This part reviews ANR activities underway within FAO. Although very few of these activities explicitly refer to SLA, many present key SLA principles (participatory, holistic, cross-sectoral, inter-disciplinary, multi-level, etc. approaches).
Given the considerable breadth of the subject, this part is organized in a brief overview of relevant departments and activities, and in three case studies. The purpose of the case studies is to illustrate how ANR is built in FAO's activities and the relationship between SLA and ANR. They involve projects concerning different NR, with different emphasis in the objectives, at different stages of the project cycle, and with different degrees of relevance to SLA.
It is important to note that due to time constraints, many important activities and stakeholders could not be included. In any case, it should be kept in mind that this report constitutes only a first step for future activities of Sub-programme 3.1. Projects and stakeholders not included in this report may be involved in those future activities.
The Strategic Framework for FAO 2000-2015 contains strategic objective "sustainable rural livelihoods and more equitable access to resources" (strategic objective A.1); resources are defined as encompassing both natural and other resources. Activities within this strategy include "supporting efforts to strengthen local institutions and to enact policies and legislation that will provide for more equitable access by both women and men to natural resources (particularly land, water, fisheries and forest) and related economic and social resources" (paragraph 39). Strategy D concerns "supporting the conservation, improvement and sustainable use of natural resources for food and agriculture", including "integrated management of land, water, fisheries, forests and genetic resources". Moreover, the Strategic Frameworks presents other important features of SLA, e.g. emphasis on inter-disciplinarity, on cross-departmental cooperation and on working in partnership.
The Medium Term Plan 2002-2007 includes "Local Institutions Building to Improve Capacity for Achieving Sustainable Rural Livelihoods" among the Priority Areas for Inter-disciplinary Action, entailing cross-department cooperation.
Ongoing ANR activities are reviewed by department. This inevitably creates problems, as projects often involve cooperation between different departments. Notwithstanding these shortcomings, classification by department enables to create some "order" in the analysis (rather than merely listing a series of unrelated projects), and to more clearly identify what resources in the relevant departments, divisions and services may be drawn on.
In the SD department, the Rural Development Division (SDA) carries out a large number of ANR-related activities. The Land Tenure Service provides assistance in the area of land tenure and rights, including to improve access to land by disadvantaged groups. For example, the Service has been involved in the implementation of the Land Law of Mozambique, cooperating with the Mozambican government to draft implementing legislation (Land Regulations and Technical Annex thereto) and supporting implementation of the delimitation of community lands. Interesting features of the Mozambican land law reform programme include co-titling, i.e. the issuance of land certificates to communities for community lands, and a participatory approach (both in policy and law formulation, with considerable involvement of civil society, and in implementation, with community participation in co-titling).
[Contact details: Paolo Groppo (SDAA)].
In the Philippines, SDA has been involved in a programme to support the agrarian reform programme (CARP). The programme was originally funded by the Italian government (TSARRD), then by the government of the Netherlands (SARC), and the Australian government is now stepping in. Interesting features of the programme include its participatory and holistic approach. The programme targets agrarian reform communities (ARCs), i.e. a cluster of villages (barangays) where 60% or more of the population has received land within the land reform programme. The SARC/TSARRD project intervenes after land distribution and supports ARCs in raising agricultural productivity by:
Supporting farmer-led development teams within ARCs to identify problems, needs and priorities and to incorporate these in community development plans. This activity is carried out in a participatory and holistic way through the farming systems development (FSD) approach. Development plans may be used as basis to source funds from farmer's organizations own savings, from national and local government agencies, from institutional donors and from the private sector.
Post-FSD training in a variety of areas (including farm and non-farm activities, accounting and book-keeping, gender issues).
Promotion of the establishment of linkages between agrarian reform beneficiaries and agribusiness, so as to provide the former with market outlets.
Facilitation of access to credit, by fostering matches between agrarian reform beneficiaries and financial institutions.
