Department of Sociology and Anthropology

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Browsing Department of Sociology and Anthropology by Author "Bashemerewa, Vivian"

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    The Relationship Between Community - Based Organisations and the Effective Management of Coastal & Marine Resources in the WIO Region
    (2011) Mwaipopo, Rosemarie; Fisher, Eleanor; Wanyonyi, Innocent N.; Kimani, Patrick; Tunje, Joseph; Msuya, Flower E.; Bashemerewa, Vivian
    This study examines the relationship between Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and marine and coastal resource management in the Western Indian Ocean Region. It explores what roles CBOs play in relation to natural resource utilisation and whether they have an ability to act effectively as community managers of these resources. The research focuses on CBOs in the coastal zone of Kenya and Tanzania. The specific objectives of the study were to: • document the types of CBOs existing in coastal areas of Kenya and Tanzania and how they have developed; • capture the internal dynamics and capacity of different CBOs; • consider the connections between CBO activities and natural resources in coastal and marine areas; • examine whether CBOs can mediate community diversity and dynamics to act as a force for integration around coastal resource management; • highlight the relationships between different CBOs and external institutional structures and governance processes; and, • identify whether CBOs engage in activities that constitute ‘natural resource management’ and to consider whether these activities are ‘effective’. RESEARCH FINDINGS CBOs in coastal and marine resource management have for many years been part of the agenda for coastal and marine resource management in the WIO region, albeit in a range of capacities. Several achievements can be claimed in terms of putting in place grassroots or community structures to affect natural resource management processes, and to strengthen responsibility towards resource management. However, persistent capacity constraints and challenges raise substantial questions over the degree of effectiveness of these CBOs, especially with regard to coastal and marine resource management ideals. These processes feed into shifting allegiances of CBO commitments toward management. Although management strategies differ according to country, project and place, understanding CBO effectiveness in relation to natural resource management includes a need to gauge their ability to recognise and act upon a management issue. Once an issue requiring action is recognised, the capacity to act effectively is underpinned by a CBOs ability to access and effectively utilise appropriate resources (material and nonmaterial), and by its legitimacy as a valid and mandated component of wider management structures and processes coming from government and its relations to NGOs, donors, and in some cases the private sector. An important influence on these processes is the extent to which community members themselves give value to natural resource management, and recognise CBOs as a means to enhance livelihoods in different ways, through for example establishing mechanisms for local action on poverty issues and for recognised access to resources, but also as a way to realise collective aspirations for local control over natural resources. Simultaneously, the limited legal mandate many CBOs have for making decisions and carrying out actions with regard to coastal and marine resource management can severely constrain their influence, for this reason understanding the way a CBO has been established and by whom (community, government, donors, NGOs) is essential. Owing to these complexities, key findings include the following: • A diverse range of CBOs and community-based structures operate in the management of the coastal and marine resource environment in the study sites, with their diversity largely determined by mode of establishment, type of membership, and collective goals. • A legal mandate is critical for legitimacy and a CBOs capacity to pursue NRM objectives. • Even with a legal mandate, the ability of government designed structures (BMUs; CFAs, KyM) to address issues that involve multiple stakeholders, and stakeholders who command high political favour is minimal. • The mode of establishment of a CBO influences the nature of relationships between members, group cohesion, the values regarding NR management that a CBO upholds, and CBO sustainability over time. It also creates processes of inclusion and exclusion with respect to whether and how the CBO can act as a voice for the local community. This in turn is shaped by wider social divisions and power relations, which may be reinforced through the way government operates at the local level. • Leadership ability is important, and shapes the capacity of a CBO to illustrate successful resource management practices to the community. • Many CBO members possess good knowledge and experience in relation to ecological processes, and can apply this experience to affect certain management strategies, but most lack the necessary practical skills to make this experience realisable in terms of sustained and positive impact on NRM. Also the sophistication and scale of ecological dynamics and the complexity of multi-stakeholder interests diminish the ability of CBOs to handle many management demands. • CBO capacity to mediate resource use conflict at local level is shaped by community ownership and legitimacy, leadership dispositions, legal mandates, relations to government institutions, relations between community members, and also the character and history of interactions over time. There are positive examples of resource conflict mediation but also examples of intractable local level conflict that a CBO is unable to influence and indeed may contribute to. x • There are limitations in translating management incentives into practical usable terms, such as incorporating indigenous knowledge into management; or relating certain scientific messages with their primary concerns of livelihoods. All too often outside agencies create generic information on environmental issues and management actions that individuals can relate to in abstract but which do not connect to people’s resource use activities in specific local contexts. • Several CBOs have been able to demonstrate activities with positive resource management objectives, however much of it is short-lived and relates to the presence of external funding or of government interest in a particular issue at a specific time. • Support and capacity building sustained over time is important to enhance organisational capacity within CBOs. This includes information, sources of information, and mode of information delivery that CBO members can access, and use for effecting changes in the environment. Capacity building is also important to sustain these achievements