Enhancing governance and conservation in biodiversity protected area management requires robust stakeholder participation and collaboration by all the actors in the protected areas. This was key as the shared resources made it possible to accomplish the project implementation within the schedule and timeframe. This process also involved stakeholder analysis and their contribution to the governance of the site. Shared vision planning and established mechanism for continued coordination.
Good stakeholder participation, and support by the government and the traditional leadership. The participatory nature of the tool allows broader collective action planning and assessment.
Stakeholder participation helped to pull resources together and a joint action agreed and made implementation much easier. It requires proper planning and identification of key governance issues to be analyzed and acted upon. Usually, you would want to focus on those governance issues that are relevant such as gender equity, participation, and information sharing. The process became expensive especially the implementation of other activities due to a high number of stakeholders.
A brief site-level profile (baseline) was developed to assist in understanding the governance gaps and issues in the targeted protected areas. In this case, a SAGE too was identified to assist with a quick assessment of governance issues. This process also helped to identify key stakeholders relevant to the implementation of the project at the site level.
The community buy-in, and commitment from the government and other stakeholders made the process more participative. The use of the SAGE tool encouraged more interaction and contributed to the implementation of the project. The Technical staff and field-based teams were also always available to guide the process through.
The baseline survey to establish site level profile and governance gap analysis required cooperation and collaboration from other stakeholders, especially the traditional leadership and government. It is also a slow process and requires adequate planning and preparation.
Via behaviour change communication increasing the demand for improved cookstoves
The project is putting a heighted focus on demand side measures in terms of behaviour change communication targeting especially rural areas. By this the project aims at increasing the knowledge of the target populations on the benefits of ICS to ensure that households buy ICS and integrate them into their cooking energy system. in order to further mainstream and increase efficiency of the outreach different partners and networks are involved.
To increase the demand on a larger scale the project is implementing widely ranging demand side activities. These include i.e. broadcast via the national as regional radio stations, product placement in soap operas, sensitisation of local leadership and government extension workers as well as caravan events and cooking performances on local markets and in communities.
To kick-start this development the ICS market in the relevant country or region must have moved already from the from Pre-Commercial towards Pioneering stage which means that there is a growing awareness in the market on the technologies and its benefits and early adopters already use the technology.
Sustainably scaling up the production of improved cookstoves
Supporting artisanal, professional and business class ICS producers in scaling up their production by providing them with tools to increase the efficiency of workshop processes as well as business development services to enable them to increase their sales.
The project is using a market-based approach to facilitate of the growth of the ICS market. In terms of this approach the project enables the supported ICS producers to significantly increase their production of climate friendly cookstoves as well as their market reach. Furthermore, the ICS producers access to market-based finance is facilitated by the project. This is further supported by demand side measures to increase the knowledge on the benefits of improved cooking technologies especially in rural areas as well as improving the enabling environment.
To kick-start this development the ICS market in the relevant country or region must have moved already from the from Pre-Commercial towards Pioneering stage which means that there are already a few mostly informal low-sales volume artisanal ICS businesses and existing but weak distribution channels that are mostly situated in urban or peri-urban settings.
Blue Parks relies heavily on collaborations with other conservation NGOs, communications and marketing professionals, government leaders, MPA managers, scientists, and local ocean champions. Growing the network of Blue Parks and amplifying the Blue Park standard for conservation effectiveness requires many partners.
Blue Parks has benefitted from the contributions of many partners. These collaborations have been made possible by a growing awareness that MPA coverage alone is not sufficient to safeguard biodiversity -- that we need to fully implement high quality MPAs in order to see conservation outcomes, and most MPAs are not yet well implemented.
These collaborations have also grown out of Marine Conservation Institute's long-standing history as a trusted partner among marine scientists, conservation organizations, and governments.
Nurturing collaborations across multiple sectors (government, NGO, academia) requires clear communication. We have found that regular, though not too frequent, outreach and communication with these partners keeps the collaborations active, and that these communications are most effective when they are designed for the audience, so we often send separate communications to partners in different sectors.
