that. For instance, a villager from the project area joined the project in 1986. He was illiterate and came from a socially disadvantaged group. He joined the project as a porter to transport various construction and office materials from the nearest city centre, which was seven to nine hours walking distance. He served the project well in that post for three years. The internal staff evaluation team in 1989 recommended that his job title be changed according to his request and that he be provided with training. The project sent him for a two-week course in forest and agriculture nursery management at the Lumle Agriculture Research and Training Centre. Then he was transferred to a new field station with new job responsibilities as an agro–forestry nursery foreman. Within one year he made significant progress in this field. To enhance his knowledge further, he was sent on different agriculture-related training programmes. He also took a six-month literacy course in the village, which allowed him to read and write the basic Nepali alphabet. Thus he was able to keep nursery records by himself. On his own initiative, he also experimented with agricultural trials of different indigenous technologies, like preparation of herbal pesticides, manure tea (special organic liquid fertilizer from livestock waste), etc., with great success.
In appreciation of his extraordinary technical skill and innovative ideas, he was sent to the American Farm School in Greece in 1993 for a ten-week farming technique training course. Even though he could not speak or write English or Greek, he was able to perform as one of the best trainees in the practical session. This kind of opportunity not only motivated him, but also other staff working with him.
45b. Local staff share their training with others
Pakistan
Social forestry is becoming increasingly popular in Pakistan, especially in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). A major reason for this is the opportunities for on-the-job training and reorientation provided by earlier participatory forestry projects such as those in Kalam, Peshawar and Malakand-Dir. Graduates of these projects have spread to other areas and have assisted in setting up similar projects there. Gradually a critical mass has been created which is working towards institutionalizing social forestry in NWFP.
45c. Only the managers get the training
Madagascar
Some local staff working with the Integrated Conservation and Development Project in Madagascar reported: "In the four years we have worked with the project we have never obtained any training although a budget was allocated for staff training in the project documentation. It is always the National Director and the Conservator (both government employees) who receive training both in Madagascar and overseas! We think the reason for this is the short duration of our contracts. Although we have worked for the project for four years, we must renew our contract every six months".
45d. Adapting practices in response to community changes
Madagascar
The Dette Nature Project was initiated in 1989 to revamp Madagascar's Waters and Forests Department, which was struggling because of scarce funding and personnel. The project hired 350 Nature Project Agents (APNs) to work in 17 Waters and Forests Conservancies.
Initially, the agents were provided with only basic training to raise their awareness about environmental protection and offences against the state forest. In 1991, in response to a report prepared by the APNs regarding the interests of local people, it was decided to fund a number of Integrated Small Development Projects (PPDIs). To facilitate the implementation of these PPDIs, decision-making and fund management were highly decentralized. In addition, APN staff were given more in-depth training so that they could be employed by the government when the project was terminated.
In 1994, the project managers became aware that the activities being conducted within the PPDIs did not always correspond to the real needs of the peasants, so they decided to adopt participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques to identify the priorities of the local people. Every APN was thus provided with training in PRA techniques. In the future, no PPDI will be implemented unless it has first been identified through a process of PRA.
The changes in the project's strategies and activities since its establishment six years ago highlight the importance of increasing the capacities of the staff to meet the challenges of complex operations.
45e. Training provided to enhance local employability
Nepal
Employing local people can be made easier and more rewarding if coupled with on-the-job training. The Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) has a staff of more than 200 located in various field stations within the 7,600-sq.-km project area. Of these, over 65 per cent are local staff: 19 per cent of them are women. ACAP has a policy to give preferential employment to local people to make the project more people-orientated and sustainable. The local people are assisted by ACAP to attend different training programmes on topics such as poultry-raising, basic electricity, tour guiding, lodge management, carpentry and entrepreneurial skills and development.
6.46 Decentralizing decision-making within the conservation initiative
See option 3.4.4, Volume 1
46a. Decentralization works but there is still a role for a central office
The Philippines
The Central Visayas Regional project in the Philippines, funded by the World Bank, was set up to improve the natural resource base in six critical areas of the region. Specific project management was undertaken by 11 Site Management Units (SMUs), each coordinated by their respective Provincial Resource Management Offices. One of the projects's main objectives was to create a committee structure within the communities, which could encourage widespread grassroots participation in environmental management. Project activities at the grassroots level were organized by the SMUs. Constraints were soon identified by both the community members and the SMU. For instance, it was the SMU's responsibility to resolve difficulties impeding the project through cooperation with a range of government agencies. Although this bottom-up approach was very successful, some problems could be solved only at a higher level, through the direct intervention of the project's Central Office. This was particularly true in cases of political conflict and corruption.
