Phase III – The relationship between community-based organizations and effective management of coastal and marine resources in the WIO region

Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) have been heralded as important grassroots organisations that can contribute to co-management in the WIO Region.  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 principles. This study explores the roles of CBOs in relation to natural resource utilisation and their ability to act effectively as community managers of these resources. The specific objectives of the study were: (1) To establish the types of CBOs existing in the coastal areas of Kenya and Tanzania and consider how they have developed. (2) To capture the internal dynamics and capacity of different CBOs. (3) To identify the connections between CBO activities and natural resources in coastal and marine areas. (4) To examine whether CBOs can mediate community diversity and dynamics to act as a force for integration around coastal resource management. (5) To highlight the relationships between different CBOs and external institutional structures and governance processes. (6) To examine the knowledge held and practices undertaken by members of a CBO (individually or collectively) that can be understood to constitute natural resource management (NRM).

The study covered two countries in the WIO namely Kenya and Tanzania. Methods employed for data collection included literature review and documentary analysis, focus group discussions, institutional analysis, interviews, observations, and consultations with key informants. Feedback and validation meetings were also held with representatives of all participating CBOs and relevant officials. Targeted beneficiaries of this study include the local community, the scientific community, CBOs, donors, NGOs, NRM managers, decision and policy makers.

The study found a diverse range of CBOs and community-based structures that 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. The identified groups included (i) community/village-initiated groups, driven by local community concerns; (ii) government initiated groups, designed specifically for natural resource management objectives; (iii) donor/NGO externally-initiated community groups, usually formed with the parallel objectives of livelihood enhancement and environmental protection or management; (iv) umbrella organizations that bring together several community level organisations with a large membership; such organisations are likely to be driven by government and/or external NGOs/donors.

The mode of CBO establishment and type of membership was found to influence members’ commitment to attain group objectives and sustain a group over time. The manner to which CBO was developed also created processes of inclusion and exclusion with respect to whether and how the CBO can act as a voice for the local community. Regardless of how a CBO was developed, a legal mandate was critical for legitimacy and a CBOs capacity to pursue NRM objectives. The findings further reveal that even with a legal mandate, the ability of government designed structures (e.g. BMUs, CFAs, KyM) to address issues that involve multiple stakeholders, and stakeholders who command high political favour was minimal.

Leadership ability within CBOs was found to be an important aspect that contributes to the capacity of a CBO shapes the capacity of the CBO to engage with different stakeholders in resource management activities as well as in demonstrating effective resource management decisions.

Findings further suggest that while many CBO members possess good general knowledge and experience in relation to ecological processes, and can apply this experience to affect certain management strategies, most CBOs however lack the necessary practical skills to make this experience realizable in terms of sustainable 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. Given the pressure on coastal and marine resources, capacity to mediate resource use conflicts at local level and the many different interest groups competing for these resources was an important component of CBOs effectiveness. Most CBOs however, fail to address resource conflict issues due to a number of reasons including lack of resources, manipulation by the government institutions responsible, and more important, the lack of legal mandates to effectively apprehend other resource users as bestowed by NRM policy.

It was also found that there existed 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. Most 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. It was further revealed that sustainability of most CBO activities that had positive resource management objectives depended on the presence of external funding or government interest in a particular issue at a specific time.

Overall, this study established that, despite examples of excellent practice and leadership by CBOs in relation to NRM, internal CBO capacity was very limited and the external political economy imposes severe constraints on CBOs ability to act as effective natural resource managers.