case studies undp: pole pole foundation, democratic republic of congo

7/27/2019 Case Studies UNDP: POLE POLE FOUNDATION, Democratic Republic of Congo

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Equator Initiative Case StudiesLocal sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities

Democratic Republic of Congo

POLE POLEFOUNDATION

Empowered live

Resilient nation

Empowered live

Resilient nation


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UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES

Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that woor people and or nature. Few publications or case studies tell the ull story o how such initiatives evolve, the breadththeir impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practitionthemselves guiding the narrative.

To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to ll this gap. The ollowing case study is one in a growing ser

that details the work o Equator Prize winners vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmenconservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local succeto scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reerence to The Power of Local Action: Lessons from 10 Yearsthe Equator Prize, a compendium o lessons learned and policy guidance that draws rom the case material.

Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiatives searchable case study database.

EditorsEditor-in-Chief: Joseph CorcoranManaging Editor: Oliver HughesContributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding

Contributing WritersEdayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Toni Blackman, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Larissa Currado, Sarah Gordon, Oliver HugheWen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Patrick Lee, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma,Mary McGraw, Gabriele Orlandi, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding, Luna Wu

DesignOliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Amy Korngiebel, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis, John Mulqueen, Lorena de la ParBrandon Payne, Mariajos Satizbal G.

AcknowledgementsThe Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude the Pole Pole Foundation, and in particular the guidance and inputs o DominiqBikaba, John Kahekwa, and Kawabe Tomohiro. All photo credits courtesy o Pole Pole Foundation. Maps courtesy o CIA World Factboand Wikipedia.

Suggested CitationUnited Nations Development Programme. 2012. Pole Pole Foundation, Democratic Republic of Congo. Equator Initiative Case Study Ser

New York, NY.
http://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/events/2012events/Book_Launch/power%2520of%2520local%2520action%2520final%25202013%25208mb.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=casestudysearch&Itemid=858


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PROJECT SUMMARYIn 1975, Kahuzi-Biega National Park expanded rom 60,000to 600,000 hectares o orest in eastern DRC. The newly-incorporated lowland orest was home to the endangeredEastern Lowland gorilla (Gorilla Beringei graueri), as well asmany indigenous Batwa communities. These communitieswere orceully relocated by the expansion o the park,depriving them o a source o local livelihoods, ood, andcultural heritage. The result was widespread poachingwithin the parks boundaries that deed ocial attempts atenorcement.

Since the early 1990s, however, the Pole Pole Foundationhas pioneered an innovative scheme o giving poacherstraining in becoming artisans, bringing in an averageincome o USD 30/month or those involved. The promotiono other alternative livelihood activities around the park hashelped to slowly turn the tide: between 2005 and 2007,human incursions within the habituated gorillas sector othe park ell by 12 per cent.

KEY FACTS

EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2006

FOUNDED: 1992

LOCATION: Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

BENEFICIARIES: Indigenous communities

BIODIVERSITY: Kahuzi-Biega National Park

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POLE POLE FOUNDATIONDemocratic Republic of Congo

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background and Context 4

Key Activities and Innovations 6

Biodiversity Impacts 7

Socioeconomic Impacts 8

Policy Impacts 8

Sustainability 9

Replication 9

Partners 9


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he Pole Pole Foundation (POPOF) is a community-based, non-overnmental organization working in Kahuzi-Biega National Park

KBNP), in the east o the Democratic Republic o Congo. POPOFwas created by our local community members in 1992, guidedby the principle that no conservation initiative can be sustainedwithout the ull involvement o indigenous people. With this aim,he initiative has engaged the parks local communities in the longerm preservation o its natural resources through communityevelopment projects.

Kahuzi-Biega: history and biological diversity

he Kahuzi-Biega National Park was created in 1937 as a oresteserve, gaining the status o National Park in 1970. In 1975, it wasxtended to ten times its initial area, counting a total o 600,000ectares, ollowed by its recognition by UNESCO as a World Heritageite in 1980. When the orest gained national park status, however,

ocal and indigenous communities were orced to leave withoutny system o compensation or accommodation. These groups

ncluded communities o Pygmies known locally as Batwa, Mbuti,r Bambuti who are indigenous to the region, having settled the

and beore the arrival o other ethnic groups such as the Bantu.hey are currently settled along the park boundaries in villages

ncluding Bashi, Bahavu, and Batembo. The nature o their eviction,ack o compensation, and sometimes unclear demarcation o the

parks boundaries has led to conict between these surroundingommunities and the park management. Poaching and otheruman incursions in the park ensued, while the policing strategydopted by the park management proved insucient. Assertinghat the needs o the local and indigenous communities are directlyfected by management o the benets-sharing system within the

park, POPOF was ounded to promote collaboration and negotiationbetween the park management and the surrounding communities.

