Local | PANORAMA

Engaging key stakeholders

Stakeholder meeting during conservancy visit

Save the Rhino Trust

Since inception in 1982 we have built strong relationships with local communities, conservation NGOs, Ministry of Environment, forestry & Tourism and Traditional leaders in the rhino landscape.

Our work benefits the local communities through the creation of job opportunities as trackers and rhino rangers. By creating a healthy environment for rhino population growth, we have enabled custodian conservancies to sign agreements with tourism partners, this creates job opportunities in the community and additional income for the conservancies as tourism is the highest income generating industry for the majority of these conservancies.

Constituted communal conservancies, with clear standard operating procedures and constitutions.
Management agreements between tourism Joint Venture (JV) partners and custodianship agreements between the conservancies and the government.
Strong partnerships with other conservation NGO’s in the landscape

Conservation is a success when all stakeholders are equally engaged
Local knowledge is essential and can be a good guidance in decision making
Engagement enables us to identify and agree on areas of need and improvement

How black rhinos and local communities help each other in Namibia (mongabay.com)

Prior Assessments to Identify Capacity Gaps

SAPA Assessment - Public Participation with Local Community

WWF-Kenya

SAPA Assessment - Public Participation with Local Institutions

WWF-Kenya

While the WIO-COMPAS programme aims at improving the individual capacity of MPA professionals, it also has a compounding effect on the management effectiveness of an MPA. Therefore, a prior assessment on the different aspects of MPA management effectiveness is necessary for monitoring, evaluation, learning and adaptive management purposes.

It is thus recommended that the MPA implementing this process commences with at least one of the following assessments

Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool (IMET) or Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT)
Social Assessment for Protected Areas (SAPA)

Combined, these highlight gaps in the different aspects of an MPA, including management, governance, ecological health, and social wellbeing. These gaps can be used to tailor the WIO-COMPAS training programme towards addressing the gaps identified.

Institutional Recognition and Support: The institution managing the MPA must see the necessity of assessing the management status of MPAs. This will ensure appropriate funding allocation in the long term to facilitate the continual capacity growth of the MPA.

Capacity to Conduct the Assessments: Internal capacity is desired to reduce costs. However, external expertise may be sourced where necessary where capacity is lacking. This may include working with partner institutions on a pro bono basis or using a consultant to conduct the entire assessment.

Prior planning: It is necessary to consider the entire process beforehand. This includes identifying the expertise/personnel needed, the duration for the exercise, and any costs associated with it. Additionally, it is important to allocate specific tasks to the individual assessment team members to ensure the objectives of the exercise are fully met in good time.

Public participation: Engaging the MPA staff alone in the assessments leads to positively skewed results. Consequently, it is necessary to acquire views from other stakeholders as well to get a more holistic picture of the management gaps that the MPA is facing. It will therefore be necessary to map out stakeholders, including their influence and interests in the MPA, before the assessments.

Stakeholders’ engagement and sensitisation of local population

Working with local authorities (City Hall, Military and National Police) required prior strategic meetings and training of their personnel. Training prepared the military personnel for assistance in night patrols throughout the season, providing security to our employees whilst also sensitising them to conservation practices. It is common to receive job applications from military personnel after they have finished their service due to this experience and sensitisation. Meetings with the city hall and national police allow the conservation strategy to be shared, allowing for more effective response to infractions during the season. Whilst this was an uncommon event, even those infrequent encounters allowed for engagement and sensitisation of police officers and technicians of the council. Community engagement through initiatives such as the partnership with the local fishermen’s associations, was successful in sensitisation of a key community in conservation practices. This was achieved through giving incentives to the association (e.g. donation of material) in return for volunteer patrols of a beach neighbouring the MPA of Costa Fragata.

Contact and training with the relevant authorities; City hall, Military, National Police. An established connection with the community groups targeted through previous partnerships/projects or a spokesperson within that community that can encourage their community to partake in such initiatives. Continuous communication and follow up with all stakeholders throughout the project implementation and after through alternative means of sensitisation.

