Building trust with the community and local partners

The implementation of a new project requires the social acceptance of the local population. The objectives, strategies to be followed, the conceptual approach to implementation (in this case ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change) needs to be communicated and the communication and coordination mechanisms for the implementation need to be established.

The EbA Amazonia project, implemented jointly with SERNANP and ECAs (Ejecutor del Contrato de Administración de la Reserva / Executor of the Administrative Contract of the Communal Reserve) -representatives of communities - should present a united front with all the actors involved. So from the  day that the communities entered, the project established concrete roles for all actors in the implementation of activities (e.g. SERNANP and ECAs). This generates a vision of unity and projection of activities beyond the life of the project (sustainability) since the SERNANP and ECAs are entities that perpetually interact with the local population.

  • Involve all project partners in each field visit according to their roles and responsibilities.
  • Openness, honesty, accountability and punctuality.
  • Acceptance of the project objectives by the local population.
  • Clear and simple language and local language.
  • Always involve the local partners of the project - members of the ECA and SERNANP - this enhances trust and sustainability, beyond the life time of the project.
  • To involve local governments from the inception of the project on.
  • It is difficult to be on time with all the agreements made in a project that has many fronts of action (several activities at a time).
  • It is difficult to be on time with activities involving institutions that have long administrative procedures (such as UNDP).
  • It is difficult to communicate to the local population how complicated administrative procedures can be. According to the perception of the local population the project has funds and only needs to spend them.