Kahuzi-Biega is the natural home o the Eastern Lowlandorilla (Gorilla Beringei graueri), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes

schweinfurthii), the Arican elephant (Loxodonta africana cycand numerous other species endemic to the Albertine Rit. Tspecies are all threatened by mining, poaching, diseases, andhuman demographic expansion around the park. This situation

Background and Context


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been exacerbated by the successive wars in the area in the past 15ears. As a result o human pressures on its natural resources, in 1997 was placed on a list o World Heritage Sites In Danger (UNESCO,997).

he National Park is named or its two extinct volcanoes, MountKahuzi (3,308m) and Mount Biega (2,790m), both located in the

ighland part o the park. The park comprises a highland portion 60,000 ha, designated or conservation in 1970, and a lowlandrea (540,000 ha) that was added in 1975. One-tenth o theegetation o the park is montane orest, although the vegetation the lowlands is still poorly documented. The montane vegetationomprises an open orest o typically montane Arican redwoodsHagenia abyssinica, Rosaceae); a humid tropical orest; a high-ltitude secondary orest with Myrianthus holstii(Cecropiaceae) and

Xymalos species (Monimiaceae); a deciduous primary orest with

odocarpus species, (Podocarapceae); swamplands with NutsedgeCyperus species, Cyperaceae); bamboo orests (Arundinaria alpina,Graminaeae) and dry ormations (heath, groundsel, lobelia, and

erbaceous savannah) at the higher altitude. The altitude o the parkaries rom 900m above sea level in the western lowlands to 3,300 m

n the eastern mountains.

Origins of Pole Pole Foundation

he organizations name Pole Pole means slowly slowly in Swahili,he local language, while oundation was selected to imply the

building o a basis or conservation and sustainable developmslowly but steadily, or the parks and communities benets.initiatives our ounding members were joined by twelve ovillagers in the creation o the organization in 1992.

Pole Poles initial objective was to create economic alternaor the communities bordering the park who had seen livelihood options diminish due to the orests protected stActively engaging local and indigenous communities in the lterm conservation o the Kahuzi-Biega National Park has bcentral to this work. While this vision has not changed, additispecic objectives have been identied. A program on heand conservation was launched in 2007 to tackle the issudiseases transmitted rom humans to animals around the as well as between primate species and livestock, and to educommunities about these transmissions. Long-term objectives

included training ormer poachers in diferent artisanal prosuch as carving and painting, to convert them rom poacheconservation activists; improving communities living conditby setting up a rural construction program; reoresting the eo the park to create a bufer zone; and promoting ecotourismresearch in Kahuzi-Biega. Other goals have ocused on promoenvironmental education or local youth and adults, improthe arming systems employed by communities to increase production and ood security, and creating diverse employmopportunities or community members.


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Key Activities and Innovations

ole Poles initiatives to tackle the conservation and developmentmperatives in and around Kahuzi-Biega have been wide-ranging,ngaging multiple local and international stakeholders. The twin

objectives have been the reduction o human incursions in thepark or poaching, and the improvement o the livelihood options

nd welare o the seven indigenous communities bordering thepark. Specic target groups include illegal miners and poachers,womens groups, the indigenous Pygmy communities, and youth

nd students.

Diversifying livelihood activities

n one o the oundations main activities, 47 ormer poachers (26men, 21 women) have been trained and converted to artisans.oachers typically killed small mammals and primates or their meat,nd to use their skins in traditional ceremonies. Now they work asratsmen, making painted and carved goods or sale, and haveerved as conservation ambassadors in their respective villages. Asresult, there has been a decrease in poaching activities and otheruman pressures on the parks natural resources in the habituatedorillas section o the park. Meanwhile, approximately 1.5 million

rees have been planted or agroorestry projects around the park,stablishing a bufer zone and increasing agricultural productivity inome communities.

