Regional CBNRM Capacity Building Project, Southern Africa – Report on the Evaluation of the Inception Phase

Background

Covers the following countries: Botswana (BOT), Malawi (MWI), Mozambique (MOZ), Namibia (NAM), South Africa (RSA), Zambia (ZAM), Zimbabwe (ZIB)

The evaluation report covers the Inception Phase of the WWF Southern Africa Regional Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) Capacity Building Project. The Inception Phase runs from March 2003-December 2005. The Project is funded by the Norwegian Government through WWF-Norway. The WWF Southern African Regional Programme Office (WWF SARPO) implements the Project in partnership with a number of organisations in seven countries within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) in Southern Africa is an approach to conservation and development that recognises the rights of local people to manage and benefit from the management and use of natural resources. This entails transferring back to communities, access and use rights, empowering them with legislation and devolved management responsibility, and creating partnerships with the public and private sector actors to develop programmes for the sustainable use of a variety of natural resources.

CBNRM has been implemented since the early 1990s. During this period, WWF has collaborated with the Norwegian Government and other partners to catalyse some of the most successful conservation and development programmes in Southern Africa, notably the Communal Areas Management Programme For Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) in Zimbabwe, South Luangwa Area Management Unit (SLAMU) in Zambia and Living in a Finite Environment (LIFE) in Namibia. The current challenge is to disseminate the skills, knowledge and lessons from these experiences for wider application across the region. Key constraints to the wider application of these skills, knowledge and lessons include first, the insufficient capacity for natural resource management at the community level coupled with a lack of fora for sharing best practices; and secondly, the slow pace of legislative reform and policy implementation.

The project goal is 'to contribute to poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihoods at rural household level from the management of natural resources by local communities in southern Africa'. The project purpose is that 'CBNRM is adopted as a mainstream strategy for rural development in southern Africa'.

Purpose/objective

The purpose of the evaluation was to review progress under the Inception Phase and assess prospects for achieving five- and ten-year targets. Based on the project document, indicators, and the project M&E plan, the evaluation would determine the extent to which the planned outputs were achieved. In so doing, the evaluation will assess relevance and appropriateness, i.e. are the project interventions the right responses to the problem, challenges and opportunities. Results of the evaluation would help inform Norad and other partners regarding choices for long-term investments in CBNRM.

Methodology

The evaluation was lead by an external consultant who was also responsible for producing the evaluation report, the Regional Project Coordinator from WWF SARPO and the Programme Leader: Environment and Development of WWF-Norway. This team carried out interviews with the Project Management Unit (PMU) in Zimbabwe and with partners and stakeholders in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana. The external consultant carried out interviews in Namibia. A number of key stakeholders were contacted by e-mail. The team reviewed project documents and other relevant literature. The preliminary findings of the core evaluation team were presented in a workshop to representatives of organisations facilitating implementation of the Project from Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. A log frame review was also carried out at this workshop, facilitated by the WWF SARPO Conservation Director. The draft evaluation report was disseminated to a broader group of project partners and stakeholders and their comments were incorporated into the final evaluation report.

Key findings

The Project has made good progress in laying a foundation for future phases. The evaluation team recommends that the Project should continue into an Implementation Phase. Progress by Output was assessed as follows:

Output 1. Regional Forum for sharing best practices, information and carrying out peer reviews made operational and establishment/strengthening of Peer Review Fora supported at country level.
The Regional CBNRM Forum has been established. New National CBNRM Fora have been established in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. An existing forum is supported in Botswana. Collaboration has been established with national level working groups on CBNRM in Malawi and South Africa. In Namibia the Project collaborated with an existing national forum. Performance standards for peer review have been developed and are being tested in three countries.

Output 2. Appropriate CBNRM training supported in formal and non-formal institutions
Good progress has been made with curricula reviews for tertiary institutions in Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe and one regional training institution (the Southern Africa Wildlife College); training needs assessments have been carried out in four countries (Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe); training of trainers delivered in Mozambique and Zambia; materials developed for institutions in Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe; and a regional working group on training is being established. The training support provided by the Project is very much demand driven.

Output 3. Strategic institutional capacity-building of focal organisations involved in CBNRM in the public, private sectors, civil society and community levels implemented in the partner countries
Focal institutions for capacity building have been identified in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique and capacity building support is being provided on wildlife monitoring, quota setting and human/wildlife conflict management. The capacity building is demand driven. Demand by far exceeds the Project's capacity to provide support.