Direct employment is not necessarily the best and only option to engage with the local community. Constant presence before, during and after project implementation is key to a strong partnership or sensitization effect within the community and the stakeholders. Understanding the motivations or requirements of targeted communities and stakeholders can allow for a stronger, longer lasting partnership. The more knowledge and skills that can be shared in preparation for implementation of the project allows for a more effective implementation of the strategy. An example in this case, with the training of the military prior to the initiation of the patrols, a greater level of participation and interest was observed from the soldiers.

Entirety

Local

Data gathering

The consultant conducted a desk survey which included reviewing the existing C-CAM funding plan prepared in 2015 looking at the gaps, especially in light of the impacts of COVID-19; looking at similar organizations to see what mechanisms they have in place; focusing on the practicality of the implementation actions suggested in the plan to determine if the goals were achievable or realistic and what would be needed to make them more so as well as if the actions would achieve those goals. The consultant also had to look at what had changed since 2015 and consider what prevented the implementation of the plan at a more practical level

The consultant needed to have access to the 2015 plan. The consultant needed to be able to freely have discussions with team members regarding their knowledge of the plan and their feedback as to why the plan worked or did not work. Team members needed to be accessible as well as willing and able to freely provide the information needed by the consultant.

An inception session with the team would have been helpful in ensuring all players understood what was being requested and how we would all benefit from the exchanges with the consultant. It would also have given the consultant a global view of where the organization was.

It would have also been useful to do anonymous surveys with team members to get their feedback on what is in the plan or what should be in the updated plan which would have allowed for more frank and open input

Implementation

Local

Development of a compelling Operational & Biosecurity Plan

Kamaka sunset

Island Conservation

There were two important steps before starting the implementation of the project:

The development of an Operational Plan, which consisted of Rat eradication Methodology, Team Roles, Schedules, List of Gear & Materials.
The development of a Biosecurity Plan, which was shared with the local owners of Kamaka. The plan describes preventive measures - what to do to avoid bringing back rats or other invasive species on the island.

The development of an operational plan (including rigorous planning) was very important to prepare the project. Without this plan, we would not have been able to organize the logistics and coordinate the schedules of the different teams from SOP Manu, Island Conservation and Envico. SOP Manu's role was to organize local logistics and the fieldwork with hiring local team members, while Island Conservation brought in their expertise on rat eradication projects and ENVICO technologies (drone company) were the ones who were the technical experts flying the drone.

Had it not been for the delay in reopening the NZ borders, we could have organized better the logistics of this project.
We learned that even with an operational plan, a very thorough communication effort has to be made between the different structures for organizing this type of project that requires a lot of logistical support.

Planning phase

Local

Stakeholder engagement

The SAGE Assessment is a participatory process involving all the key stakeholders of the conservancy. Identification of stakeholders was carried out at the planning phase of the assessment. This stakeholder mapping was spearheaded by the SAGE consultant and involved Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA), Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA landscape level Association working within Tsavo Landscape) and Amboseli Ecosystem Trust (KWCA Landscape level Association working within Amboseli Landscape). The following stakeholder groups were identified and invited for the assessment workshops: Conservancy management, Conservancy Investors, Youth, Men, Women and Board. The assessments were attended by a total of 99 participants.

Each assessment was followed by a synthesis workshop where each group selected two to three representatives to attend the synthesis workshop. The findings of the assessment workshops were presented at the synthesis workshop and ideas for action were discussed. A total of 46 stakeholders from two conservancies attended the synthesis workshop.

The engagement of all relevant stakeholders in the SAGE ensures that stakeholders are all heard and invested in the actions that they collectively decide on.