[Contact details: Paolo Groppo (SDAA); Doyle Baker (AGSP)].
SDA is also a major player in the Pastoral Risk Management Strategy in Mongolia, which is described more in detail below.
[Contact details: Stephan Baas (SDAR)].
Finally, several persons that have been long been involved in SLA work within FAO are at SDA (e.g., Jennie Dey-Abbas, Jan Johnson, Eve Crowley, etc.).
The Gender and Population Division (SDW) addresses inter alia issues relating to women's access to resources. For instance, a TCP in Brazil supported the integration of a gender perspective in the Brazilian agrarian reform. The programme involved the elaboration of thematic technical reports (e.g., a report identifying existing legal and other constraints to women's access to land; Barsted, 2002) and training materials, and support to the relevant Brazilian government agency (INCRA) for the elaboration of a gender strategy for two pilot districts.
[Contact details: Zoraida Garcia (SDWW); Marcela Ballara (RLC)].
The SEAGA (Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis) programme has developed a set of handbooks and guides offering tools and methods for integrating gender analysis at macro, intermediate and field levels and in specific sectoral areas. It may be drawn on for the purposes of carrying out SL analysis (vulnerability context, livelihood strategies, etc.) disaggregated by gender.
[Contact details: Ilaria Sisto (SDWW)].
The Research, Extension, and Training Division (SDR) has also been involved in relevant projects, e.g. the Bolivian Upper Piraí project (see below, under Forestry and TC). A follow-up project to the SDRE component of this project has recently been approved, including capacity-building at municipal level for participatory resource use mapping and planning ("Information, Communication and Training for Sustainable Natural Resource Management").
[Contact details: Mario Acunzo (SDRE)].
Within the Forestry Department, the Forestry Policy and Institutions Branch (FONP) has longstanding experience with participatory forestry, including community forestry (particularly through the - now completed - Forestry, Trees and People Programme, FTPP).
[Contact details: Olivier Dubois (FONP)].
Work on "Participatory Processes in NFP" (National Forest Programmes) is being undertaken with a view to institutionalizing participation at national level. The first main activity is an expert consultation to take place in November.
[Contact details: Jorieke Potters (FONP); Dominique Reeb (FONP)].
The programme "Strengthening Participatory Approaches in Forest Management in Uganda, Ghana, and Guyana" (2002-2005) supports the integration of participatory approaches in forestry departments and promotes capacity building on participatory approaches for district forest officers. This indirectly relates to ANR, as it is ultimately aimed at increasing the involvement of forest-dependent communities in the management of forest resources.
[Contact details: Eduardo Mansur (FONP)].
In Cambodia, the project "Participatory Natural Resource Management in the Tonle Sap Region - Phase III" supports the development and consolidation of community-based NR management systems, with particular regard to community forestry and community fisheries. The project builds on two previous phases working on participatory NR management and supports government efforts to incorporate community NR management at policy level. The government has released for community management lands previously used under a concession system as commercial fishing grounds. The project supports this process by developing community fisheries (through the establishment of community fishery management committees, etc.), by strengthening existing community forestry sites (e.g., by working on policy and legislation formulation to grant legal recognition to them), and by developing guidelines and standards for community NR management.
[Contact details: Jean-Claude Levasseur (FACMB); Dominique Reeb (FONP); Dominique Di Biase (TCAP)].
FONP hosts LSP sub-programme 3.4 (NR conflict management), which deals with issues that may overlap with ANR.
[Contact details: Erik Nielsen (FONP)].
In 2001, a DfID-funded interagency Forum on the Role of Forestry in Poverty Alleviation was held, resulting in the publication of a policy brief that, although not mentioning SLA explicitly, contains the main elements of SLA (recognizing the importance of forest resources for local livelihoods, strengthening forest access and control rights, reducing vulnerability, adopting a cross-sectoral approach, reforming policies, promoting participation) (FAO/DFID, 2001, "How Forests can Reduce Poverty").