Abridged from Villacorta and van Wetten in Davis, 1993.
46b. Staff shortage addressed through devolution
India
Since the late 1970s, the Haryana Forest Department (HFD) has become increasingly involved in participatory forestry management. The department undertook a highly successful community involvement exercise in Sukhomajri. It resulted in the control of land degradation through community involvement in the provision of dams and irrigation schemes. These measures facilitated the use of non-eroded areas for agriculture and helped restore the severely eroded hill country. This success encouraged the forest department to expand its dam construction activities to 39 communities between 1983 and 1988. Since the forest department had limited capacity to assist the communities in organizing, only 20 per cent of these communities were able to establish management societies and irrigation facilities similar to those established in Sukhomajri.
To address this problem it was decided to establish the Hill Resource Management Societies (HRMS) programme to increase the department's capacity to work with the existing village societies. This was achieved through the establishment of a Joint Management Planning Team comprising social scientists, community organizers and employees of the forest department. The team was charged with facilitating the selection of dam sites and the allocation of grass leases, motivating the villagers to take up responsibility for watershed management and improving interactions between the department and the HRMS. The team also trains territorial staff in community participation procedures and drafting joint management policies, and helps draft joint management agreements with communities in their respective territories.
Abridged from Dhar et al., n.d.
46c. Donor funding and bureaucracy impede decentralization
Burkina Faso
The Gestion des Terroirs programme in Burkina Faso started in 1986 with the aim of creating local village councils to take charge of natural resource management. These councils are supposed to work with government officers to reverse the trend toward land degradation and secure the sustainable uses of natural resources. Decentralization is also on their agenda, but implementation is slow. The bureaucratic culture does not facilitate the delegation of certain functions. Hence, village councils established under the programme are often overruled or undermined by forestry departments agents and other government officers.
The economic crisis makes it impossible for the state to initiate almost any new activity without the support of a donor agency. This makes decentralization very difficult, since it is futile to delegate authority to lower levels without the concomitant transfer of financial resources. Consequently, the resource management programme is implemented differently in various locations. This is due not to environmental or socio-economic conditions, but to donor preferences. The state is not in a position to influence the implementation to any great extent.
Abridged from: Engberg-Pedersen, 1995.
6.47 Reviewing the initiative for timing and flexibility
See option 3.4.5, Volume 1
47a. Institutional arrangements to suit different situations
Ecuador
A new government unit (INEFAN) was established in Ecuador to manage biodiversity conservation projects in eight high-priority national parks. Once the government structure and enabling legislation for boundary demarcation and tourism control were in place, the review of various existing projects began with the involvement of several NGOs and the private sector. New institutional arrangements proposed for the different parks included NGO management; private sector investment in sustainable forest management; joint NGO/village management; and local community management (with some state support) in a reserve occupied by indigenous peoples.
47b. Community management of wildlife, incorporating gender issues
Cosiguina, Nicaragua
One year after settling in a natural reserve on the Cosiguina peninsula in Nicaragua, a community of 28 families established a cooperative organization called Omar Baca. The National University of Leon, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and IUCN-ORMA worked with this cooperative to undertake a project on management of iguanas and garrobos (small alligators). Initially, only men from the community participated in the project, although women and children played important roles in many of the activities surrounding the management of the wildlife (construction of enclosures, reproduction, and cultivation of food for the animals). Over time, the women began demanding opportunities to participate in the project, to receive training and have responsibility within the cooperative. During the review process, the importance of including the women was recognized by the project, and in the second phase they were given equal opportunity and access to resources. Using the profits from their activities the women were even able to set up a rotating fund to provide credit for further production. The men of the community appreciated the women's work and the standard of living of the entire family increased.
6.48 Hiring staff from the local area
See option 3.4.6, Volume 1
48a. You can't teach what local people can contribute
Tanzania
Having no professional extension workers posted to the villages, the Forest, Trees and People Project (FTP) in Tanzania transferred most local project tasks and responsibilities to village contact persons (CPs) selected by the village governments and trained in FTP seminars and workshops. The CPs worked as extension agents and performed some of the tasks professional extension workers or village government committees would have otherwise done. They were not permanently employed by the project, but received allowances from it for activities outside their villages. They were also employed as labourers for tasks such as monitoring and research assistance. Occasionally they received compensation from the village for working on communal projects, such as nurseries; in addition, they were exempted from other communal work. The FTP found that employing local people as CPs provided many advantages. These included:
48b. Everybody wins when locals are employed
Peru
The Department of Forestry Management at the National Agrarian University in Peru selected the El Angolo Hunting Reserve, within the Northwest Biosphere Reserve, as the site most suitable for its wildlife study programme. The employment agreement reached with the local community created a win/win situation. Local ranchers and their employees were incorporated into the programme to serve as guides, wildlife consultants and field camp assistants. The university benefited from the arrangement by being able to integrate local knowledge of wildlife behaviour into its research projects. Local people benefited from the wages paid and were given an opportunity to influence the choice and design of studies at the research field site.
