This ‘Facilitating an Asset-Based Community-Driven (ABCD) Approach for Holistic Community Development: A Manual for Community Organising’ is the result of joint efforts by the members of the ABCD team of World Agroforestry (ICRAF) to create a simple and precise document to facilitate the ABCD process and support community development. This manual primarily addresses community organisers, including people working for organisations that implement development projects, including resilience building and climate change adaptation projects. It is intended to help community organisers to take an asset-based community-driven (also called citizen-led) approach, to facilitate inclusive workshops and to provide them with practical tools and operational principles.
Tag: community involvement
Strengthening women’s tenure rights and participation in community forestry in central Uganda
Although women’s rights and participation in forestry are recognized and addressed in Uganda policy and law, the actual practice on the ground still excludes women from participating in decision making and benefiting from forest and tree resources. Cultural norms, beliefs and practices constrain women’s access and control of forest and tree resources. This undermines their investments in sustainable forest use and management and further limits their participation in decision making and benefit sharing. This research explored ways in which women’s rights and access to forests could be strengthened, and mechanisms for enhancing their participation in forest resource management, decision making and benefits sharing. We present lessons from and outcomes of processes of facilitation and negotiation using an adaptive collaborative management (ACM) approach in six randomly selected communities in four districts in Central Uganda. After six years of implementing ACM activities, our findings suggest that despite being usually regarded as “sticky,” with careful facilitation and negotiation, change of gender-based customary norms can be speeded up. These processes can also help determine more just directions of cultural change thereby offering potential for enhancing gender equity over a short period of time. We have learnt that the involvement of men, the provision of safe platforms for women to express themselves, exposure through exchange programmes, leadership training (for both men and women) and support from collaborating partners are essential for enabling gender-transformative outcomes.
Economics of Peatland Ecosystem Services: A Study of Use and Non-Use Values and People Interplays in Sumatra, Indonesia
Peatlands play an important role in the global environment and the well-being of humans by providing valuable ecosystem services. Yet, anthropogenic activities pose significant hazards for peatland management, including low levels of community participation due to lack of awareness and financial incentives. Understanding the social–cultural and economic value of these ecosystems will raise awareness to protect these important ecosystems. Here, we estimated a total economic value (TEV) of peatland ecosystem services and examined relationships between the TEV and landscape characteristics in Riau province, Indonesia. A questionnaire was used to investigate household socioeconomics, perception of peatland importance, peatland product collection, and willingness to pay for habitat and biodiversity protection from May to June 2023. A total of 200 household individuals (92% confidence) in five villages across distinct landscapes in the Sungai Kiyap-Sungai Kampar Kiri Peatland Hydrological Unit participated in the survey. The respondents obtained numerous advantages from the peatlands with an estimated TEV of USD 3174 per household per year (about 1.3 times their annual income). Approximately 81% showed a use value, especially food provisioning from fish and soil fertility. To a lesser extent, non-use values included a habitat for endemic and endangered species, biodiversity conservation for future generations, and community bonds with sacred forests. The landscape characteristics, illustrating habitat types, biophysical conditions, and property rights regimes, interplay with the relative benefits derived from the peatlands. Proximity to secondary peat swamp forests and riparian zones, especially within protected areas, enhanced economic value. Protected area co-management is essential to balance peatland conservation with sustainable livelihoods. Primary forests need restrictive protection. Meanwhile, buffer zone designation and agroforestry practices, especially in the peatland–farm interface, reduce land use tensions and promote local stewardship. This study can be used as a reference by planners and policymakers to recognize factors that promote effective peatland management, especially those that balance ecosystem protection and livelihood maintenance.
The proposed co-management plan for fisheries in the North Rupununi Wetlands: what does it mean?
This brochure represents a simplified version of the Co-management Plan for Fisheries in the North Rupununi. It presents the vision on how communities would like to see their fishing grounds managed in collaboration with the government Fisheries Department.The SWM Programme is a major international initiative that aims to improve the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife in forest, savannah and wetland ecosystems. It is funded by the European Union with co-funding from the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) and the French Development Agency (AFD). Projects are being piloted and tested with governments, national partners and communities in 16 participating countries. The initiative is coordinated by a dynamic consortium of four partners, namely the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
Shifting Knowledge and Attitudes on Gender related to Forest and Landscape Restoration: Insights from Makueni County, Kenya
This brief presents the results of a small study that sought to reveal some of the change dynamics resulting from Mbooni Community Forest Association (CFA) members’ participation in a two-day training, Breaking Ground: Community Dialogues on Gender and Restoration. This training was delivered under the UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UK PACT) funded project, “Delivering nature-based solution outcomes by addressing policy, institutional and monitoring gaps in forest and landscape restoration”, led by CIFOR-ICRAF in partnership with African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), FAO-Kenya, and the County Government of Makueni, Kenya.
