Stakeholder mapping involves reviewing the diverse interests of stakeholders across various sectors at both local and national levels. This process should be as comprehensive as possible, mapping out existing influence and power structures to determine who to engage directly or indirectly. Prior to stakeholder mapping, a thorough analysis of existing policies is conducted to fully understand the issues and why they matter to the community. This understanding then informs the stakeholder mapping activity, making it clearer who to engage with.

The first step involves identifying local environmental challenges at the community level, such as water shortages, diminishing grazing areas, food scarcity, soil erosion, landslides, or flooding. NACOFA gathers community input on possible solutions and explores the links between these challenges and forest or environmental degradation.

Next, NACOFA studies the existing laws and policies that could address these issues, identifying any gaps, or determining if enhanced implementation or enforcement is needed. This process allows NACOFA to pinpoint the responsible government institutions, key officials, CSOs, partners, and community groups to collaborate with.

In order for the producers to successfully implement their projects, various regional figures were called upon to provide them with the necessary support and accompaniment. The Local Technical Assistance teams, Local Community Promoters and Regional Operational Liaisons provided the groups with technical support to develop their proposals, collect evidence of implementation and prepare subproject reports. In the area of procurement, contracting and finance, the Regional Administrative Liaisons provided support and advice for the completion of procurement, contracting and verification procedures, through financial reports. For groups that were not legally constituted, the National Executing Agency (Rainforest Alliance Mexico) was in charge of administration, direct preparation of all procurement procedures, execution of allocated resources and the corresponding verifications. This shared responsibility with the beneficiaries made it possible to reduce the gap that exists for the groups and to fully comply with the highest standards in the execution of procurement, contracting and financial management during the implementation of the subprojects.

The objective of the MDE Mexico was to strengthen the capacities of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities that depend on forests and jungles through participatory and inclusive processes for the consolidation of productive projects in forest landscapes. The training began to take shape as soon as the subprojects were selected by the Evaluation Committee, whose members received training to facilitate analysis and dialogue on the proposals received to guide the evaluation and selection process.

On the other hand, the Local Technical Assistance provided the beneficiaries with accompaniment and specialized advice for the participatory construction of the technical proposals and the planning and monitoring instruments, which ensured the development of capacities and the appropriation of the instruments in each Working Group.

In addition, in order to provide technical support to the beneficiaries in the execution, monitoring and evaluation of the subprojects, a training program for change agents (Local Community Promoters) was implemented for community productive projects with a REDD+ approach.

Likewise, Knowledge Exchange Workshops were implemented among beneficiaries to strengthen their capacities with the knowledge of other more experienced groups.

The biodiversity survey training took place for one month from Janury to February 2024 at the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment in Boa Vista. 11 participants from 3 different NGOs completed the training led by Dr Dario Cesarini which was further enforced by Professor Andrea Brusaferro who provided technical support and training in GIS. They provided extensive training on: 

• The monitoring of protected areas
• Behavior and abundance of ravens 
• Fisheries Biology of Goat whelk
• Tracking of introduced and potentially invasive plant species
• Study of the population of Phoenix Atlantica and Ficus Sycomorus, 
• Recording of human pressures and impacts
• Collection of atmospheric climate data in communities
• Use of GIS
• Sharing and managing data

The tree farmers are encouraged to participate in different value chains/enterprises developed for alternative income sources rather than depending on tree and land sale cutting for income.

The communities living adjacent to the degraded Atigo and Angutawele Central Forest reserves were mobilized to participate in the restoration of parts of the forest under Collaborative Forestry Management approach in partnership with the National Forestry Authority and the community.

In Eastern Province, Zambia, a significant transformation of fishing practices in small waterbodies was achieved under the Fish for Food Security (F4F) project. This change involved reducing the use of illegal fishing gear among local fishers, aligning their activities with the FAO’s Guidelines for Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries.

Initially, the management of these fishing practices faced challenges, including a lack of baseline data on fish stocks and the use of harmful small-meshed nets (mosquito nets) or poison. To address these challenges, the F4F project adopted a multi-stakeholder approach, partnering with entities like the Aquatic Ecosystems Services Consultancy for fish stock assessments. Likewise, they worked on restructuring the Dam Management Committees (DMCs) in collaboration with the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Zambia Governance Foundation (ZGF), ensuring the inclusion of fisherfolk representatives.

The F4F further developed a training manual on sustain-able fisheries management of small waterbodies and rolled out the trainings to the DMCs, fisherfolk and traditional leaders with support from the Department of Fisheries (DoF). Among others the topics varied from ‘Leadership’ and ‘Financial Management’ up to ‘Fishing Practices’, which attracted a lot of discussions especially from fishers. 

Later, the community and DoF set up regulations on restricting the use of illegal fishing gear and encouraged the use of wide-meshed cotton nets. The involvement of the fisherfolk has helped curb illegal and unregulated fishing, as they understand the adverse effects on the fish stocks, the environment, and the sustainability of their business.

Engaging and educating community members to ensure they understood the project, its benefits, and actively supported its implementation. This involved clear communication of project goals, addressing concerns, and fostering a sense of ownership among the community. Public participation was facilitated through monthly meetings in Kamungi Conservancy (KC) to create awareness on the benefits of the 10% Fence Plan, hazards, and overall project objectives. These meetings served as a platform for open dialogue, where community members could voice their concerns, ask questions, and provide input. Additionally, the meetings were designed to disseminate crucial information about the project, including how the fences would mitigate human-wildlife conflict, protect crops and livestock, and improve overall community safety. Educational sessions within these meetings focused on practical aspects of the 10% Fence Plan, such as maintenance and repair techniques, as well as broader conservation principles. This consistent engagement ensured that the community remained informed, involved, and supportive of the project's goals.

The local community was consulted into the spatial planning process. The process involved holding big workshops for local community and inviting several interest groups, especially those of livestock owners, tourism workers, and hunting enthusiasts. The purpose was 2 main things; 1) to collect local data and knowledge into the planning product and more importantly to build a sense of ownership and belonging of the local community to the potential planning product.

Data from various sources were collectively integrated and put into a spatial prioritization and optimization algorithm based on targets stemming out from the Primary Management objectives of the Reser. This Algorithm is known as MARXAN working under a process termed as simulated annealing.  

The resulting planning product is then shared back to the local community and other stakeholders including governmental and non governmental entities to collect thier feedback to further tweak the product for maximum sustainability.