Local | PANORAMA

Evaluation to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard.

This building block relates to an external and objective assessment of the fishery to a widely validated sustainability standard (in this case the MSC Fisheries Standard). Carrying out a pre-assessment generates a diagnosis of multiple aspects of the fishing operation, which permits to build a road map for the set of stakeholders involved in the fishery as regulators and direct users to improve each identified aspect. It facilitates the working agenda of each stakeholder in order to reach the common goal of fishing sustainability.

Based on this initial evaluation of the stone crab fishery, a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) has been designed and implemented with all interested parties. In this process, the necessary actions to reach the MSC's sustainability Standard have been scheduled over the next three years. This includes identifying responsibilities and sources of funds for the achievement of the activities.

- It is necessary to incorporate other institutions, such as NGOs, foundations, state development agencies and research organisations into the process, which will allow to catalyse the necessary actions to achieve the goals.

- Fluid communication between the stakeholders is important in order to plan join actions for common good.

- The MSC capacity building program offers a range of tools and training initiatives to help fisheries work towards sustainability and certification, including a pre-assessment template and a benchmarking tool.

The organizational capacity and level of commitment of the social group that will lead the solution is fundamental. A fragmented organisation will not achieve the commitments required for this solution.

Conducting sustainability training processes in the social group that heads the solution was crucial, since it generated a first-time confidence for the solution’s benefit.

The implementation of the solution is initially slow, since it is necessary to carry out convincing work for the different stakeholders, but as they visualize the improvements, the path becomes lighter and the advances are faster.

Implementation

Local

Gender equity approach

Gender analysis in the micro-watershed of El Salvador

GIZ

Establishment of environmental monitoring plots with the participation of women in the micro-watershed.

GIZ

Family with their jointly developed farm plan

GIZ

In order to have a more accurate picture of the situation in the communities where land use change to agroforestry systems was considered, a participatory analysis was carried out with the families. The analysis showed that women were mainly responsible for reproductive activities (taking care of the household, children and people in need). Men were in charge of productive activities (crops, resource management). Based on what was observed, four areas of work were defined to make the solution more sustainable:

Sensitization of technical personnel involved in the solution as well as strategic partners to gender issues and measures to promote equal access to knowledge and resources;
Sensitization and reflection in the communities on gender patterns;
Definition of quotas for women among beneficiaries; and
Implementation of affirmative measures and flexibility to facilitate women's access, such as definition of family farm plans, adaptable schedules and locations, encouragement of women's participation in management positions, flexibility in terms of accompanying children or partners to events, strengthening women's groups organized around crops.

Commitment and growing understanding, not only by a specialized expert, but by all those involved in gender equity issues.
Sensitization and reflection methodologies, rather than coercive measures (e.g. through role-reflection workshops with producers and their partner)
Gender-sensitive monitoring that verifies the effects of efforts to reduce the gender gap
Willingness to and actual allocation of funds to ensure implementation of a gender approach

By encouraging women's participation in knowledge transfer activities and facilitating their access to resources, greater acceptance and implementation of environmentally friendly agricultural practices was observed.
The strengthening of self-esteem was a progressive process. Motivation and encouragement to excel and try new things, as well as an openness to dialogue on the part of the technician were important.
Reflection of gender patterns in the communities was an important step towards greater acceptance of change in them.

Implementation

Local

Articulation and linkage with stakeholders in the territory.

Las Encantadoras' fruit processing and transformation cooperative. The group was able to obtain several grants for the establishment of its own processing plant.

GIZ, Sandra Sebastián

Avocado selection for marketing, after training by an avocado post-harvest treatment expert.

GIZ

The communities in which the establishment of agroforestry systems was promoted and accompanied are isolated: they lack institutional presence and are difficult to access. In order to make the agroforestry systems and the use of agroecological practices more sustainable over time, the communities were included in a support network. By linking up with governmental, non-governmental and private sector actors, the small producers were able to further develop their agroforestry systems and their harvesting, processing and sales capacities. Initially, links with the various stakeholders were encouraged and actively accompanied by technical assistance. Progressively, interest in these isolated communities grew, and the small producers themselves also sought links. In this way, important support was obtained as contacts for the beneficiary small producers. A women's cooperative organized for peach processing, for example, obtained important investments in its processing infrastructure. Another example is the linkage of small coffee growers in Guatemala with the national coffee association, which provides them with regular training.

Concrete purpose in linking producers and stakeholders in the territory.
Presence of actors willing to expand their area of intervention.
Openness and willingness of technicians, experts and managers to coordinate activities.

The establishment of trusting relationships through the fulfillment of agreements and the development of a shared understanding was key to the successful exploitation of synergies.
The implementation of concrete activities with specific short-term results promoted greater commitment in establishing cooperative relationships.

