Vamizi island in 2006 was more than 2 days away from the provincial hospital, a sailing trip of 6-12h from either of the district hospitals and 3-6h from the nearest health center. Obviously, health care was a major issue for the population. The health center with medical support and the patrol CCP boat used as an ambulance came to solve part of the basic health needs. There was no school in Vamizi when the tourism company started operating in 2003. First they supported the request of a teacher from the education department to Vamizi. Following that, the company raised the funds for the construction of a school in 2008. This was a major improvement to the children’s lives.

These two events, spearheaded by the tourism company, and later supported by the UniLúrio, were the foundation for the support of the communities to the LMMA.

Kadokawa Care Prevention Center was established by Toyama City using donations from citizens and the city budget. One citizen donated hundreds of millions of JPY, or around millions of USD, to the city for the improvement of social welfare services for elderly citizens, and the city decided to build a special center for preventive care on the site of a demolished elementary school. The city also received valuable and useful assets (i.e., hot spring facilities and special apparatus for exercise) donated by several citizens before it began operating. While the property is owned by the city, the facility is operated and managed by a joint venture of private companies.

In aging rural cities, the population aging rate is higher in the city center, and therefore it is important to make the city center more elderly-friendly. This means making the area safe, habitable and accessible to the elderly. Toyama City demolished and integrated several schools due to the shrinking and aging demographic context and utilized one of them for the site of the Prevention Care Center. The location in the downtown area is highly accessible by public transportation such as bus, light rail transit, and community bus from the central station.

Toyama City is promoting integrated and inclusive care services for the elderly population, and local networks play a key role. The city has 32 community general support centers as contact points for the elderly people in each community, where experts (e.g. nurses, certified social workers, welfare caretakers) monitor and guide the health of the elderly people and advise them to attend the Kadokawa Care Prevention Center, when necessary. The city also works together with a city-based voluntary club which 36% of all the elderly citizens of the city have joined. The city asks several members in the club to take a leadership role in promoting community-based activities for preventive care and communicating with the support centers and the City of Toyama. This community-based approach also helps members become more aware of their own health, and it enhances self-reliance and encourages mutual help among communities.

This initiative brings together all stakeholders, including different levels of government, around a 'collective responsibility' approach. The National Park is managed by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (a central government agency). Ensuring coherence between park management and planning processes and development at the wider landscape is a challenge.Addressing deforestation in the National Park while supporting improved farmer livelihoods requires improved links, policy coherence and an integrated approach between different government levels and agencies. Our initiative has sought to achieve this through government engagement at district, provincial and central government levels, securing support from each level for the 'Collective Statement of Intent'. Understanding what opportunities this presents for supporting the separate aims of individual government agencies (such as improved park management and protection, rural development and improved agricultural production) has been critical in engaging government. 

This building block is crucial in ensuring R2R is successful in the long term future.

A variety of marketing strategies are used to market R2R. These include a website, social media platforms, merchandise, printed flyers and brochures, attendance at national and international travel trade events and educational travel shows, email marketing, marketing through TIDE, and hosting familiarization tours. 

Initially, it was thought that R2R would attract mainly students wanting to enhance their resume. However, it was found that marketing costs associated with finding each individual participant were high. Now, the primary focus is on partnering with universities and travel planners who organize group trips.

R2R seeks to work with partners who may be initially costly to acquire, but who then provide a regular stream of participants. This includes universities who send one large group per year, and travel agents who may send five groups a year to take part in the program. Over time, building these relationships will mean that marketing costs will be reduced, and the focus will be on retaining those partnerships.

To date, R2R has formed excellent relationships with its partner agents, and continually strives to improve the services provided to ensure long term commitments from them.

Capacity building has been an important component of developing the R2R program. Prior to this program, TIDE had one tour guide on staff, and a number of ‘community researchers’, who are trained to carry out part time research and monitoring work.

With the program starting small and growing gradually, it was impossible to hire a full staff of fully qualified staff from the off-set, so R2R invested in those staff already working with TIDE to provide additional employment opportunities for them.

Since inception, capacity building amongst staff has continued in an effort to continually ensure that participants have a great experience with knowledgeable, professional staff. This has included providing SCUBA training, tour guide training, science training, marketing training, accounting training, and health and safety training.

Volunteer safety is considered priority, so staff undertake regular health and safety training, and follow risk assessment and emergency procedures set out by R2R. 

In order to host volunteers, the necessary physical and organizational infrastructure has to be in place. This includes, but is not limited to: accommodation; transportation; science equipment such as SCUBA gear, binoculars, and protective wear; health and safety equipment at all fieldsites; office equipment such as laptops and cameras; health and safety procedures, risk assessments and emergency plans; storage facilities; insurance policies; household and kitchen equipment.

For the R2R program, this process started two years prior to the program launch, when TIDE did an inventory of TIDE assets that could be utilized by future R2R groups. Where there were gaps, TIDE sought funding to better prepare for visiting groups. TIDE and R2R continue to invest in further infrastructure developments, for example in 2018 a new field station is planned that will open another of TIDE’s areas to visitors.

The key thing with this building block is to continue evaluating what infrastructure is in place, can currently be offered to groups, and what is needed for potential future groups. It is also important to review how effective these investments are. For example, what is the return on investment for more accommodation, larger vehicles, etc. Knowing this helps guide future investments. 

We hire project staff and meet with relevant stakeholders (government representatives, community leaders, and potential local and international partners/donors) to solicit their support and formalize each new FG project. With the help of stakeholders we identify interested farmer groups, lead farmers, and participants, and host orientation workshops prior to pursuing training and extension activities. We contact farmers by working with local government and community leaders and using rural radio to promote TREES and the FGA. This process takes 1-2 months as we vet farmers to ensure that they are truly willing to participate in the program. We prepare our Monitoring and Evaluation process which consistently collects data over the 4-year period. The M&E process consists of collecting information on our farmers through a baseline survey before they start the program, on metrics such as household dietary diversity and food insecurity and resilience (based off of USAID indices), along with measurements of the species diversity, and the number of trees per hectare on FG land.  Lastly, we look into the number of food crops and marketable products our farmers grow. This information is followed up with an annual sample survey of farmers to see how these metrics change over the 4-year FGA.

One of the key components that makes the R2R experience unique, is that volunteers participate in the hands-on conservation activities of TIDE. It isn’t just a learning experience, but a way for every volunteer to contribute. Thus, volunteer programs are carefully planned with the different teams at TIDE to ensure that participants are fulfilling a need, as well as gaining the experience they seek.

There are two ways this is done. The first, is when interested participants or groups have a particular interest in mind. In this instance, the R2R team discusses options with the relevant TIDE personnel, to identify projects that are required by TIDE, that will fulfil the groups interests. The second method used to achieve this, is to plan projects before identifying the participants. On a regular basis, the R2R meets with different TIDE teams to discuss future needs, and identify any programs that would be suitable for volunteer participation. These programs are then proposed to new contacts and partner agents.

The key thing, is to always ensure that participants have a great and enriching experience, in a safe environment, whilst helping TIDE to progress with its mission.