Representatives of Local community of Machakheli valley and municipality government on a study tour to the Protected Areas in other regions of Georgia
Irakli Goradze
Capacity Building of Protected areas administration and local stakeholders
Training of local tourism service providers in tourism and hospitality management
Irakli Goradze
Training of protected areas staff in Spatial monitoring and reporting tool (SMART) to improve their patrolling capacity
Irakli Goradze
Training in law enforcement and legal prosecution (fictional court case)
Machakhela National Park Administration
Protected Areas rangers training in law enforcement
Machakhela National Park Administration
Field training in law enforcement
Machakhela National Park Administration
The objective of the project was to increase the long-term effectiveness of conservation and land use in the colchic forests of Ajara, and this necessitated building the capacity of all relevant stakeholders to undertake appropriate activities and development in the future.
To build such capacity, the project pursued a multi-faceted approach involving:
- provision of key equipment and infrastructure to National Park (NP) and local households
- practically orientated trainings of Protected Areas (PA) staff and local stakeholders – formal / semi -formal training by specialist trainers or contractors
- study tours within Georgia
- in process / on-job practical experience
In the latter case, the project strategy was to ensure involvement of project stakeholders as much as possible in the activities led by outside contractors and consultants. The rationale behind this was to build as much local practical experience as possible in order to maximize the possibilities for beneficiaries to be able to undertake such activities themselves in the future. In other words, to build the practical experience and “on-job” capacity of beneficiaries (PA staff, local communities, local service providers, etc.).
- Building of trust through better communication. During the initial implementation, particular focus was placed on building communication and trust between the National Park and local stakeholders in order to enable future meaningful cooperation.
- Gaining a sound understanding of local stakeholder issues and priorities. Studies undertaken at the outset were critical in identifying the real capacity building needs of both NP and local stakeholders and helped to orientate project support
- Participation and input from local stakeholders.
- Combining formal training with on-job practical application of skills (when feasible) is much more effective to build long term sustained capacity. For example, training on law enforcement
- A holistic training approach that combines and integrates trainings relevant to a variety of stakeholders in a PA context (i.e. not just PA staff but local community, municipalities, NGOs, etc.) is an effective way to both broaden understanding and awareness of all parties, and build a wide basis of local capacities and knowledge (e.g. visit of stakeholders to other PAs)
- The existence of a systematic training plan/programme within Agency of Protected Areas (APA) and the retention of relevant training materials and training service providers (i.e. a training clearing house mechanism) could greatly enhance the future effectiveness of relevant training for PA staff
- Collaboration of capacity development efforts with other donor projects can be an effective means to ensure cost effectiveness and access for additional resources, as well as ensuring a more coordinated approach