The work of FORC may also be drawn on. For instance, the Upper Piraí participatory and integrated watershed management project (a component of a broader programme involving activities in five different countries) progressively incorporated SL issues in the implementation phase, broadening its scope to issues like poverty alleviation, community development, participation in local governance, and scaling up at macro level (through institutionalization of the project approach in national policies).
[Contact details: Tage Michaelsen (FORC); Patrizio Warren (ESAE)].
The Fisheries Department (particularly the Fishery Policy and Planning Division) is involved in SLA programmes having fisheries as entry point, and is working on integrating SLA with the principles of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, which is particularly relevant for the PIPs part of the SL framework (Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods Programme). The programme is one of the three case studies for this part of the report, and is examined more in detail below.
[Contact details: Richard Coutts (FIPL)]
A large number of activities of the TC department are directly relevant for ANR. For instance, the Investment Centre (TCI) provided the Chief Technical Adviser (CTA) for the forestry leasehold project in Nepal [Contact details: Frits Ohler (TCIL)] and was involved in the Mongolian TCP [Contact details: Alice Carloni (TCII)]; both projects are described more in detail below.
The Investment Centre is/was also involved in the preparation of investment programmes to improve ANR in Burkina Faso and Guinea [Contact details: Marc Moens (TCIL)]; in the preparation (together with SDAA) of three World Bank projects to promote access to land in Central America (e.g., through a Land Fund project in Guatemala) [Contact details: Aidan Gulliver (TCIU)]; and in projects supporting land titling programmes in Thailand and Laos.
TCOC had overall responsibility for the "Inter-regional Project for Participatory Upland Conservation and Development" (PUCD project), aimed at testing new approaches and methods for participatory and integrated watershed management in five different countries (Bolivia, Burundi, Nepal, Pakistan and Tunisia).
[Contact details: Luca Fè d'Ostiani (TCOC, now ESAF)].
The Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division (TCE) has been involved in ANR activities in emergencies. In Afghanistan, FAO has been designated as Programme Secretariat for Natural Resources Management until 31 May 2003 (although there are no NR programmes at the moment)
[Contact details: Agnès Dhur (TCEO)].
In Sudan, FAO has been involved in addressing ANR (particularly access to land) in the context of longstanding conflict. A technical report made recommendations with regard to a variety of ANR issues, including conflict-driven tenure insecurity and ANR for internally displaced persons. With regard to the latter, the report analyzed two pilot experiences: resettlement on registered government land and negotiated resettlement on community land (De Wit, 2001).
[Contact details: Dominique Burgeon (TCEO)].
While few (if any) programmes of ES have an ANR component, several activities are of interest for Sub-programme 3.1. For instance, the Nutrition Programme Service (ESNP) promotes strategies to ensure the availability and consumption of nutritionally adequate food, including during and after emergencies. Its work on understanding the root causes of malnutrition often raises ANR issues, as lack of ANR is a major factor for malnutrition; post-conflict situations raise problems of both ANR (due to displacement, etc.) and malnutrition, and contacts have been established in this regard with some persons from SDA.
[Contact details: Florence Egal (ESNP)].
An example of ongoing programme where ANR issues may arise (as lack of ANR is a major problem faced by beneficiaries) is the Belgium-funded project "Improving Nutrition and Household Food Security in Northern Shoa & Southern Zone of Tigray".
[Contact details: Karen Callens (ESNP)].
Moreover, work on vulnerability group profiling being done within FIVIMs (hosted at ES) may be drawn on for the vulnerability analysis within SLA. Vulnerability group profiling using an adaptation of the SL framework (Figure 1) was carried out in 1999 in a variety of countries, and the results have been incorporated in the SOFI (State of Food Insecurity in the World) of 2000 and 2001 (e.g., on Benin, see FAO, 2000b).
Figure 1. Framework to gather information about vulnerable groups. Source: FAO (2000b).
