Implementation | PANORAMA

Working with communities to ensure them sustainable economic activities and justice

The forestry sector is suffering from corruption and is limiting benefits for local and Indigenous communities. Our solution allows local communities to tackle forest illegalities and land rights violations and at the same time to secure their land rights and economic rights over forest resources by monitoring and protecting their territory, reinforcing sustainable development and autonomy. Data collected through the tool also supports judicial or non-judicial cases when local and indigenous communities suffer human rights abuses.

A good understanding of the current economic activities of the communities is needed
Financial means to engage legal procedures is a must
Collaborate with local partners specialised in legal actions or in sustainable business activities
Parallel advocacy work to secure individual and collective land rights

Sensitization on sustainable economic activities is key for the project success, and it must include all groups of the local or Indigenous community and have specific sensitization for women and girls.
Staff trained or specialised in the different fields (justice/law & sustainable economy) is needed Women and girls are key change agents who have to be fully integrated in projects

Implementation

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Building strong advocacy networks of local, national and international civil society organisations (CSOs)

Having data collected and analysed through a digital tool is an innovation, although to foster changes and ensure local communities and Indigenous people's protection and sustainable lifestyle the data is used for law enforcement and advocacy purposes. To this end, strong local, national and international advocacy networks are needed to take action against reported abuses and to achieve policy changes. By enabling information to be shared between users and opening up data to the general public, the tool facilitates collaborative working.

Collaborating with CSOs who works on similar topics and share values, visions and goals is essential
Promoting collective data verification and analysis to foster joint responses to alerts and advocacy actions
Maintaining good relationships with a range of institutional actors who know and consider the tool as a valid monitoring tool and support it.

Even if building and strengthening CSOs networks is fundamental, it is important to respect when organisations don’t want to work together and find ways to support each CSO’s work instead of pitting organisations against each other. This requires adaptability in projects and advocacy towards donors.
To ensure that the networks are sustainable, medium- and long-term funding is needed to guarantee that the coordination functions run smoothly (secretariat, coordination of working groups, etc.).

Implementation

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Working hand in hand with grassroots organisations/Indigenous and local communities

The evidence is building that granting Indigenous peoples and other local communities' control over their territories improves forest protection. This is because they are directly invested in the survival of forests and want to ensure that future generations can continue to live and thrive in them. Yet a lot of development and environmental and climate-related programs are not created in collaboration with the people who will be impacted by them. Therefore, our solution arose from the challenges that grassroots organisations and Indigenous and local communities brought to our attention. Those communities are the ones living all the forests illegalities and land tenure violations therefore by directly tackling their challenge it ensures the solution to be genuine and efficient. Working with them directly helps us to better understand the contexts they are facing and adapt the tool in consequence.

Build strong and lasting relationships with partners and people using the tool
Having an adaptable tool which allows to be reactive to changes
Adequate financial resources
Collaborating with Indigenous and local, grassroots organisations

Building strong relationships requires cultural sensitivity, time and efforts. It is important to listen closely to stories and challenges people share to be sure that the tools respond to their needs and contexts.
Having beforehand researched on the cultural, traditional and socio-economic context strengthens the collaboration and to make the tool more relevant and impactful. Working with Indigenous-led or locally-led organisations to truly address their challenges

Planning phase

Implementation

Documentation and dissemination of results

Job creation or Work opportunities

Contour Enviro Group further coordinate and create job opportunities for the MSMEs that have gone through the training programme so that they may practice their acquired skills. All of our MSMEs have acquired work since the inception of the programme and this has brought some sustainability on the model.

The MSMEs work opportunities to date through Contour Enviro Group who coordinates work opportunities in the sector.

The organisations that made this building block possible include but not limited to the following:

City of Cape Town
Cape Winelands Fire Protection Association
Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve
Conservancies

Once again, it was realised that their work is inundated with administrative work which they do mostly on books in field which often get lost. Thus the Grasshopper Project Management tool was developed in order to support them while they are working in field.

Conservation MSME Development Programme

MSME Field Teams

Contour Enviro

MSMEs in field

Contour Enviro Group

As mentioned in the previous sections, this programme is meant to achieve the following: “to develop, empower, support and professionalize Conservation MSMEs in the conservation sector in South Africa”.

The programme has trained over 20 MSMEs and created over 400 jobs annually since 2022 based on this programme. This programme is the main building block for the Grasshopper Project Management Tool as it was realised that the MSMEs need some support and a consolidation of their project management efforts, access to basic financial tools such as quoting and invoicing. Furthermore, to manage their assets etc.