Implementation

Local

Development of technical capabilities

Explanation of how a rain gauge works

GIZ

Community agricultural promoter controlling avocado nursery plant

GIZ, Sandra Sebastián

Storage of organic fertilizer produced by a group of producers as a whole

GIZ

The development of technical capacities with small producers for the establishment and management of agroforestry systems was carried out by coupling knowledge transfer with practical application by each producer in his pilot plot. The application of the practices was supported and accompanied by seed capital for each farmer. In farmer field schools, the technician taught theoretical and practical modules in a language suitable for all participants. He also promoted the exchange of knowledge among producers. For certain topics - gender equity, post-harvest management, etc. - specialized experts intervened. - specialized experts intervened. At the same time, the technician regularly visited the farmer in his pilot plot, thus creating space and trust for specific questions, and allowing the correction of wrong implementations. In order to maintain motivation in the group and encourage peer-to-peer exchange, several experience-sharing tours were organized to the countries of the Trifinio Region. Particularly empowered producers participated in training to become community agricultural promoters. These producers are now acting as technical assistants in their communities, and are disseminating good agricultural practices on a larger scale.

Motivated technicians, strongly supported by their manager, who established a transparent and trusting relationship with the communities.
Community leaders willing to set an example and support change.
Involvement of the whole family in the trainings
Reasonable duration of the capacity building process, which allowed us to face together (technician-producers) doubts and setbacks. Here there were 8 years of technical assistance.
Seed capital to establish pilot plots, since it requires a significant initial investment.

The generation of soil data with the active participation of low-income communities with a low level of formal education was possible, and had positive effects on their self-esteem and awareness of environmental issues.
From the beginning, it was important to consider mechanisms for dissemination, replication and anchoring of knowledge in order to ensure the permanence of knowledge and a scaling up of its application in the territory (e.g., community agricultural promoters).
Tri-national experience exchange tours in the Trifinio fostered direct dialogue among peers, giving participants confidence in their ability to undertake change.
The transparent and participatory definition of framework conditions, such as maximum pilot area per farmer, investment required and support provided, required special care. Agreements with each farmer were recorded in a farm plan to avoid misunderstandings.

Follow Ups & extension

Trained farmers are offered post training services geared towards a smooth transition to sustainable practices. These include continuous and regular visits by the field based staff in order to guide, advise, direct and motivate them. Planning for real at this stage emerges given that the community members come up with various strategic livelihood improvement projects. The experts usually discuss their priorities with the farmers and develop appropriate interventions.

The social-economic, political and weather conditions will allow for the process of awareness, training and more importantly adoption and the implementation of the ideas.

The trained TOTs have trained their farmer groups
There is a need for continuous follow-ups
The trained farmers have established demo sites in their communities

Implementation

Local

Training of farmers

The method used in training involves introductory lessons on Biointensive agriculture and other sustainable ideas carried out indoors. After this familiarization with the concepts, the trainees are subjected to demonstrations to aid in acquiring of relevant practical skills and finally participatory action based on-farm training. Discussions and sharing of ideas and experiences are highly encouraged at this stage and upholding is equally emphasized. Thematic approaches based on soil conservation, long-term soil fertility building, ecological farm management practices and energy saving are stressed.

The community members will have an interest in sustainable methods of farming – Biointensive agriculture i.e. avail themselves for the trainings, and play their duly part during training and implementation of the project in order to make a lasting impact.

Farmers are aware of the benefits ecological method of farming
The farmers are willing to adopt the ecological farming
The farmers fully participated in the whole session of training

Inception phase

Local

Development of independent business models

While the first sponge farms were set-up the appropriate business model needed to be established. The objective is to generate a stable income for sponge farmers and to enable them to gain independence from marinecultures.org as early as possible. Some of the aspects that needed to be addressed:

Sufficient access to sales market(s) for sponge farmers.
Who will assume the responsibility for commercialisation in Zanzibar and/or overseas? Possible solutions:

> Formation of a cooperative.

> Appointment of a salesperson.

> Direct sales through sponge farmers.

> NGO or company purchases complete or partial harvests for overseas sales.

Ensuring continuous training of new sponge farmers.
Ensuring quality control.
Establishing local competency and responsibility for multiplying sponge farms at existing and new sites.

Zanzibar is a popular tourist destination which made it relatively easy to find customers interested in buying locally and sustainably produced souvenirs. The proximity to the sales market allowed us to directly test the customers’ price sensitivity using small quantities of sponges and to adjust the prices accordingly.

The biggest challenge for gaining market access is the limited scalability of the sponge farms. Each sponge farm needs to be able to continuously deliver a certain amount of sponges that meet certain quality standards. This implies that sales representatives pitching the product to customers cannot jump ahead and promise more than what sustainable production is able to deliver.