The Agriculture Department is also involved in a number of ANR activities, particularly with regard to access to animal genetic resources [Contact details: Ricardo Cardellino (AGAP), and Irene Hoffmann (AGAP)] and to plant genetic resources [Contact details: Clive Stannard (AGD)].
For instance, a programme in Mali and Zimbabwe (with IFAD and the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute) investigates the dynamics of on-farm conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources, including analyzing the role of plant genetic resources in the livelihood strategies of smallholder farmers.
[Contact details: Linda Collette (AGPS)].
The Land and Water Development Division (AGL) has developed an integrated land-use planning approach (Integrated Planning and Management of Land Resources). Although integrated land-use planning is very different from SLA (as it is focused on NR management, rather than being a holistic approach to development including ANR, and on environmental sustainability, rather than on poverty alleviation), it presents interesting commonalities that may be explored by Sub-programme 3.1 (integrated approach considering all significant factors relating to land resources; involvement of all stakeholders; intervention at micro, meso and macro levels; etc.).
Within the Legal Office, the Development Law Service (LEGN) provides technical assistance to member states in developing their legal system. Access to natural resources (as well as to other capital assets) is affected by the legal framework, which has direct bearing e.g. on land tenure security, on the extent of community NR rights, on NR dispute resolution, etc.
LEGN has been involved in a variety of projects concerning support for drafting NR legislation, in relation to land, forestry, fisheries, water, etc. In Mali, for instance, a TCP supported government efforts to adopt a Charte Pastorale (approved in 2000) by carrying out research on existing statutory and customary norms relating to pastoral rights and by elaborating a draft of the Charte Pastorale on the basis of that research. The Charte Pastorale is an innovative approach to pastoralists' ANR, as it aims at securing pastoral NR rights while reconciling them with competing land uses and rights, particularly those of farmers.
Also directly related to ANR are LEGN projects e.g. in Honduras (drafting forestry legislation) and in Vanuatu (drafting forestry legislation reconciling the rights of commercial forestry operators with those of local communities). Among ongoing projects, a TCP just started in Djibouti, involving drafting a pastoral (or rural) code. These projects seek to balance the need for technical expertise required by legislative drafting with participation, inter alia through consultation of stakeholders before drafting activities and through workshops were drafts are presented and discussed.
[Contact details: Jon Lindsay (LEGN); Ali Mekouar (LEGN)].
This is an informal Working Group bringing together, on a voluntary basis, staff from several divisions and units of FAO as well as from WFP and IFAD. It was established to encourage cross-sectoral and multidisciplinary collaboration to mainstream participatory approaches. The areas covered by the Group include participatory approaches to promote SL and participatory approaches in NR management.
A database of participatory field tools, methods and approaches developed or applied by FAO is available online at www.fao.org./participation/. The website is supported by SDAR.
In March 2000, the Working Group organized an interagency Forum on SLA (Pontignano, Siena), where experiences, lessons and issues on SLA were examined using eight case studies (with projects from FAO, IFAD, UNDP, WFP, DfID). The Forum was instrumental in catalyzing momentum for SLA within FAO. People who participated in the organization of the Forum include Jennie Dey-Abbas (SDAR), who was the Forum Project Manager, Vanda Altarelli (now at IFAD), Stephan Baas (SDAR), Alice Carloni (TCII), Eve Crowley (SDAR), Jan Johnson (SDAR), Alberta Mascaretti (TCII), Berndt Seiffert (SDAR), Patrizio Warren (ESAE).
Many of these persons are still involved in SLA work, including by participating in other LSP Sub-programmes. The case studies discussed at the Siena forum may provide important lessons on SLA. As these projects are already addressed in the publications of the Siena forum (FAO/DfID, 2000 and 2000b), they are not dealt with in detail here. Projects with a specific NR component include the Lempira Sur project in Honduras [Contact details: Compton L. Paul (FLHON)] and the Upper Piraí project in Bolivia (see above).