The organisations that made the Programme successful have already been mentioned however they are listed below once again:

The Nature Conservancy- South Africa
The Table Mountain Fund
WWF-South Africa
Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Environment
Department of Small Business Development
Tourism and Conservation Sector Education and Training Authority

The focus of the programme is as follow:

Mentorship and coaching
Business support and development
Business, finance, and Human Resources training

MSMEs need to manage their projects efficiently.
The government partners already mentioned above need support to manage their alien vegetation teams and this solution will be a great tool to do so.
Resource wastage

https://youtu.be/PlL73w503oA?si=MB5ynGlLjYtBd4lc

Technical Support and Training

A holistic digital ecosystem must support landscape scale tool.

CCF offer implementation and training.

Through our partnerships we offer an online course to sustian the technologies

Online Course

Scalability is now key as we are assiting so many parks

EarthRanger

Visualisation platform for real time protected area management data

Long term partnership with the AI2 Team

Data must flow seamlessly from field based hardware through the network into Earth Ranger

Diagnostic information is key to good support and maintenance

LoRaWan Gateways

Previously these have been donated by Cisco Inc

Cisco 5-7 year support

good robust tools with warrantee support is required to last 5-7 years

Actility LoRaWAN Things Park Network Server

The network server connects sensors, gateways and end-user applications and ensures reliable and secure data routing all along the LoRaWAN network. Along with the Operation Support System (or OSS), they are the brain that controls the complete LoRaWAN network

https://www.actility.com/lorawan-network-server/

It collects data from the LoRaWan Gateways and transports this data from field based sensors on to Node Red which sends data to Earth Ranger.

It can be self managed through training. It is easy replicable.

It can be deployed on-premise or on the cloud

It works extremely well. It is now implemented across 35 parks, with 1000 sensors capacity across sites.

Strengthening community engagement and expert knowledge

Restoration Community Member

Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation

Top project badge

Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation

With our platform and tools, we not only provide opportunities to raise funds, simplify data collection for monitoring, and detect forest fires earlier to enable faster response, but also foster a sense of ownership for small grassroots projects tackling the globally critical issue of the climate crisis. Each project on our platform is encouraged to share its challenges and success stories with us and the broader community. This engagement happens through regular Community Talks or direct connections with other projects facing similar challenges, fostering meaningful discussions and facilitating valuable knowledge exchange at both local and regional levels.

Our project badges further enhance this sense of belonging, serving as both a symbol of community membership and an official seal of quality for potential supporters. Additionally, our free and confidential advisory service offers Restoration Organizations tailored guidance from our team of experts, empowering them to sustainably develop and improve their initiatives.

Active Community Engagement: Regular opportunities for interaction, such as Community Talks and peer connections, are essential for fostering collaboration, knowledge sharing, and mutual support among projects.

Training and Support: Providing training and ongoing technical support to project implementers ensures they can maximize the tools' capabilities and interpret the data effectively.

Recognition and Validation: Tools like project badges that serve as symbols of quality and credibility are important for both community morale and attracting potential supporters.

Tailored Advisory Support: Offering accessible, expert-driven, and confidential guidance ensures projects can address their unique challenges and make sustainable improvements.

Accessible Technology and Tools: User-friendly, reliable tools for fundraising, monitoring, and early detection of challenges like forest fires are vital for grassroots projects to operate effectively and achieve their goals.

Global yet Local Focus: Balancing global relevance with local impact ensures that both the broad climate crisis and specific regional needs are addressed comprehensively.

Key Lessons Learned

Community Engagement Builds Long-Term Value
Regular interactions through Community Talks and direct peer connections foster a strong sense of belonging and shared purpose. Projects benefit greatly from knowledge exchange, but these forums require consistent facilitation to ensure meaningful participation.

Recognition Drives Motivation and Credibility
Project badges act as an effective tool to recognize and validate project quality, boosting morale among implementers and instilling confidence in donors. However, the criteria for earning badges must be transparent and consistently applied to maintain trust.

Support Must Be Tailored and Accessible
Free advisory services have proven invaluable for projects facing diverse challenges, especially grassroots initiatives with limited resources. However, ensuring adequate capacity within the advisory team to meet growing demand remains critical.

Challenges and Aspects That Did Not Work

Inconsistent Participation in Community Engagement
Not all projects actively participate in discussions or share their experiences, limiting the potential for mutual learning. Encouraging broader involvement remains a challenge.

Balancing Standardization with Flexibility
While project badges and standards provide structure, some grassroots projects felt constrained by rigid criteria that didn’t fully account for local contexts. Introducing adaptability within guidelines has been key.

Advice for Replication

Foster Inclusive Communities
Actively encourage participation in knowledge-sharing initiatives by highlighting benefits and providing incentives for engagement, such as showcasing success stories.

Invest in Scalable Support Structures
Build a robust advisory team and implement scalable processes to accommodate the diverse needs of a growing project community.

Implementation

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

Global