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.
Description of the assessment tools at the start of the workshop, simplifying terminology into the local language
Ensuring that participants understand the type of information required
Ensuring active participation from everybody
Duration of the workshop - long days discourage people to attend
Participants knowledge and active participation
Participants availability for all sessions
Lack of data as a result of participants who did not show up can hamper prorgess
IMET tool has some challenges when working offline and there is a need to cater for this in remote areas
Most participants were not familiar with biodiversity conservation terminologies and some time needs to be added to allow for some explanations first.
Close integration with community members is vital - they feel important and provide all the information
There is need to probe some participants to get information
The tools need coaches knowledgeable about conducting the assessment
The assessment tools are giving insight information for improvement of the park management and identifies capacity building needs
PA Effectively manned - "The last band on the titanic"
Availability of donor funding for salaries
Partnerships for conservation
Compliance with health and tourism safety requirements for reopening
Identification of appropriate technology
Conservation Tech Lab
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
Conservation Tech Consultations.jpg
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
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.
Landscape-level collaboration - Learning from other players in the field to select technologies that have worked and can help in collaboration and sharing
Conservation Technology Laboratory - Existence of a technology development and trialing facility at the project site enhanced consultations with developers and other users. It was essential for conducting training, software configurations and system integration.
Knowledge of existing gaps - There was a clear understanding of gaps in data submission (time, geolocations and inconsistencies)
Team participation - Deliberate involvement of key staff members who have knowledge in the fieldwork designs, management needs and existing gaps is useful in pointing out technological needs.
Engagement of other organizations and people - It is important to learn from others who will indicate successful parts of the solution and associated shortfalls. These engagements would often help identify training needs, appropriate equipment and sustainability of the project
There is probably no fit-for-all solution - Application of identified technology/solution for data collection and/or analysis may need to be implemented together with other applications to enhance information management and sharing
Piloting before implementation - At the point of identification, it is useful to undertake a pilot rollout with a trial group if resources allow to gauge applicability and highlight potential pitfalls
Rhino friends enjoying a soccer match at the World Rhino Day celebrations Credit: SRT
Save the Rhino Trust
Learners from a local school during a march on World Rhino Day 2022
Save the Rhino Trust
Player during Rhino Cup Youth Champions League games
Save the Rhino Trust
Learners from the local schools during implementation of the Reading with Rhinos Programme
Save the Rhino Trust
The purpose of this building block is to ensure that the broader communities are involved in the conservation efforts through activities that they are passionate about i.e youth through sports, school children through reading programmes. This helps to improve the connectedness that the local people have with the rhinos and they value the rhino more.
Organized youth groups and structures
Willing and welcoming community
Strong partner co-operation
Feedback meetings attended by conservancy leadership have proven to be an important communication tool to discuss objectives, challenges and ways to improve the monitoring programme. We have also implemented various projects to engage local communities through sports, reading programmes and youth clubs. Through awareness campaigns local people feel and realize the important role they play towards the conservation of rhinos.
Coral Rearing In-Situ Basin (CRIB) provided by partner SECORE Int.
Lorenzo Mittiga
In June 2019, RRFB started the first larval propagation project in Bonaire in collaboration with SECORE International. The goal of the partnership is to establish a technical cooperation in which RRFB provides local knowledge, manpower, field logistics, and a facility, and shares all field trial results, monitoring data, and qualitative feedback on methodologies and technologies provided by SECORE Int. In return, SECORE Int. provides techniques, methodologies, expertise and training sessions on larval propagation. This partnership's knowledge was crucial for successfully implementing larval propagation techniques in Bonaire. By consistently sharing results and lessons learned, the technique was improved, leading to greater success and scalability for future project replication.
The existence of a well developed and effective global network of scientists and practitioners willing to constructively share knowledge.
A formalized partnership with well-defined roles and responsibilities.
The opportunity for and committment to scheduling regular virtual and in-person training sessions.
Having a shared vision and goals among partners.
Importance of scheduling regular meetings with partners before and after each major step of technique implementation to formalize results, feedback and lessons learnt.
