The SAGE methodology uses a stakeholder-led, self-assessment process to assess the quality of governance and equity.

The initial activity started with the identification of the key actor groups who have significant interest in the WMA or have power to influence conservation activities likely to affect conservation either positively or negatively e.g benefit sharing, livelihood projects supporting conservation and environmentally damaging activities whereby five different actor groups were identified and engaged as participants in the SAGE process. These actor groups represented members of the AA (Authorized Association), the board, representatives from men and women community, representatives from government, investors and other partners working in the same area.

Engagement of these key actor groups was the very significant success of the SAGE process because they have the better knowledge of the local environment and all the underlining activities going around in their WMA and they provided the right assessment and recommendation of their WMA.

Female rangers play an important part in the conservation of black rhinos in the Kunene and Erongo regions of Namibia. They are equally willing and able to conduct patrols and are fully supported by the custodian conservancies.

In the case of Sehlabathebe National Park, the analysis of the data and the priority actions for improvement  identified during the processes are feeding directly into the management plan for the area. This gives the outputs from the assessment more legitimacy, as they are 1) jointly identified by all relevant stakehodlers and 2) embedded in the formal government processes of managemen planning. The management plan can be used as a tool for resource mobilisation amongst donors and priority actions can then also be monitored through the monitoring of the management plan implementation.

The purpose was to  enhance knowledge on the assessment tools and to collect data for informed decisions. For the Intergrated Management Effectiveness Tool (IMET), this involves collecting comprehensive data on the ecological and management attributes of the park and for the Site Assessment on Governance and Equity (SAGE), it involves collecting data on the views and needs of all the stakeholders to facilitate a joint understanding of the governance and the key issues faced in governance of the site. This data is then collectively analysed and provides transparency for all stakeholders present as they have contributed to the data and the analysis. 

Data collection is digitised using technological applications often selected to meet the needs of a particular project. In wildlife monitoring and protection, SMART for Conservation was identified as a suitable software for it provides a quick form to record incidents while tracking the distance covered by each team. Further, data collected in this manner needs to be used alongside other datasets for well informed decision making. To achieve this, an integration with Earthranger (an online visualization platform) was instituted to allow visual analysis of incidents and patrol coverage against other components such as tagged animals, live streaming images from security cameras, points of interest and environmental hazard reports.

• Sensitization of the Ministry Management on the project for endorsement of the activities as the PA is managed by the government.
• Identifying facilitators who are knowledgeable about the tools with assistance from IUCN as this was the first time the training were conducted and there was no expertise in the country. 
• Identifying  assistant facilitators from the Ministry to assist with logistics and interpretation. Assistant facilitators, especially youth should also come from members of the community for them to feel free to provide information and feel the need to implement the findings together.
• Stakeholders identification for each workshop training was based on the type of data to be collected. The target participants for SAGE training were mostly the local authorities (Chiefs, local council) and other structures  involved in decision making in biodiversity conservation related matters. The target participants for IMET were mostly technical people involved in conservation related issues. Line Ministries were engaged in the training workshop to provide technical expertise on conservation related activities outside PCAs in their respective departments and to agree on the working relations to link conservation inside and outside the PCA

An excellent communication plan/network with different stakeholders was initiated across different levels. From the inception of the project, the community and other stakeholders were constantly capacitated on how the project is going. A relay of relevant vulture conservation and policy issues was achieved to the target stakeholders within the communities and KAZA TFCA.

The achieved results relied heavily on the collaboration and cooperation partnerships among various stakeholders, including government agencies, conservation organizations, scientists, and local communities. Collaboration with the Ministries/Government departments was key in sensitizing the communities on issues around human-wildlife conflict and suggested environmentally friendly ways to mitigate the conflict. The scientists were there to collect information related to wildlife poisoning and give feedback to the government ministries. The communities were the key stakeholder since they are the sole custodians of the environment.

The WIO-COMPAS programme arranges regional training sessions for their WIO-COMPAS programme. Where practical, the MPA staff may be facilitated to participate in this training. However, it is important to note that these training sessions may not be available at the time where staff capacity building is needed.

Where this is the case, a core team of local trainers may be established. The expertise presented by the trainers should be aligned with the seven core competence areas of the WIO-COMPAS programme. Preferably, internal expertise may be sourced from among MPA staff that have previously been certified and/or have a background in the competencies of focus. Where additional expertise is required, external partners may be included, or a consultant may be used. Alternatively, communication can be made to the WIO-COMPAS fraternity requesting for trainers to facilitate the training process.

After the training programme, it is necessary to select the trainees that showed the highest potential as mentors for the other MPA staff and assisting in the application process for the WIO-COMPAS certification. These mentors would also be contact persons for follow up and feedback to showcase progress in the assessment preparations.

Our team has identified the importance of accurate data collection, regular monitoring and oversight of data is done by the science and research adviser and Chief Operations officer to ensure accurate data is uploaded to the database. Population management and scientific decisions concerning the rhino population in the country are guided by the data collected during monitoring conducted by our patrol teams. Data based inputs are used to define the carrying capacity for wild-life based tourism and to plan and manage conservation and development activities.