Output 4. Policy and legislation support provided at country level to promote and improve implementation of CBNRM with linkages to regional sectoral policies and transboundary initiatives
A policy review has been carried out for Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which lays a foundation for further policy work. The Project is providing technical input and financial support for CBNRM policy work in Botswana and Zambia. Most policy work is taking place at National CBNRM Fora level. Limited policy work has been carried out at a regional level. A good foundation is being laid on which to build future policy work at different levels.

Output 5. Strategic Interventions
Despite a slow start in 2003 due to a lack of personnel, the Project has gained momentum, the Project Management Unit (PMU) is in place and management systems are operating. Useful partnerships have been established with key regional and international partners. Although no additional major source of funding has been found, some smaller sources of funding have been tapped. A HIV/AIDS strategy has been developed and a proposal in this regard developed for funding. The Project has made good use of partnerships and alliances for facilitating implementation. The Project needs to give more attention to developing a gender strategy.

It is too early to identify project impacts at the goal and purpose levels, as many of the Inception Phase activities have been process oriented and have focused on creating the mechanisms (such as national and regional fora) for project implementation. The Inception Phase was aimed at assessing demand for regional CBNRM services and at determining the appropriate implementation mechanisms. However, a number of project activities are having impact in the sense that they are bringing about changes that contribute to meeting the expected results of the Project. The project-supported National CBNRM Forum in Mozambique is enabling CBNRM practitioners to implement the recommendations of the Mozambican National CBNRM Conference that is held every two years. The Project has enabled an already established National CBNRM Forum in Botswana to continue operating. This Forum is engaged in important policy discussions with the Botswana Government over proposed changes to CBNRM policy that affect community rights over wildlife. The newly established National CBNRM Forum in Zambia, with project support, has identified policy gaps and is starting policy advocacy. The capacity building support to government wildlife agencies in Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe is filling important gaps in the ability of these organisations to monitor wildlife, set sustainable hunting quotas and manage human/wildlife conflicts. The Project has begun to produce useful technical documents on regional CBNRM policy issues, Performance Monitoring Standards and an Assessment of the Natural Resource Management Capacity of Community-based Organisations in selected sites within the region.

Recommendations

The following is a summary of the main recommendations of the evaluation team:
1) Increase efforts to secure additional funding/another major donor for the next phases if the Project is to achieve everything expected in the Implementation Phase.
2) Shift project ownership towards co-ownership between WWF and stakeholders/partners. Clarify institutional relationships, roles, responsibilities, decision-making authority and lines of accountability for next phases.
3) Develop clear exit/sustainability strategy - particularly addressing financial viability and investigate the feasibility of a regional CBNRM endowment fund (either establishing a CBNRM component of an existing fund or establishing a new one).
4) Keep PMU lean and mean - develop strong implementation mechanisms through regional working groups.
5) However, due to increased workload in next phase, increase capacity of PMU by addition of one person to assist the regional project coordinator with regional level activities; reassess roles and responsibilities especially with regard to training delivery; strengthen staff skills (e.g. on Monitoring and Evaluation); identify staff training needs and provide training.
6) Consider increasing efficiency of coordination and implementation through relocating coordinator from Harare, Zimbabwe to SA (for instance Pretoria - housed in IUCN). Carry out feasibility study of re-location.
7) Reassess budget for implementation phase.
8) Improve communications with partners and stakeholders and increase the profile of the Project. Disseminate products. Develop web-site. Project Co-ordinator should make information visit to each national forum prior to design of new phase.
9) Follow-up delivery and impact of training arising from Training of Trainers and materials development as part of monitoring and evaluation.
10) Identify more civil society institutions for support - to balance emphasis on focal (government) institutions.
11) Negotiate a relationship with SADC defined in an MOU covering specific roles and responsibilities that enables the project to maintain operational flexibility and its emphasis on civil society.
12) Develop a strategy for higher level policy engagement.
13) Develop a gender agenda for the implementation phase.
14) Revise log-frame, including goal, purpose and some indicators, in order to clarify what the Project is doing and identify more realistic targets, but without changing the objectives of the Project. Collect baseline information where there are gaps.