Use of data for decision-making and planning.

SAGE Findings:

  1. Little involvement of fisherwomen in LMMA decision-making, discriminated against because of mosquito net fishing.
  2. Lack of recognition of community rights to participate in LMMA decision-making.
  3. Major deficiencies in the process of complaints and follow-up of cases related to invasion of the reserves by the entire community due to the lack of inspection instruments.
  4. Deficit of collaboration and coordination, it does not share reports and plan of activities between different actors.

Recommendations:

  1. Involve mosquito net fisherwomen at all stages of LMMA establishment and prioritize opportunity costs for them.
  2. Disseminate information on rights to participate in LMMA decision-making to all community.
  3. Encourage community to report offenders and follow up on cases related to the invasion of the reserves. 
  4. Promote regular meetings to share reports and activity plans between actors.

Based on these recommendations, the project is implementing bivalve aquaculture, prioritising women’s involvement to address opportunity costs. We are supporting annual district, provincial and national stakeholder meetings. We are supporting CCPs with equipment for improved LMMA enforcement. We are strengthening CCP skills for communication and equitable governance through training by AMA.

The purpose of this exercise needs to be well understood by the focus group members. It must exist a will to improve existing conditions by the focus groups members and they must recognise change is possible.

SAGE and IMET methodologies are the simplest, fastest, easiest and cheapest way to evaluate and monitor the progress of a project. Before adopting these tools, the project used only EXCEL to analyse the data, and this was time consuming and expensive as we needed to hire consultants to conduct the surveys. Data analysis and interpretation was also done manually, which too was time consuming.

Participatory Assessment

Data Collection, Data Analysis and Data Synthesis:

Organised groups of actors from different social backgrounds gathered for this process, which was facilitated using the local language and a translator was engaged to assist with the translation. To take into account the level of education of participants, we defined the appropriate means of communication. People participated according to the same interest group or social status (Community Fishery Council, fishermen, fisherwomen, government, influential members and income generation alternatives, among them). In the first phase, discussions were done separately and later discussed in plenary; after the discussion participants reached consensus, it is this consensus that was considered as the final response. To ensure that the selection of members taking part in each target group was inclusive, it did not take into consideration party affiliation, religion, social level, gender. During the meetings we also explained the importance of the SAGE process.

FPIC standards (Former Prior Informed Consent) must be applied to maximise genuine participation. The data collection/facilitator team should be well known by the community members and recognised as trustful. There should be a sense of long-term engagement in support of the community.

One of the lessons learned was to present the results of the issues discussed separately in a plenary, where members of different groups discuss the same ideas and reach consensus.

A sign that we are valuing local knowledge.

And that is good for the success of a community-managed conservation area.

Training participants in the SAGE and IMET tools.

The first part of this project was training participants on SAGE. To make the SAGE more applicable to our situation, we chose six of the most important principles that are relevant to the LMMA:

1: Respect for resource rights and human rights of community members

3: Effective participation of all relevant actors in decision making

4: Transparency, information sharing and accountability for actions and inactions

8: Equitable sharing of benefits among relevant actors

9: Achievement of conservation and other objectives

10: Effective coordination and collaboration between actors, sectors and levels

 

The SAGE methodology is a participatory process, conducted with: Community Fisheries Council, fishermen, livelihoods group, community and religious leaders, district and provincial government.

 

The IMET was supported by two consultants from the National Administration of Conservation Areas. Various actors were invited: a) National Fisheries Administration, Provincial Service of Economic Activities, Provincial Directorate of Environment, Provincial Directorate of Tourism; b) District Service of Economic Activities, Maritime and Lake Police, Administrator of Quirimbas National Park and Justice Authority; c) Community Fisheries Councils, fishermen, community and religious Leaders).

The two tools, IMET and SAGE, value local knowledge, so the contribution for all actors involved in the process was very positive. It was also a positive process because through this tool, the community understood that management power can be transferred to the community from the government, increasing their sense of ownership and empowerment. Prior to this, the majority of the community thought that the management of the reserves was only for the Conselho Comunitario de Pescass and not for the whole community.

The good communication and the results of the opening of the temporary reserves (octopus) helped the communities to understand that the reserves belong to the community and are for the benefit of the community, hence neighbouring communities have started to request the project to create new conservation areas.

Maida Lobo
Training participants in the SAGE and IMET tools.
Stakeholder identification and analysis/site profile analysis.
Participatory Assessment
Use of data for decision-making and planning.
Maida Lobo
Training participants in the SAGE and IMET tools.
Stakeholder identification and analysis/site profile analysis.
Participatory Assessment
Use of data for decision-making and planning.
GIZ PEACECORE
Decentralized Community Dialogue Platforms
Integrated Approaches to Peacebuilding Through Joint Livelihoods
Funded Projects

Following two funding calls, a total of 17 projects were selected. The projects represent a very wide range of different approaches and solution ideas for pursuing the Alliance's goals, depending on the respective context.

To increase the visibility of the projects and to foster knowledge exchange they are invited to present their ongoing work, intermediate goals and preliminary results to the Alliance community through posts on the website or at online events.

Sufficient funding is necessary to ensure long-term support and sustainable implementation of the project goals.

Continuous communication between those responsible for the project and the Alliance secretariat ensures the success of the project, the feedback of results to the community and thus added value for the community.

Adequate feedback from project partners can be challenging and requires good communication strategies.

International Alliance
West and Central Africa
East and South Africa
Central America
South America
North and Central Asia
Southeast Asia
South Asia
East Asia
Secretariat of
International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade
Project Map
Funded Projects
Country packages
Members Area
Working Groups
Governmental Consultation Facility
International Alliance
West and Central Africa
East and South Africa
Central America
South America
North and Central Asia
Southeast Asia
South Asia
East Asia
Secretariat of
International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade
Project Map
Funded Projects
Country packages
Members Area
Working Groups
Governmental Consultation Facility
International Alliance
West and Central Africa
East and South Africa
Central America
South America
North and Central Asia
Southeast Asia
South Asia
East Asia
Secretariat of
International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade
Project Map
Funded Projects
Country packages
Members Area
Working Groups
Governmental Consultation Facility