A key target group o Pole Poles work has been the Pygmyommunities displaced rom the national park, and especially the

women o these communities. In three Pygmy villages borderinghe conserved area, 24 Pygmy women have been trained in sewinglothes, 40 women have been trained in crops production, and 47ave each received a breeding chicken. Women cooperatives runningassava mills, poultry projects, arms, and micro credit schemes have

been established around the park since 2008. In total more than 147park rangers wives, 131 Pygmy women and 212 other women romocal communities have been involved with the project.

Environmental education

Educational activities have also ormed a substantial section oPoles portolio. Three conservation schools have been establiby POPOF in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, while one seconschool is teaching conservation and agroorestry. Environmeducation programs are in place in another 21 existing scharound the park. Six literacy centers were also launched to tadults to read and to write in Swahili. The Pole Pole Foundreceives an average o 12 students each year rom universitieseight pupils rom secondary schools or training in conservation

Other activities have included attempts to develop ecotouin and around the national park, and conducting research animal-borne diseases transmitted rom the parks wildlie. Tourevenues have been limited by low visitor numbers, however, dthe ongoing security situation in eastern DRC, while urther reseinto disease transmission is contingent on unding.

The chie strategies employed by Pole Pole have been basethe recognition that joblessness and a lack o knowledge aconservation were the chie reasons or the community mempoaching and destruction o the parks natural resources. combined with resentment on the part o the communities displrom the park without compensation, and the traditional relian

the poorest people on the parks natural resources or subsistehad created a situation in which the indigenous people were glittle option but to turn to illegal and unsustainable activitiecreating socioeconomic alternatives or communities through Poles innovative activities, a signicant change in communwellbeing and acceptance o the park has been observed. Morecreating jobs, improving crop production and ood security, matrees available to communities in their own villages, and enabcommunities to breed animals coupled to small businesseimprove amilies incomes have improved the communcondence in the parks management.


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Impacts

BIODIVERSITY IMPACTSPositive impacts on biodiversity have been achieved through theengagement o communities in conservation eforts. The EasternLowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) and its orest habitat havebeen preserved through decreased human encroachment viapoaching activities. Tree planting schemes have increased the orest

rea bordering the national park, while education and empowermento youth, ormer poachers and miners, and indigenous women have

llowed them to participate in activities that promote biodiversityonservation.

Grassroots awareness-raising

Education o the youth community has been seen as essential orPole Poles long-term, sustainable conservation impact. In the pastyear, 728 children were registered in POPOF kindergarten andprimary schools, while 147 students are studying agroorestry and

onservation in secondary school. The environmental educationprogram has also been extended to 21 other schools around thepark and in six newly-established illiteracy centers.

Reduction in poaching

Socioeconomic incentives and sensitization have been vital tohanging attitudes towards conservation. Since 2006, around89 park rangers amilies, 746 local communities amilies, and 76

Pygmy amilies have each received a breeding goat to reduce theevel o poaching activities in Kahuzi-Biega National Park. Theraining o ormer illegal hunters in artisanal practices, orming o

womens cooperatives running cassava mills, poultry projects, andmicro credit schemes, and the promotion o agriculture and smallcale livestock rearing in communities around the park have allontributed to reducing reliance on the areas natural resources or

ncome. The result was a all in monitored human incursions in thehabituated gorillas sector o the park by 12% between 2005 and

2007. Another impact has been an increase in the acceptance oparks conservation among the communities bordering the lowgorillas habitat: in 2007, this stood at 57%, compared to acceptance in 2003. There are currently 119 gorillas in ten amwithin the habituated gorillas section o the park.

Reforestation of the park border

Pole Poles tree-planting scheme has helped to reorest the bordering the park, and to create a bufer zone betweenindigenous communities and the conserved area. The demarco the parks boundaries is not always clear, creating conusionwhich trees can be elled by local populations. The demand o

rom these local communities, meanwhile, where annual populgrowth averages 4%, increases pressure on the parks orested Bufer zones help to reduce these pressures. POPOF has instigtree nursery schemes in these communities, manned by volunteers who were given tree seedlings at no cost. Between and 2008, more than 2.5 million trees were distributed and plaaround the park, which helped to improve agricultural producby maintaining soil ertility and preventing soil erosion. InKabare and Kalehe administrative regions, beans and corn harincreased by 13.7% during this period.