48c. Keep the skills in the community!
Bolivia
FUPAGEMA is a grassroots NGO based in Independencia, Bolivia. It was founded by people born in Independencia, who are called palquenos. FUPAGEMA has a policy of hiring only people born in Independencia and the surrounding area. This ensures that employees speak the local language (quechua), that they are familiar with local production (e.g., Andean tubers), that they are accustomed to long travel on bad roads, and that they share the local customs and habits. As a result, training is easier and when people retire they are still palquenos; the skills and knowledge they have acquired are retained within the community.
48d. Locals fill the project office across all divisions
Madagascar
The Biosphere Reserve project in Mananara-Nord has created some 60 permanent jobs at the local level. At the head of the project are the National Director (a government employee) and the technical coordinator. Then there are those responsible for each section: conservation; agriculture; animal breeding; fishing; infrastructure; health; education; handicrafts; administration; and sociology. Most of these responsibilities are held by natives of Mananara. Many local people are employed within each of these groups. In addition to this, the field agents hire local people for odd jobs (such as luggage carriers) whenever required.
48e. Value of national staff unrecognized in status and pay
Colombia
It is generally recognized that local people need to be involved in a conservation initiative because their local knowledge can be a great asset. Yet their recruitment must not be token, i.e., being done for image purposes or limited only to the less prestigious jobs.
Some years ago a European agency donated funds to the Colombian government to implement a sustainable development project in the Amazon region. The relevant needs, priorities and proposal were investigated and compiled over a one-year period by Colombian agents, together with a representative of the European agency.
Unfortunately, the final version of the project did not reflect the major concerns expressed in the initial report; all but one of the appointments to the management team were expatriates and all the local field offices were headed by expatriates. Colombian professionals were hired only for field work and had no input in running the project. Expatriates earned as much as three times what was paid to the nationals and were provided with significant benefits not made available to the national staff. Most of the local staff had university degrees and at least five years experience but they felt they were discriminated against on the basis of not having international experience. Local staff were frequently chastised for taking initiatives, talking with the local authorities, etc.
48f. Recruiting locals .... up to a point?
Uganda
In 1993 the Uganda National Park and the management of the CARE-supported Development Through Conservation Project realized the importance of maintaining links between park management and local communities at the grassroots level. They sought to do this by appointing Community Conservation Rangers (CCRs) in the Bwindi and Mgahinga national parks. By 1995, eight of the planned 15 CCRs had been hired to work in the 25 parishes adjacent to the national parks.
CCRs are recruited from within the communities on the recommendation of the local administrative leadership. The rangers live within the villages and are trained to facilitate community programmes such as:
6.49 Staff visits to the field operations
See option 3.4.7, Volume 1
49a. Learning by listening dropping in on local meetings
Uganda
In the parishes adjacent to the Bwindi National Park, where a multiple-use programme is being tried out, park and project staff are given a schedule of the various village meetings for the upcoming period. They are invited to attend any of these meetings, whether or not issues relating to the park are to be discussed. The staff take advantage of this offer as it helps them maintain contacts with the local communities and gives them a better understanding of the way the communities operate, the networks and hierarchies within the villages, the issues each community is dealing with and their priorities and values. The process also works the other way. Local communities are invited to some project management meetings to hear about the latest developments affecting the park.
49b. Local history tellers create a hornets nest
Senegal
In Senegal it is generally accepted that staff must attend a protocol meeting on their arrival when visiting a project area. Sometimes, after an introduction on the objectives of the visit and a welcoming speech by the chief of the village, a brief historical profile of the community is presented by the elders and chief. This has been a successful way of opening up communication between the project staff and the community members, who are generally proud to tell the story of the community which they know so well.