Identifying facilitators and Assistant facilitators and identification of stakeholders for both trainings
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
Good stakeholder map available allowing informed selection of the relevant people for the assessments
Endorsement by the Ministry and Park management for support of the processes
Identify possible obstacles and solutions prior to the workshop
There is need to invite stakeholders on time to diarise and create time for their participation
Sometimes there is need to identify specific people who are involved in projects because they have information that is needed for the process. Ministries sometimes send participants who do not have that information.
Considering motivation for participants to keep them throughout the entire period of the workshop (some participants especially community members and the local authorities)
Considering interviewing of the decision makers who are not able to attend the workshop at another time to ensure their input is part of the process.
Establishing information centers in Mangabe Reserve
Use of the Mangabe information center by the women group
Madagasikara Voakajy
The IMET evaluation of Mangabe Reserve in 2020 revealed weaknesses in infrastructure, capacity and communication that hamper effectiveness of the Reserve. Sustainability of the Reserve depends entirely on the capacity of the local communities to manage it. This is compounded by poor education levels of the population and difficult access to the villages. Over the past years, we have been bringing technicians from the towns to inform and train community members. It is now time to make this knowledge available locally so that youth who are better educated can access and use them as needed. Our challenge until 2030 is to establish an information center at each of the ten villages within Mangabe Reserve. In 2021, we started the initiative to build three information centers in three villages (Mangabe, Andranomandry, and Avolo) within the Mangabe Reserve. At the center, all community members will be able to obtain information about the Reserve and the existing regulations from one place. They will also be able to learn about improved farming techniques and read documents on financial management, personal development, etc. The center will represent the permanent presence of the Reserve that people will know and respect. As a result, we expect annual forest cover loss to decrease below 250ha from 2022.
Consult and collect the needs of local communities
Local communities give act of land endowment to build the information centers
Involve community members during the process of the building of information centers
To run information centers, we planned monthly events involving staffs from Ministry representatives and other guests to cover relevant topics for the local communities (importance of Protected Area, sustainable agriculture, health and hygiene…). Due to the delay in the building of information centers, acquisition and transport of equipment, and fieldwork missions, this objective was not achieved as planned. This led us to design an annual planning of the use of information centers. In 2022, the information center in Mangabe village was used for sewing and embroidery course for the women group, the information center in Andranomandry was dedicated for alphabetization course for adult people, and the information center in Avolo village was mainly used for community meetings.
Engaging key stakeholders to update the management plan of Mangabe Protected Area
Validation of the Mangabe management plan at national level
Madagasikara Voakajy
After obtaining the permanent status of the Mangabe Protected Area in 2015, the first management plan was developed and implemented. In August – December 2019, we already ran community consultations on what should be included in the new management plan. In 2021, we ran three workshops to update the management plan. The first workshop involved MV team members and the regional representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. The aim of this workshop was to write the updated management plan and to prepare the following workshops. Following the protected area management law, the updated management plan was presented, discussed and approved at regional level on 19-20th August 2021 involving regional and local authorities. In the end, Madagasikara Voakajy team made relevant changes according to the feedback received. Then, to comply with the law, the management plan was validated at the national level during a meeting of the protected area management committee on 22nd October 2021. The updated management plan includes the valorization of natural resources and improvement of human well-being. After doing relevant changes from participants ’feedbacks, the updated Mangabe management plan was ready to share with relevant authorities on January 2022.
To update the management plan, active participation of all stakeholders is the main key enabling factor for this building block. All communities and stakeholders (regional and national) were involved in developing the management plan. All their inputs and feedbacks were considered and included in the updated management plan.
The update of Mangabe management plan made us reflect on having sufficient data. For instance, regarding social data, we did not have the trends of the population numbers living around the Protected Area. We also did not monitor other social aspects including health and schools. Even though our teams go to the field regularly, there is a lack of data for mapping such as rivers, villages, and trails. This serves us as lessons to create a database on social, economic, and ecological aspects when the five year management plan is over. The management plan plays an important role when seeking funds to implement the activities and it is also a reference tool for assessment.