Even where ANR is not a project component (e.g., "Improving Household Food Security and Nutrition in Nuapula Valley, Zambia"), these projects may provide insights on the application of SLA to field programmes and on how SLA may help improve the livelihoods of the poor, including through ANR.
The Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage Development Project (HLFFDP) aims to raise the income of families below the poverty line and to improve the ecological conditions of hill forest lands. To achieve these objectives, the project involves the leasing of degraded forest lands to groups of poor farmers. These lease arrangements allow to expand the natural resource base of poor households and to better manage and rehabilitate degraded lands.
The project is mainly funded by IFAD, and is implemented by the Department of Forests (DoF), which is the lead agency and coordinates project activities, the Department of Livestock Services (DLS), the Agricultural Development Bank of Nepal (ADBN), and the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC). The project has also involved a number of NGOs, acting as facilitators. FAO has carried out a technical assistance component, funded by the Government of the Netherlands.
The Loan Agreement between IFAD and His Majesty's Government of Nepal was signed in 1990. Although the loan became effective for disbursement in 1991, implementation started only in 1993, after an amendment to the Loan Agreement. The amendment made DoF (rather than ADBN) the lead agency. The completion of the project is currently envisaged for June 2003. FAO's component was articulated in two phases (1992-1997 and 1997-2001); the second phase ended in July 2001.
The project area was progressively expanded from four to ten districts, and efforts are currently being made to scale up the project by institutionalizing its approach in government agencies (DoF).
The interesting aspects of this project relate to two main factors: the fact that it explicitly focuses on expanding the natural assets of the poor, and the innovative approach adopted to do so (lease arrangements); and the fact that it has been implemented for nearly ten years, and studies on its impact on both the environment and on livelihoods have been carried out. Some of these studies explicitly use SL analysis (e.g., Ghimire, 2000).
The innovative ANR strategy used by the project is using lease arrangements (originally intended in Nepali legislation for commercial operators), rather than community forest (implemented in Nepal since the 1970s), as the tool to enable the poor to gain access to land. While community forestry involves handing over forest management to local communities (which are often captured by elites), community-based leasehold forestry has the explicit aim of both improving ecological conditions and alleviating poverty. It therefore targets particularly disadvantaged groups, first and foremost in terms of ANR (beneficiaries must have less that 0.5 ha of private arable land and must be below the national poverty line), while attention is also paid to other factors (e.g., disadvantaged ethnic groups) and to gender concerns (some 25% of the beneficiaries are women).
Under the project, degraded forest lands are given on lease for 40 years to a group of usually ten eligible beneficiaries. The project promotes livelihood and ecological improvements among others through support to crop, fuelwood and timber production, through support to fodder and livestock development, through micro-finance, and through training and extension.
The leading studies on the impact of the project are Thompson (2000) and Ohler (2000). These studies documented positive changes in both environment and livelihoods. As for SLA methodologies, Ghimire (2000) is particularly interesting, because it explicitly uses SL framework and analysis, and because it conducts disaggregated livelihood analysis (focusing on women and, among these, examining livelihood assets and outcomes for different categories of women - namely those involved in community forestry, those involved in community-based leasehold forestry, and those not involved in either).
The study found that women involved in leasehold forestry had expanded their natural assets; had improved access to human assets by taking literacy classes and training courses, which was made possible by saving time on fuelwood and fodder collection (resulting from improved ANR); had improved their access to financial assets, both through increased access to credit and through NR-based income-generating activities (selling seedlings, fruit and livestock products). All these activities in turn improved their social assets. Moreover, Ohler (2000) developed a graphic representation of the linkages between project interventions, (complex, interlinked, sometimes unexpected) effects, and livelihood impact. In addition, the WRAP project (Women's Resource Access Programme) of the Popular Coalition to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty gave voice to the rural women affected by the project through community workshops, and provides useful insights on how the project has affected women's livelihoods.
