APPENDIX I: Focal Group Discussion response summaries

T1: Major changes experienced in the communities over the past years

Major changes (responses)	Community social group1
	Co-management (Ndaje)	Customary (Nkula)	Co-management (Chimaliro)	Percentage response2
Increased illness and deaths	M, F	M, F	M, F	89
High costs of fertilizer	M, F	M, F	M, F	89
Increased # of orphans	M, F	M, F	M, F	89
Declining crop yields due to soil degradation	M, F, Y	M, F		67
Reduction of trees on farm land/customary land; degradation of the forest reserve	M, F, Y	M, F		56
Co-management of the forest reserve	M		M, F	56
Rising unemployment	M, Y	M, F		44
Declining medicinal plants	Y	M, F		33
Population increase			M	22
Delays in the coming of rains	Y		M	22
Shortage of farm land	M, F			22
Declining water supply and quality	M			22
Over-exploitation of Raphia farinifera (Chiwale)	F			22
More hospitals/schools			F	11
Nursery establishment and management for women's clubs			F	11
Drug addiction by the youth and resistance to counselling			F	11
Scarcity of construction poles		M		11
Hunger and poverty		M		11
Scarcity of wildlife		M		11
Disappearance of some valuable tree species		M, F		11

¹ There were nine social groups for this question: adult females and adult males for Mthipo/Wilson, Ng'onomo, Mnyamazi, and adult males, adult females and the youth for Ndaje/M'balaka. Due to time constraints, discussions were not held with the youth involving other questions, and neither for all the questions for all the other villages.

² For this table the percentage is obtained by dividing the actual number of social group responses by the expected total social groups, which is nine for this question and eight for the rest of the questions.

T2: The way changes have affected livelihoods

Change(s)	Effects of the changes on livelihoods (response)	Community social group			Frequency percentage
		Co-management (Ndaje)	Customary (Nkula)	Co-management (Chimaliro)
Increased illnesses/deaths due to HIV/AIDS	Time loss for productive activities during illness and funerals	M, F		M, F	75
	More resources to care for orphans		M, F		25
Increased # of orphans	Poverty	M, F			25
	More resources required		M, F	M, F	67
High cost of fertilizer	Hunger		M		13
Declining crop yields	Hunger and general poverty	M, F	M, F, Y		63
Deforestation on customary land and forest reserve	Scarcity of firewood and loss of time to firewood collection	M, F	M, F	M, F, Y	100
	Scarcity of medicinal plants			M, F	25
	Air pollution			F	13
	Climate change			F	13
	Scarcity of medicinal plants and subsequent failure to cure some diseases		F		13
Co-management	Access rights to collection of forest products such as firewood, mushrooms and fruits	F			13
	Access to grazing in the forest reserve			M	13
	Improved understanding to conserve forests			M, F	25
Unemployment	Poverty	F			13
	Over dependence on firewood selling	F			13
Shortage of farm land	Over cultivation	Y			13
	Hunger	Y			13
Population pressure	Shortage of land		M		13

Note: M = Male; F = Female; Y = Youth

T3: The major problems experienced by communities in the study areas

Major problems	Community social group			Percentage frequency
	Co-management (Ndaje)	Customary (Nkula)	Co-management (Chimaliro)
Increased illnesses, especially HIV/AIDS	M, F, Y	M, F	M, F	100
Increased number of orphans	M, F, Y	M, F	M, F	100
Deforestation (scarcity of firewood)	M, F	M, F	M, F	89
High cost of fertilizer	F	M, F	M, F	78
Unemployment	M	M, F	M, F	78
Soil degradation	M, F, Y	M, F		56
Shortage of arable land	F, Y	M, F	M, F	56
Hunger	M	M, F		33
Lack of credit organizations	M	F		22
Cattle theft			M	22
Cattle diseases			M	22
Lack of agriculture crop markets			M	11
Early marriages			F	11
Lack of school fees	Y			11
Shortage of drugs in government hospitals		M		11