Capacity building for ACM: Lessons learned from training in distinct contexts
Capacity building should be an integral component of adaptive collaborative management (ACM) approaches to give participants the skills, awareness, and confidence to understand and implement ACM methods. This chapter examines our insights from 20 years of work in ACM by looking at three cases from Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ghana in which we introduced ACM methods in distinct contexts to assist local stakeholders in addressing forest management challenges. In each case, an initial capacity-building phase was necessary to facilitate ACM processes. We argue that training should be approached through an ACM lens to generate social learning processes, placing experimentation and reflexivity at the core of such capacity-building programmes. Training in ACM is not simply about teaching a new methodology, it is about building an ethos of experimentation, learning and collaboration. Our goal in training was to create self-reinforcing cycles in which participants reflected on their learning so that they could consciously facilitate learning with others. This not only allowed us to gauge the effectiveness of the capacity-building exercises and whether key messages were being captured by trainees, but also to successfully introduce the ACM approach to ongoing initiatives.
The role of social capital of Riau women farmer groups in building collective action for tropical peatland restoration
Collective action is important when the activities and costs of restoration cannot all be internalized by the government or when urgent maintenance is required beyond the scope of the restoration project. Collective action can be influenced by social capital. In this study, we examine components of social capital and the factors that affect them. Using key informant interview, household survey, and participant observation, we also identify the extent to which social capital is related to collective action. We found that women farmer groups have high social capital, which has led to strong collective action. Social capital in Dompas’ women groups is characterized by the norms of trust and reciprocity. Strong trust and reciprocity are driven by shared culture and values and supported by kinship. Social capital arises from and is reflected in the interactions between individuals in the group. It is naturally embedded within the community, supported by strong motivation and commitment, primarily to improve the family welfare. The social capital established influenced and drove collective action, which contributes to successful management of the women farmer groups’ action arena. This paper highlights the evidence of social capital and its relation to collective action in a case from restoration in the Global South. We suggest that for a restoration action to successfully mobilize voluntary, active participation from the community, the intervention should be designed with an emphasis on establishing social capital.
Developing business model with community groups for fire prevention and peatland restoration: a case study of Siak Regency
Forest and land fires are one of the main environmental challenges in Riau, that majority of its land covered by peatland. Therefore, the main challenge is to introduce fire-free alternatives to clearing agricultural land, while recognizing that local people lack the resources, knowledge, and technology on potential alternatives to zero-burning agriculture. A community-based business model for fire prevention and peatland restoration is urgently needed by making the community the main actor capable of generating value. This study aims to develop the alternative livelihood to support peatland restoration through Sustainable Business Model for the Community (SBMC) by applying Participatory Action Research (PAR). We conducted surveys, focus group discussions (FGDs), and field interviews as well as implemented Canvas Business Model (CBM) to identify the business component. Our finding showed that community groups were able to develop an agrosilvofishery business model that not only implement sustainable practices for land preparation without fire but also determined varieties of commodities that are ecologically and economically suitable for agroforestry techniques on peatlands. Hence, CBM is a suitable tool that helps in developing an integrated sustainable business model for community and can be applied in participative setting. CBM also ensured equity by identifying and agreeing on a cost structure and benefit sharing.
Systematic review on the implementation of mangrove community-based restoration in Indonesia and beyond
World’s mangroves are decreasing, and the remaining are continuously at risk, so restoration seen as one of key strategies in the mangrove management. Mangrove ecosystems are ecologically important for coastal life, as well as play a key role for the livelihood and food security that put coastal community as important actor in the mangrove restoration efforts, including in Indonesia. This study aims to understand the current practices and lesson learned from the implementation of community-based mangrove restoration (CBMR). We used a combination of systematic review and co-learning workshops to identify relevant case studies, interventions, and outcomes from the implementation CBMR. We selected 71 relevant case studies from nine countries and ran a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). We identified four group of intervention implemented in the case studies, those are active restoration (include replanting), passive restoration (focus on protection and depend on natural regeneration), model business development and strengthening the community institution. Case studies analysis suggested that combination of four type of interventions helps to achieve both aims of CBMR which are restored mangrove and improved livelihood.
Value chain analysis for community livelihoods in peatlands: A case study in Southern Riau
Many of the Indonesian peatlands have been cleared of forest, then drained and burned for both large- and small-scale agricultural crop development. This has resulted in regular occurrences of haze from peatland fires during the dry season. Peatlands have long been a livelihood source providing up to 80% of earnings for nearby local communities. Nevertheless, many such communities apply unsustainable practices involving the use of fire for land preparation and drainage of wet healthy peatland ecosystems. For that reason, haze-free sustainable livelihoods need to be found immediately. This research analysed commodities traded in local markets as well as those with the potential for trade that could be grown in targeted villages. We collected data through market observations, focus group discussions and key informant interviews in nine targeted villages. Using Value Chain Analysis (VCA) methods, we analysed and assessed each commodity for their value chain distribution and governance, and power relations. The results of these assessments indicate that pineapple, areca nut, honey and fish are financially viable for generating income throughout the year and have fewer environmental impacts. These commodities have potential for consideration as alternatives in lieu of oil palm, which requires peatland drainage and often use of fire.