Studying livestock-wildlife disease transmission

Finally, biodiversity conservation has also benetted communities livestock. Since 2007, 6,864 samples rom cattle been collected and analyzed rom around the park to study distransmission between livestock and wildlie; equipment hasbeen provided to a hospital at Murhesa to enable the colleco human samples. Ater unding rom a European NGO wasorthcoming, however, this project now resides with the management, and its continued expansion is contingent on nurther unding.


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Biodiversity monitoring

The Pole Pole Foundation has been able to measure its biodiversitympacts through quantitative data collected in the park on a daily

basis by park rangers monitoring teams. These are especiallyconcerned with the extent o human activities in the park. Othermonitoring approaches include qualitative interviews with poachersand other communities members to assess their changing views on

conservation.

SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS

Substantial social and economic benets have resulted rom PolePoles work, especially through the retraining o ormer poachers increating artisanal handicrats. These carvings are sold in Congo, aswell as being exported to North America by Partners In Conservationand by the Canadian Ape Alliance. They are even exhibited in aPole Pole Foundation oce in Kyoto University, Japan. The ormerpoachers participating in this program can expect to earn an incomeo around USD 30 per month rom the sales o the carvings. Thiscompares to earning an estimated USD 40 per month rom poaching.

Average incomes in the area are USD 60/month or small businessowners and around USD 50/month rom small-scale agriculture.A key challenge or Pole Pole, thereore, has been to increase thencome available rom carving, making it more competitive with

other livelihood activities. This relies partly on increasing exportso outside markets, but more crucially on attracting more visitors to

Kahuzi-Biega National Park itsel. This hinges on an improvement inhe security situation in eastern DRC, which currently limits potentialevenues rom tourism and rom associated livelihoods generation.

The promotion o alternative livelihood activities in communitiesaround the park has yielded measurable gains or the indigenouspopulation. Specically, Pole Poles work has targeted Pygmycommunities and women. In 2010, around 87% o the beneciarieswere women and girls rom Pygmy and other local communities, anncrease rom 75% in 2006. In three Pygmy villages around the park,

24 Pygmy women have been trained in sewing clothes, 40 Pygmywomen have been trained in crop production, and 47 Pygmy womenhave received a breeding chicken. Three womens cooperativesunning cassava mills, poultry projects, arming and micro-creditchemes have been established around the park since 2008. Morehan 147 park rangers wives, 131 Pygmy women and 212 other local

communities women are involved with the project.

Widespread improvements in wellbeing

ncome generated rom activities has been reinvested by some ohe amilies: 23% o the households involved in the animal breeding

program in the Pygmy communities have purchased land plots,averaging 20m each. Another notable gain has been in improvedaccess to ood: 78% o local and indigenous households around thepark have improved ood security in the last ten years as a result ohe arming and agroorestry techniques Pole Pole has helped to

promote. This was measured in increases in the quantities o cropsproduced and the number o breeding animals per household.

Meanwhile the revenues rom some key activities have been invein local inrastructure. 2% o the income rom the carvings sold is to cover Pole Poles running costs, which include the managemo its schools. Currently, 10% o the ees paid by tourists entethe park is reinvested in POPOFs conservation and developmprojects, although legislation on national parks states that 40permit ees should go to the development o communities bordthe park. Finally, some o the trees planted in the areas borderin

park have been harvested by the communities, either to be soldused in the carving program, or to be used as timber, rewoobuilding material by local people.

POLICY IMPACTSPole Poles work has not only had measurable impacts at the level. It has also provided a case study at the national leveinorm government policy concerning national park demarcaand community conservation eforts. POPOF has demonstrthat excluding indigenous people without compensation their traditional homes in order to create protected areas is nsustainable approach to conservation. In the case o Kahuzi-B

it has had a markedly negative impact on conservation itselon communities livelihoods, with diculties continuing to expolicing the parks boundaries. Some communities currently inthe lowland part o the park, and as no provisions have been mor their resettlement elsewhere, the Congolese governmentnot attempted to eject them.

Community members contributions, including those rom Pole, were incorporated into the national park management plKahuzi-Biega, the rst o its kind in the Democratic Republic o CoIn other protected areas in the DRC, eforts are now underwaintegrate community members into parks management commiand planning processes along similar lines. POPOF has also pla leading role in advocating or changes in the running o natparks, such as pushing or greater adherence to government lawtourism revenue sharing, which stipulate that 40% o visitors peees should go to supporting the development o communsurrounding the parks.