Implementation

Local

Subnational

Setting-up a sponge farm

The development of an appropriate cultivation method was started concurrently with the evaluation of suitable species and in close collaboration with the first sponge farmers. In this phase many technicalities had to be clarified and a simple yet robust cultivation system that can easily be multiplied was developed. Some of the details that needed to be worked-out were:

The minimum water depth at which sponges thrive and at which sponge farmers can spend as much time as possible without being required to swim.
The optimal spacing between sponges.
Sourcing rope material suitable for the construction of the farm and attachment of cuttings that is durable, cheap, easy to handle and locally available.
The ideal cutting size, shape and suspension method.
The minimum number of cuttings per farm necessary for two sponge farmers to make a living and to ensure that propagation does not require collection of additional sponges from the wild.
The frequency at which cuttings need to be cleaned and trimmed.
The right moment to harvest sponges.
Methods to process, clean, preserve and dry sponges as well as appropriate packaging and labelling of the product.
A training curriculum for sponge farmers and the outline of technical assistance needed for future support independent sponge farmers.

Sufficient staff time, funds, patience and active communication were the most important factors that helped us establishing the first sponge farms.

Experiences gained over a two-year period are not guaranteed to be applicable as such in future years as climate, water temperature etc. are subject to change. In that respect aquaculture is like land based agriculture where years of experience, and trial and error are key to shape best practices. The possibility of variability should be kept at the back of one’s mind when setting-up similar projects and needs to feed back in the form of a continuous supervision of the farmers with a focus on quality assurance and advancement of the methods applied.

Implementation

Local

Subnational

• Choosing to plant threatened indigenous trees for high value timber

Overharvesting in Tanzania in general and in this area's forests which lie within the adjacent Mt. Meru National Park have contributed to the threatened status of nationally treasured species such as Dalbergia, Khaya, Afzelia, Millettia, Podocarpus, & Juniper spp. The capacities of the communities were built with the help of NGOs but the initiative was implemented as a participatory action research in which villagers led the collaboration with the NGOs in a supportive role.

The community recognized that some of these species are hard to find,and illegal to harvest in the wild. They identified multiple solutions including soil conservation measures and planting of these indigenous trees in their fields. They combined this with land use planning with local bylaws to be monitored and enforced by village environment committees, water source restoration using indigenous trees, and planting of grasses along soil & water conservation measures in farmers’ fields.

1 - A facilitating approach rather than directives let to voluntary formation of village by-laws in support of land use & natural resource management; two plans have been recognized by the district to date.

2 - Facilitation included training on measuring of contours and establishing grasses for livestock fodder, thus bringing multiple benefits: to conserve water and soil; in one village, gathering water from roads into field contours instead of the opposite (this idea still needs more promotion as farmers fear the effects of too much runoff water entering their fields.)

3 - The NGOs worked with the communities to find solutions and develop activities which they themselves identified. These discussions created ownership and led them to address other challenges.

Inception phase

Implementation

Monitoring

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

Choosing to plant threatened high value timber spedies

• Facilitating community discussion on natural resources management action;

The solution was to empower the communities to take action using sustainable agriculture through their voluntary involvement. Community members were involved in describing their situation and finding solutions which they were willing to implement, emphasizing participation and action to stop the environmental and food security decline. They proposed a number of activities which they agreed to commence. They identified multiple solutions including soil conservation measures and planting of indigenous trees in their fields, land use planning with local bylaws to be monitored and enforced by village environment committees, water source restoration using indigenous trees, and planting of grasses along soil & water conservation measures in farmers’ fields. The capacities of the communities were built with the help of NGOs but the initiative was implemented as a participatory action research in which villagers led the collaboration with the NGOs in a supportive role. They worked closely with the community leaders and early-adapter farmers to further refine the solutions and develop specific activities to address the challenges.

The communities have embraced the goal of increasing food security and environmental restoration by building capacity of community members by the two local NGOs. The first farmers engaged have noticed increased production and arresting soil erosion and increased water retention on their farms. The focus has addressed education, starting in the higher altitude farms. Not all obstacles like population have been addressed.

1 - The NGOs worked with the communities to find solutions and develop activities which they themselves identified. These discussions created ownership and led them to address other challenges.

2 - Instead of following methods of previous initiatives which primarily used exotic tree species, used a difficult-to-use technology for measuring contours (line-level) which farmers could not do themselves, and imposed engagement of farmers, this collaboration showed change by example, engaged first lead farmers voluntarily, generated adherence to bylaws first by education, later by coercion, used indigenous trees, and introduced simple tools & technologies.

3 - Historical approaches have left bad memories; forced destocking is illogical to the local agro-pastoralists whose assets are measured in land and livestock numbers.

4 - Population pressure has caused cultivation of steep lands which should not be farmed. Households high on the hillsides need to take the lead; those lower down suffer from the effects of the poor practices above them and their efforts are destroyed during heavy rains.

Facilitating community discussion on natural resources management action