Contact details
Within FAO
Frits Ohler (TCIL), former Chief Technical
Advisor for the project
At IFAD
Nigel Brett ([email protected])
At the Popular Coalition to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty
Richard Trenchard ([email protected])
Sources
Ghimire (2000); Ohler (pers.comm); Ohler (2000); Popular Coalition (2001); Sterk (2002); Thompson (2000).
The Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods Programme (SLFP) is funded by DfID and implemented by FAO (Department of Fisheries) in partnership with 25 West African countries (Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo). Started in November 1999, the SFLP was originally designed for a period of five years but has recently been extended to seven years.
The purpose of the SFLP is to improve the livelihoods of artisanal fisheries communities and reduce their vulnerability and poverty, through activities focusing on: (i) the development of social and human capital in fisheries-dependent communities (e.g., capacity-building for fisheries planning and management); (ii) the enhancement of the natural assets of those communities; (iii) the development of appropriate fisheries policy and institutional environments, which take into account the principles of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF) and use SLA. The activities of the SFLP are articulated in community projects (low-cost community-based initiatives focused on small-scale activities) and in pilot projects (large initiatives taking place at regional or sub-regional level).
The SFLP explicitly employs a SLA, making use of the SL framework as applied by DfID, and combines this approach with the principles and criteria embodied in the CCRF. For instance, the Guidelines for the Formulation of the Community Projects developed by the SFLP explicitly require SLA to be adopted in community projects. Major SLA features of the Programme include its holistic approach, its participatory nature (considering and responding to local communities' demands), the fact of emphasizing strengths and opportunities rather than needs, and the attention to links between micro, meso and macro levels. The Programme also includes SLA training for its staff.
Consistently with SLA, the SFLP takes a holistic approach. While the entry point is sectoral (fisheries), the programme has broadened its scope both to other NR (trees, water, land) and to non-NR issues. As for other NR, since fish processing activities have a bearing on tree resources (fuelwood for cooking), tree-planting activities have been undertaken for instance in Ghana. Moreover, projects on inland fisheries in artificial lakes in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Mali concern, beyond fisheries, water management and access to land (especially fertile land formerly covered by the lakes). As for non-NR issues, upon demand by beneficiary communities, the Programme has intervened in sectors not strictly relating to fisheries. In Niger, a micro-credit project facilitated access to institutional credit, both because some beneficiaries deposited in local banks the money borrowed within the project (thereby gaining access to greater local financial resources) and, more generally, because the credit-worthiness of beneficiaries was improved (both in real terms and in the perception of local bank officers). In the same project, the Programme facilitated the organization of literacy courses by intervening with the Ministry responsible for education.
Box 1. SLA and the CCRF
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An interesting feature of the SFLP is that it combines SLA with another strand of principles developed within FAO, the CCRF. This may provide lessons for integrating SLA principles and tools with other valuable approaches already used within FAO. The CCRF, adopted in 1995, establishes guiding principles for the conservation, management and sustainable development of fisheries. The SLA and the CCRF present several commonalities and differences. Commonalities mainly relate to the overarching principles underlying both the SLA and the CCRF. Both instruments are people-centred; they both focus on desired fisheries-based livelihood outcomes; they both aim at a more sustainable use of the resource base; and they both promote greater participation by fisheries communities in NR-related decision-making. Differences mainly relate to nature, emphasis and scope. While the SLA is an approach/tool, the CCRF is a prescriptive body of principles. While the SLA is cross-sectoral in nature, the CCRF is inherently sectoral. Moreover, while the SLA focuses on livelihood outcomes, the CCRF is mainly concerned with the process of arriving at the outcome. While the SLA focuses on the livelihoods of the poor, the CCRF more broadly considers the needs of all different actors involved in fisheries. The SLA and the CCRF can be combined to mutually strengthen their application. The CCRF may guide the implementation of the SLA, particularly in what relates to transforming structures and process, i.e. to the PIP part of the SL diagram. In turn, the SLA may facilitate the implementation of the Code, particularly by addressing the livelihood needs of artisanal fish workers.