Pole Poles experience in community-based conservation development has meant that its contributions have carried wewith policy-makers. In terms o its involvement in DRCs NatiBiodiversity Strategies and Actions Plan (NBSAP), the groups tpronged approach has been or greater involvement o communin park management, more equitable tourist revenue sharing

conorming to UNESCO and UN Convention on Biological Diverequirements or protected area management.

A barrier to success or Pole Pole, however, has been ongoing coin the region. Damaged roads and communications inrastruchave impacted on its ability to work within the area, while displpersons and reugees have also added to the existing pressurenatural resources.

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Sustainability and Replication

SUSTAINABILITYole Pole Foundations work is rooted in the local communities

t works with, enabling a high degree o social and organizationalustainability. Partner organizations have provided unding orrganizational capacity-building and skills training or POPOFtaf, many o whom are youth members o local communities. The

practice o training and educating young conservationists throughole Poles school system, and then employing them within therganization has been a key strategy or ensuring the social durability the oundations work.

xternal nancial support remains a key component o Pole Poleswork, however, especially or pending programs seeking to createew livelihood activities, and this is thereore a challenge to its

ong-term sustainability. The ongoing conict in the region is alsothreat to the initiatives ongoing expansion; a revitalized tourist

rade would generate substantial income through visitors ees, sales carved goods and related small enterprises. With greater access toxternal markets, a larger number o POPOFs alternative livelihoodctivities could also become sel-sustaining.

ong-term ood security could be enhanced through a plan tontroduce a crops exchange between the communities surroundinghe park. This project will enable communities to access crops that are

ot produced in their area through reciprocated harvest exchangeswith other communities. This will diversiy the crop varieties availableo villages around the park, and will be supplemented by sharingechniques or diferent crops production as well as knowledge ononservation.

REPLICATION

o date, two local womens organizations have been createdollowing the model o Pole Pole. They are currently working in veillages surrounding the park: Walikale, Nzovu, Lwama, Lulingu and

Itombwe. One o the groups has ound similar unding romGorilla Organization, a UK-based charity that supported Pole or over ten years. POPOF supported the creation o both o tgroups by providing breeding goats to 79 o the women. They also conducted workshops and meetings to aid in the staprocess. Outside o DRC, a easibility study has been conducteexamine the possibility o replicating the POPOF model in MukaDoudou National Park, Gabon.

Peer-to-peer knowledge exchange has been a critical actopublicizing the Pole Pole business model. Employees have travextensively within the region to advise on park management is

both within DRC and in neighboring countries.

PARTNERS

Partners In Conservation (USA): gave nancial supportenvironmental education and carving programs until Au2010

Gorilla Organisation (UK): unding supported reorestaproject until January 2008

Canadian Ape Alliance (Canada): supported environmeducation, starting womens cooperatives, and carving prountil 2007.

Born Free Foundation (UK): has nanced environme

education programs POPOF-Japan (oce based at Kyoto University): has suppo

the carving program through sales o the goods produced. Local universities and schools: have partnered with POPO

environmental education programs Other in-country partners include the Congolese Wi

Authority, Congolese Institute or Nature Conservation (Iand the Research Center in Natural Sciences o Lwiro (CLwiro), which has co-managed the Health and Conservaprogram.


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The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and grassroots organizatio recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions or people, nature and resilient communities.

2012 by Equator InitiativeAll rights reserved

FURTHER REFERENCE

Pole Pole Foundation website http://www.polepoleoundation.org/

Pole Pole Foundation photo story (Vimeo) English: http://vimeo.com/15781733 French: https://vimeo.com/15781615

Yamagiwa, J. 2003. Bushmeat Poaching and the Conservation Crisis in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Democratic Republic o the Co

inJournal of Sustainable Forestry, vol. 16, issue 2-3, pp. 111-130. http://www.tandonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J091v16n03_06
http://www.polepolefoundation.org/http://vimeo.com/15781733https://vimeo.com/15781615https://vimeo.com/15781615http://vimeo.com/15781733http://www.polepolefoundation.org/http://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348150773.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348150252.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348261639.pdf

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