Note: M = Male; F = Female; Y = Youth

T4: Coping strategies for dealing with the problems

Problem	Strategies	Community social group1			Frequency percentage
		Co-management (Ndaje)	Customary (Nkula)	Co-management (Chimaliro)
Increased illnesses, especially due to HIV/AIDS	Counselling youth to abstain from premarital sex and be open on sex education	M	M, F	M, F	63
	Improvement of sanitation			M	25
Increased number of orphans	Selling firewood1	M			13
	Obtaining a loan to do business of selling farm produce such as tomatoes		F		13
	Adoption	M, F	M, F	M, F	100
Deforestation (scarcity of firewood)	Establishment of nurseries and tree planting around homesteads		M	M, F	38
High cost of fertilizer	Application of manure	M, F	M		38
	Planting agroforestry tree species			M, F	50
Unemployment	Selling firewood, mushrooms and fruits (masuku)	M, F, Y	M		50
General poverty	Piecework	M, F	M, F	M, F	100
	Selling forest products	M, F		F	50
Lack of school fees	Selling firewood	Y			13
Hunger	Selling firewood Winter cropping	M, F		F	25 25
Cattle diseases	Use of drugs and services of vendors			M	13

Note: M = Male; F = Female; Y = Youth

¹ Adult females from Wilson Village reported that they could not engage themselves in firewood selling as neighbouring counterparts because they lived far from the forest reserve and the main road.

T5: Major supporting organizations assisting in dealing with the problems

Organization	Support programmes	Community social group1			Percentage frequency
		Co-management (Ndaje)	Customary (Nkula)	Co-management (Chimaliro)
World Food Programme	Distribution of free food to the needy households, but stopped in 2000 allegedly due to political interference	M	M, F	M, F	88
Malawi Social Action Fund	Construction of school blocks and roads, but abandoned because of non-payment of wages	M, F	F	M, F	78
Forestry Department	Introduction of co-management, providing access to communities	M	F	M, F	67
Plan International	Construction of school blocks, drilling boreholes, establishment of nursery schools, distribution of free fertilizer to needy households			M, F	50
European Union	Promoting nursery establishment by women's groups			M, F	50
ELDP	Distribution of free food to needy households, but few benefited	M	M, F		38
MAM	Provision of food to Moslems only	F	M, F		38
CADECOM	Provision of food and cassava planting material			F	25
Government of Malawi	Provision of Starter Pack	M	M, F		25
Willy and Partners	Provision of employment	M			13
American Peace Corps	Construction of school block			M	13

Note: M = Male, F = Female; ¹ The youth group did not participate in answering this question

T6: Summary of the effects of support programmes in the study areas

Support programme	Effect(s)(response)	Community social group1			Percentage frequency1
		Co-management (Ndaje)	Customary (Nkula)	Co-management (Chimaliro)
Co-management	Access to the forest reserve has provided opportunities to trade in forest products, which is a major source of income and food.	M	F	M, F	50
	Improved food security by collection of mushrooms and fruits (masuku)	M	F	F	33
Drilling of boreholes by Plan International	Reduced water-borne diseases			M, F	50
	Reduction of walking distance			M	25
Distribution of food by the Moslem Association of Malawi and WFP	Hunger relief, improvement of nutrition and attendance in school	F	M, F	M	25
Provision of free seed for nursery management by women clubs by EU	Increased participation of women in raising of seedlings and tree planting			M, F	25
Promotion of bee keeping by FRIM	Reduction of ring-barking of trees	M		M	-
Introduction of nursery schools by the community	Early completion of primary school education, especially girls			M	-
Construction of school blocks by MASAF	Reduced congestion in classrooms	M, F	F	M, F	-
Free distribution of mosquito nets by Ministry of Health	Reduction of malaria cases			M, F	-
Provision of cassava planting material	Alleviation of hunger on a sustainable basis		M		-

Note: M = Male; F = Female

¹ Percentage calculation has not been done where the support programme is specific to one village