A curious event took place on one such occasion in a village called Doumga Rindiaw. After a presentation on the historic profile by one elder, so much disagreement arose within the group, expressed mainly in non-verbal ways (particularly on the part of the women) that the meeting had to be stopped. The elders decided that the history should be told by the Imam (religious leader), since he is the authority who keeps the records. The Imam was away from the village at the time, however, and the project team was unable to get the official version of the history of the community. Later, the team learned unofficially that at one time the village chief had been a woman, but this could never be said to outsiders!
6.50 Cultural presentations for the staff of the initiative
See option 3.4.8, Volume 1
50a. Cultural practices limit effectiveness of project
Zimbabwe
The Mutoko Agricultural Development Project (ADP) is situated in a former homeland in Zimbabwe. The area is dry, sandy, overpopulated and overstocked; there is serious ecological degradation as a result. The government is helping farmers rehabilitate the land through various government institutions. The ADP's general objective is to improve agri-cultural production through better collaboration between the farmer community and specialist government institutions. Sometimes these institutions have difficulties reaching and mobilizing farmer households, partly because of their approach, partly because their services are not tailored to the farmers' needs or abilities. The same applies to private companies (fertilizer, chemicals, etc.) and to some local NGOs. It has been found, for example, that many poorer farmers do not feel com-fortable attending the agricultural training sessions since the advice focuses on mechanization and fertilizers which they cannot afford.
In addition to these difficulties with the distribution of information, communication is hampered by the project structure. The main channel of communication between the management and the field is the Project Implementation Team (PIT). This provides a forum for project staff to meet with the farmer representatives and the extension workers to discuss results, problems and plans. The farmer representatives are volunteers and are elected by the village. Because of the hierarchical nature of the Mutoko society, however, the farmers' representatives tend to be sponsored by resource-rich male farmers. This means that the information being fed back to the project team about farmer's preferences and proposals are biased in favour of wealthier individuals. By structuring the project in this way the project team has limited its access to other groups in the community; as a result, several aspects of the project encountered unnecessary setbacks due to misinformation or biased responses.
As an example, the farmers' representatives reported to the PIT that the idea of using soil improvement plants (from the bean family) in crop rotations was of no interest to the farmers. In reality the local women were very supportive of this idea, because they valued the beans as food and realized that intercropping to increase fertility was a great advantage, especially for those with small tracts of land. Most farmer representatives had enough land and considered the beans to be 'poor peo-ple's food' so they never reported that the women supported the idea.
The project staff believe that their work would be more effective if women and resource-poor male farmers were represented on the decision-making body, but they do not know how to achieve this. Culturally, women are not allowed to hold a leadership position or even to speak in public. Had the staff possessed a better understanding of the local culture in which they were to operate, they could have designed their communication and consultation processes to be more effective.
Abridged from: Vannoppen, n.d.
50b. Facing existing structures and traditions
Burkina Faso
The Gestion des Terroirs (land management) national programme, which started in Burkina Faso in 1986, established village councils to reverse the trend towards degradation of natural resources. The programme encouraged broad representation in the councils to take into account the fact that various social groups utilize natural resources in different ways. Unfortunately, the councils never worked as intended, largely because existing local institutions for decision-making and resource management were overlooked. They were overlooked for reasons that many would approve: the institutions were not democratic and ignored significant differences in interests and power between local leaders and non-leaders.
Decisions on village affairs were traditionally made in a centralized manner, and the legitimacy of a decision had to do with the gender, age and family background of the person who made it. In the new system, the village council was legitimate in the eyes of the state and the donors because it was 'representative', but in several cases villagers did not respect or value the individual members. In fact, the representative nature of the resource management councils was not at all appreciated. Many villages felt no need for such a structure. In a typical village there are two institutions for decision-making: the chieftainship and the village working groups established by national policy to manage village affairs. Neither are democratic. There are no traditions for open discussion of village affairs, for criticism of decisions made by leaders, for public election of leaders, etc. Non-leaders do not consider themselves in a position to make any proposal regarding village affairs. They do not even seem to have opinions on these matters because, as some villagers argued, it would be offensive towards village leaders if they did. Though the project has not insisted on any strict form of representation, the idea, for example, that women should participate in council meetings was locally perceived as ludicrous.
Underlying the Gestion des Terroirs programme is the concept that having a representative in the council will safeguard the interests of each social group represented. This is far from being the case, as groups can be marginalized even when present. Also, stakeholder groups selected on the basis of their use of resources cannot be assumed to be homogeneous. There is a wide diversity of interests among the farmers, for example, according to their wealth and social standing. In addition, different social groups are not equally influential when decisions are made. None of these issues can be ignored by any conservation initiative that wishes to operate in rural Burkina Faso.