At the heart of Blue Parks is an incentive to improve MPA quality. Governments receive international attention for announcing big new MPA designations; they also need positive feedback for making good on those promises and implementing MPAs well. Being incentive-based, the initiative is focused on success stories of marine conservation and inspires governments, MPA managers, communities, and NGO partners to consider the possibility of excellence and the recognition that comes with excellence.
To be successful as an incentive to improve MPA quality, the Blue Park Awards must be well-known and desireable. Governments, MPA managers, community leaders, and NGO partners must want the award. To build this incentive, we offer a cash prize alongside the award, we make the award announcements at high-profile international meetings so that high-level government officials and compelling community leaders may participate in accepting the award, and we amplify the award announcement through press releases and online media outlets.
We have learned two important lessons -- the first is that conservation successes receive too little fanfare -- MPA managers, in particular, are so grateful for Blue Parks' recognition of their hard work. The second is that a small science-based organization is not well-positioned with the capacity for "brand building" -- we have relied heavily on partnerships to market Blue Parks (one of the other key building blocks of Blue Parks).
Logging of trees in natural forests for charcoal and fire-wood production is mostly unregulated and not monitored in Ghana. This leads to overexploitation and unsustainable forest management. The implementation of an inventory and monitoring system which based on communities’ needs is key to achieve sustainable forest management.
Community forest management plans were developed which integrate the sustainable management of the project restoration and energy wood plantation sites, but also the protection of selected zones like e.g. river buffers and general management of the forest resources. Regular uncontrolled bushfires destroy upcoming natural regeneration and planted tree seedlings. A bush fire management system was therefore integrated in the plans as well and supported by the training of fire volunteers in patrolling and suppression of uncontrolled fires
Communities and charcoal producers need to be well integrated in the development of a forest monitoring and management system. Beside that it needs to be supported by the local authorities to determine, for example the sustainable volume of wood which can be annually harvested and to select zones and tree species which should be protected from logging. For a functionable bush fire management it is key that especially farmers and herdsman are aware about the risks and damages uncontrolled fires can cause and how they can control them.
Elaborate follow-up activities early in the process
Participants during group exercise
GIZ
The effectiveness of training is increased if follow-up with participants is ensured. This allows the organisers to check on the feasibility of follow-on activities discussed during the training and can account for the follow-up needs[NM1] of the participants. Follow-up activities can range from webinars to on-site activities in the respective countries
[NM1]Needs: unclear. = if something has not been understood or if there are follow up questions, or resources needed or something of the sort?
If so: see suggestion for possible re-formulation.
To design appropriate follow-up activities, the content of the training needs to be defined (see Building Block 2). The diversity of activities also depends on the support structure in the countries. If partner (health or climate) projects are in place in the respective participating countries, this allows for greater diversity in follow-up activities that can be conducted.
Consideration to possible follow-up activities should be given already during the planning process;
It is advisable to launch a survey to ask for participants interest and preference;
The creation of a What’s App Group is a quick, easy and cost-effective way to stay in touch with participants and continuously share relevant documents and news with them.
Training on an intersectoral topic such as climate change and health is more challenging for participants because their academic and practical background knowledge might not cover both topics. The training will likely cover a lot of new information for each participant. Given the complexity of the topic, it is even more important to develop and utilise a wide range of methodological approaches to maintain energy levels and focus during the training.
Interactive and innovative methods require good preparation from the presenters. It is often necessary to prepare aids or specific content. Using some methods can be challenging for participants who have never encountered them before and may take more time than originally anticipated.
Add several animated or guided group work sessions
For example: divide participants into different subgroups (i.e. by disease type: vector-borne, water and foodborne, airborne, zoonotic, direct impact) and have them work out which diseases to choose, how to investigate the link (vulnerability assessment), and how to adapt to climate impacts (national public health adaptation planning)
Refrain from lengthy reports that repeat the previous day's content; instead, ask questions in the form of a group game (quiz);
Share slides and summaries so participants can interact more freely and don't feel the urge to note everything down;
Use a different icebreaker each day so the group gets to know each other better;
Schedule site visits, guest lectures, and organise poster presentations to be held by participants.