The collaborative identification of the stakeholders made it possible to exhaustively map all the key stakeholders
Clustering of stakeholders according to common interest created safe spaces for all (especially women and youth) to openly and productively dialogue on the governance status of the conservancies
The self-assessment character of SAGE tool fostered community ownership of the process and the identified actions for implementation

Effective stakeholders engagement plays a key role in ensuring shared understanding of project scope as well as fostering a collaborative approach to project implementation
Clustering stakeholders according to interests is a key ingredient to unrestricted and productive discussions especially by those who may be marginalized in terms of governance and decision making processes
Effective stakeholders engagements enhances ownership of project implementation processes and products

Planning phase

Inception phase

Implementation

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

Use of advanced technology

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Representation of the areas covered by the drone patrols. Three main take of spots where used (represented with a drone icon), used to cover a long area of more than km. In orange the flightpath in the MPA of Murdeira, in green the MPA of Costa Fragata an

C:\Users\artur\Documents\Biopama\drone

Use of advanced drone technology with thermal and infra-red imaging allows greater capture of infractions within the targeted areas, as well as the ability to travel further distances for longer time. This technology allows greater distances to be covered with less resources required, for example, more isolated nesting beaches that would require a larger team of people for security reasons, or more complex logistics in locating teams to those beaches.

Intensive training, or recruitment of a qualified person(s), to use this advanced technology is essential. In this case the drone pilots had previous experience in night flights using thermal imaging so were able to quickly learn how best to use and understand the new infra-red camera imaging. It is also essential that the persons have knowledge of the target area and experience in navigating within the area, both via drone and by vehicle.

Advanced technology is useful in itself but is much more effective when partnered with conservative techniques. In this case, whilst the drone patrol was effective in covering a large area, quickly, it was unable to fly over the full time period (all night). Therefore, when combined with foot patrols, it enhanced coverage within the MPA and allowed for greater protection withing the MPA and it’s surrounding isolated beaches. It is also important to consider that whilst the drone could quickly and easily reach isolated areas, when infractions were discovered, the response of the suitable people (either foot patrols or authorities) was much slower, allowing for poachers to escape being detained. Whilst effective for deterrent of poaching, which was an advantage in this case, for other contexts this may be a strong factor in planning the strategy.

Monitoring

Local

Building up: Implementation and Monitoring—role of self-analysis, fundraising and tools

Implementation is the desire of any plan. It is the “boots on the ground” that counts. A portion of the equation is developing a protected area enforcement plan. Equally important is the capacity to implement. To determine ability to implement, an organization must carry out a self-analysis. The plan can outline fundraising needs: capacity needs, equipment and tools. Additionally, an organization can have a buildup period for implementation showing donors the full picture of desired impact.

Adequate financing and resources are needed for implementation and monitoring. If you have these then tracking and monitoring provides the results needed to show the benefit of an enforcement plan.

The enforcement strategy is a plan, implementation is determined by other factors such as resources. The plan can be a fundraising tool as it clearly outlines desired state and needs.

Implementation

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

National

Build collaborative environment

Strategic Enforcement Development Session

Belize Audubon Society

Enforcement involves more than just one organization. The entire process in development and implementation of an enforcement strategy must be participatory. Ultimately, stakeholders must be involved as they can have a positive or negative effect on outcomes. In this case local government agencies are crucial to be involved (i.e coast guard, police, military, government agencies). Equally important are community members of influence who can become stewards educating on legislation and the protected area rules ultimately to help reduce poaching. Additionally, the value of strong community support is the fact that they can become “eyes on the ground”.

All partners are to be equally valued in terms of input as this will affect implementation. Process of engagement and facilitation are key.

Ease of implementation of the enforcement plan is directly tied to having good partners and community support.

Situational Analysis—National Context for enforcement of selected Protected Area

In order to develop your enforcement strategy there are key pieces of information that must be collated and understood. These include lay of the land (why is the protected area important, what are the natural assets that need protection), legal framework (what laws apply, what agencies are involved in protected area enforcement/management), and finally what do you want to focus on: enforcement goals.

Informed, capacitated people should be involved in the process. Enforcement goals need to be S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound), this can only happen if the context is correctly represented.

Context is key in the design of enforcement goals. Having a participatory process gets support and buy in from partner agencies and communities making enforcement “easier”.