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Numerous community projects are centred on ANR. Rather than focusing on access to additional NRs, projects usually mainly concern both improving management of existing resources and defending existing resource access.
An example of the first category of activities is the promotion of co-management arrangements with regard to water and fisheries resources. For instance, in Boalin village (Burkina Faso), a three-day participatory diagnostic was carried out to identify strengths, assets and aspirations of a community depending on fisheries in an artificial reservoir; on the basis of the results, a community project was prepared by the community with the help of the NCU; the project aims at allowing fishers to effectively participate in the management committee of the reservoir, the decisions of which have direct bearing on their livelihoods. Another participatory NR management project is being undertaken in Mapé Lake (Cameroon), and is centred on the setting up of a co-management committee; this is to enable participation of fishers in the management of fisheries resources as well as to undertake community infrastructure projects (wells, schools, health centres, etc.).
The second category of activities relates to protection of existing ANR, i.e. of the access guaranteed under fisheries legislation. Given the competition between industrial and artisanal fishing vessels and the disadvantaged position faced by artisanal fishers, legislation often reserves fishing zones for artisanal fishers. A project in Guinea involves local fisheries communities in the surveillance of the reserved fishing zone, envisaging surveillance by fisherfolk (using their own vessels), with support from the local Surveillance and Fisheries Protection Centre.
As for the social and human capital components of the Programme, this are in turn intertwined with ANR. Activities concerning the human capital concern capacity-building. Those concerning social capital relate to the setting up of groups and associations, e.g. women's groups. Both have revealed to be instrumental for improved ANR. In Ghana, for instance, a women's group was able to press on the local authority to obtain the allocation of land.
The SFLP is also undertaking activities concerning the impact of macro-level policies, institutions and processes (PIPs) on the livelihoods of artisanal fisheries communities. The rationale for this is twofold:
Improvements can be achieved at macro level by making PIPs more responsive to the livelihood needs of fisheries communities, so as to benefit a large number of fisheries communities (compared to community projects);
Commitment to improving the livelihoods of fisheries communities must be shared by competent national and decentralized institutions in order to be sustainable in the longer term.
Field studies on the livelihood impact of fisheries-related PIPs were carried out in Ghana and Senegal, and the outputs were discussed in two national seminars. A sub-regional workshop was later carried out in Banjul (the Gambia). Features of this process that are interesting for SLA include:
The very nature of the studies, focusing on the impact of PIPs on livelihoods, consistently with the SL framework;
The holistic approach taken in the seminars and in the workshop: although focusing on fisheries, these considered the diverse PIPs having a bearing on the livelihoods of fisheries communities (including for instance not only the ministries responsible for fisheries, but also those responsible for decentralization);
The discussion at the workshop of some key SLA elements, such as: greater emphasis on participation; assessment of the contribution of fisheries to livelihoods at both community and national level; livelihood diversification; and macro-micro linkages.
The study on Senegal identified specific limits in PIPs impacting livelihoods, including missions of public institutions focusing on improvements in production (e.g., on technical solutions emphasizing catch capacity) rather than on the living conditions of fisheries communities, lack of cross-sectoral coordination, and inadequate participation by local communities.
Other PIP-related activities include the promotion of the integration of the CCRF and of SLA in national policies.
Finally, the Guidelines for Programme and Project Monitoring and Evaluation incorporate SLA in the M&E process, e.g. by requiring a holistic approach ("to adopt a holistic perspective, monitoring a wider range of livelihood indicators so that positive and negative, intended and unintended, direct and indirect links between livelihoods and intervention are understood") and a people-centred approach (considering changes in peoples' livelihoods rather than focusing on ANR per se); by providing for dynamism in M&E (considering the dynamic nature of livelihood strategies); by adopting a participatory approach to M&E, by including consideration of macro-micro linkages (rather than conventionally considering PIPs as exogenous assumptions; e.g., considering institutional change in service provision and participation). The Guidelines also contains proposals for the development of indicators to assess the impact of SFLP activities on livelihoods, namely: process indicators, in terms of both quantity (number of meetings, etc.) and quality (e.g., extent of participation); outcome indicators (e.g., assessing whether participatory co-management systems have been established); and leading indicators, concerning what is expected to happen (e.g., indicators of behavioural change). Possible indicators are proposed for a wide array of NR-related issues (e.g., land erosion and sedimentation, trawling).
