Inter-community meetings

Meetings were held between pairs of 2 nearby villages, with a monthly rotating schedule between the 3 pairs of villages, so that the same pair of villages met once every 3 months. These meetings involved the PECC committee members of the hosting village, as well as 3-4 committee members of the visiting villages (for logistical reasons, not all members of the visiting committee attended). The villages that were paired alternated in hosting the meetings. The inter-community meetings allowed for exchanging ideas and sharing experiences about their relationships with the park, including successes and challenges. They served to strengthen relationships between different villages, and helped to understand unique issues in other villages.

All villages shared a similar perception of the park and a feeling of “being in the same boat”, which made it easy for them to come together and find a common understanding. The communities of the area are all very closely connected through family ties and people have frequently lived in the area for generations. Close connections with adjacent villages are the norm and these connections strengthened the potential to create meaningful dialogue on the concerns over park management.

PECC committee members said that for the future, it would be good to invite communities from villages that are further away as well, rather than only the ones that are located nearby. Usually, representatives from the hosting village tended to feel in control of the meeting and dominate the discussions. In the future, this could be mitigated by assigning dedicated time slots in the agenda for discussing issues of both villages separately.