Abridged from: Engberg-Pedersen, 1995.
6.51 Integrating local culture and traditions with the conservation initiative
See option 3.4.9, Volume 1
51a. Saving the trees for the Netlangw earth spirits
Tanzania
The staff of the Forests, Trees and People Project in Babati, Tanzania, discovered and used important ecological insights inherent in local knowledge and practices. In the traditional Gorowa religion, there is a belief in earth spirits called "Netlangw" that dwell underground and are connected to trees and bodies of water. A typical site for the Netlangw would be under large trees where a spring emerges. Netlangw are offended if trees are destroyed where they dwell and may move away in protest, taking their water with them. Thus, protecting the trees ensures that Netlangw stays and the water source is thereby secured. The project staff found that in some areas, protecting the forests so as not to disturb the spirits was more effective than protecting forests for ecological reasons.
Abridged from: Johansson and Westman, 1992.
</a 51b. Tapping indigenous knowledge for resource management
Australia
Government departments are seeking the knowledge and skills of the aboriginal people living in the Tjuwanpa homelands for two separate ends: a programme to control bush fire and development of trails for tourism in a national park. In 1988 the Alice Springs Regional Bushfire Council realized that it had to do something to control the risk of bush fires. They sought the views of the Tjuwanpa people about the situation. It was agreed to use fire as a management tool in the traditional way. A fire programme was developed which took into account the needs of native flora and fauna as well as the aboriginal communities.
An employment scheme for aboriginal people in cultural resource management is in progress, funded by the government and administered by a state department. Through this scheme, people from the Tjuwanpa homelands are contracted to assist in land management and prevention of land degradation in the adjoining national park. Their work in developing trails to keep people away from more sensitive sites will reduce the impact of the thousands of visitors that come to the park each year.
Abridged from: Campbell and Siepen, 1994.
51c. Management plans include improvements to local practice
India
Workshops were held with local communities to draw up action plans for eight of India's national parks. The workshops sought to identify community needs, existing tenure and use-rights, and existing activities which were compatible with biodiversity conservation goals. After the workshop a number of livelihood-supporting activities were initiated, consistent with environmental and resource conservation. These included regulating systems for the harvest of non-timber forest products, extension services to improve water supplies and biological approaches to control soil erosion. Most of these activities built upon local customs and practices.
51d. Traditional forest management integrated into conservation initiative
Nepal
The Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is a traditional home of the Sherpas, an ethnic group whose subsistence depends on agriculture, pastoralism and the use of forest products. Prior to the establishment of the park, the Sherpas practised a system of forest management regulated by local communities. This shingi nawa system involved the appointment of forest guards among the villagers on a rotational basis. Guards were given the power to enforce community rules for managing common property resources. The rules included respect for boundaries of protected forest areas, wood collection zones, and dates for agricultural activities. Forest guards had the authority to fine violators. The guards were farmers themselves, who assumed the shingi nawa responsibility seriously and were respected by the rest of the community.
With the establishment of the national park, a different set of regulations and enforcement system was imposed on the Sherpa community. A contingent of army and civil staff was brought in from outside to en-force park rules. A series of efforts was made by park officials to develop dialogue with the local villages and to integrate the needs of local people into the planning and management of the park, but the Sherpas remained disapproving and suspicious of the park establishment.
It has been estimated that the forest depletion rate doubled in the early stages of park establishment from that of the preceding two decades. This was largely attributed to resentment of park rules, resulting in local people cutting down more firewood and timber than they needed in places where park staff could not properly regulate such activity.
After this disastrous experiment, the traditional shingi nawa was informally restored in the area, giving greater control and responsibility over park resources back to the local community. Improvements in the relationship between the local people and the park administration were noted. There was increased cooperation and coordination on park protection measures. The informal and unofficial status of the shingi nawa system remains vulnerable to interference from park administrators, however.
From: Serpa in Lewis, 1995.
51e. Conservation is our business!
Panama
Some communities in Latin America and the Caribbean have taken the initiative in deciding whether or not they want to participate in projects introduced from outside of their culture. For example, the Kuna people of Panama have rejected many development projects presented by the national government and western organizations in favour of creating sustainable models of development and conservation based on their own culture and beliefs. Although they have been criticized by national economists and politicians for not allowing 'real development' on their lands, (i.e., not allowing landless colonists to 'develop' their territory), the Kuna response has been that they are developing their land, in their own way and sustainably so. In addition, the Kuna are working with six international bodies and at least five national organizations on a number of projects they have developed and are managing jointly.
From: Barzetti, 1993.
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