Contact details
FAO
Richard Coutts (FIPL), Programme Coordinator
Benoit Horemans, Team Leader ([email protected]).
DfID
Neil MacPherson, Senior Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Advisor ([email protected]).
Sources
SFLP website (www.sflp.org); Aboubakry, 2001; Blake, 2001; Blake et al., 2001; Coutts, pers.comm; FAO/DfID, 2000c; SFLP, 2000a, 2000b and 2000c; Talhatou, 2000; Teixeira, 2000; Yeboah and Blake, 2001.
The FAO Pastoral Risk Management Strategy aims at strengthening pastoral risk management strategies in Mongolia, so as to better respond to natural shocks (drought and dzud). It does so through a comprehensive approach, encompassing the elaboration of pastoral risk management plans for three pilot aimags (provinces) as well as the analysis and testing of key risk management strategies (haymaking, etc.), including ANR.
Differently from the Leasehold Forestry project in Nepal, the project focuses on managing risk rather than on providing ANR for the assetless, and ANR is mainly addressed as a component for effective risk management strategies. NR activities are aimed at improving pasture management, among others by: mapping seasonal pasture use and rights (including land possession certificates); supporting the process of issuing possession certificates in forms providing greater tenure security, e.g. for periods of up to 60 years renewable (as envisaged by legislation); supporting the revision of regulations on protected areas, to allow access for grazing to these areas during serious emergencies; etc.
The scaling up of project outputs at national level is to be undertaken by the government with the support of other internationally-funded programmes, particularly the World Bank Sustainable Livelihoods Programme. This was approved by the World Bank in June 2002 and is to be implemented over 12 years, in three phases. Phase I (four years) is referred to as the Sustainable Livelihoods Project. The Project is national in scope, with pilot-testing of the innovative aspects in eight aimags (provinces); phases II and III of the Programme are to build on these innovative elements of the Project to replicate them and scale them up. The Programme has four components: Pastoral Risk Management; Micro-Finance Outreach; Local Initiatives Fund; and Management and Policy Support. The Pastoral Risk Management component is based on the FAO TCP. FAO also carried out a field mission (September 2001) and wrote the Project Implementation Plan and a first draft of the Project Appraisal Document (November 2001).
An SLA was followed throughout the Programme, although the SL framework is not specifically included in the project documents. SL is included in the development objective of the World Bank Programme, which is: "target beneficiaries adopt improved livelihood strategies that build on and maintain human, social, financial, physical and natural capital while reducing vulnerability to shocks". The Project Implementation Plan follows the definition of livelihood developed by Chambers and Conway (1992). Both the Programme and the TCP include components on improved grazing management (natural capital), micro-finance (financial capital), community organization (social capital) and capacity building (human capital); aim at reducing the vulnerability context, mainly determined by natural shocks, by identifying and testing risk management strategies (community-level risk reduction strategies, access to under-utilized pastures, etc.); act on PIPs at micro level (pasture management), at meso level (provincial risk management plans) and at macro levels (supporting the scaling up of piloted strategies through the adoption of national policies). An SL perspective is also employed in a paper that FAO is preparing to feed into the government's Rural Development Strategy.
Contact details
FAO
Stephan Baas (SDAR)
Alice Carloni (TCII)
World Bank
Robin Mearns, Team Leader ([email protected])
Government of Mongolia, Household Livelihoods Support Programme Office
Mr. Ch. Khurelbaatar, Director ([email protected])
Sources
FAO (2000 and 2001); World Bank (2000a, b and c).
