MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS

The Usefulness of using management effectiveness tools in protected area

management

(The Bwindi Case)by

John Makombo(Uganda Wildlife Authority)

Location of Bwindi

Uganda

Management Effectiveness in Uganda

• Attended a planning workshop early 2001• Participated in the African planning and tools introduction

workshop in Serengeti (July 2001)• Introduced the workbook tools to staff in Bwindi (August

2001• Introduced the workbook tools to stakeholders and

Partners (September 2001)• Held another assessment workshop with stakeholders to

come up with the initial assessment (August 2002) report• Held other meetings with EoH Officials to present

feedback from Partners and to make recommendations for improvements

The Assessment

Context Review – Current status of site• Sites Values – (why are we managing this site?) –

Mountain Gorilla, Water catchment, rare afromontane forest ecosystem, Pleistocene refugia and diversed flora and fauna, part of the Albertine ecosystem , local climatic stabilization and carbon sink, Cultural attachments, economic values

• Threats to the site – Disease (scabies), rapid population increase, isolation, wildlife trafficking, poaching, timber harvesting, climate change, instability in DRC/ infiltration, fire, problem animals and crop raiding, etc

The Assessment

• Government support – resources, policies and the politician’s word, adequacy of policies,

• Who is for us and against us (stakeholders)

Planning Assessment – (Our site should have)

• Legal status & site characteristics – Is site officially gazetted, where are the boundaries, are they clearly marked, are they respected or contested, protrusions, community livelihood provisions

• Updated Management plans/ planning systems

The Assessment

Input Assessment (We need resources to achieve our goals) – available & required

• Funding strengths – revenues, budget adequacy, Partners contribution, Other sources

• Staff strengths – training, numbers, deployments, skills

• Equipment – vehicles, computers, research & monitoring, rifles and ammunitions, education equipment (numbers, condition, distribution, replacement)

• Infrastructure – Roads, housing (office and staff), trails, visitor facilities, education facilities, aircraft and airfields (numbers, condition, maintenance)

The Assessment

Process Assessment (are things working out the way they are expected?) – systems

• Evaluation/ appraisal systems• Maintenance systems• Financial controls and procedures• Staff recruitment processes• Patrol planning and evaluations – security systems• Communication & reporting systems• Public relations and conflict resolution• Adherence to policies• Management systems (Board & Top Management)

The Assessment

Output (work done so far)

• Patrols conducted and patrol coverage

• Staff recruited, trained, appraised

• Meetings held

• Arrests made and prosecutions

• Boundaries marked, maintained, trails opened

• Equipment procured

• Houses built

The Assessment

Outcomes• Wildlife census results• All animals are healthy and no deaths

recorded• Unencroached & clear boundaries• Communities supportive and involved in site

Management• We now support our own budget• Sources of water are now perennial

How the Assessments were Achieved

• First trained staff internally to provide the frontline force to spearhead process

• Do assessments internally first• Review available documentation• Go out to the stakeholders and partners and

allow them to speak out, do not intervene but do the guiding

• Get back to the drawing board internally• Consult with EoH Office (experts)• Get back to the stakeholders

ME as a Management tool at Bwindi

• Its an all-inclusive mechanism that encourages participation from all partners in site management (creates sense of ownership) – Local Government & Community involvement

• It integrates assessment data and information into management practices (e.g. patrol data and patrol planning)

• Prioritization of resources based on target values for site management (protection of gorilla vis-à-vis revenue generation (ecotourism)

ME as a Management tool at Bwindi

• Improved communication links and cooperation between site managers, local communities, and other partners

• Continuation of activities beyond the project life (e.g. data collection by park staff instead of researchers)

• Encourages management planning in areas with deficiencies (.e.g. staff skills improvement)

• Avenue for allocation of responsibilities (partners) – improves specialization

• Resource mobilization is shared with partners/ stakeholders

ME as a Management tool at Bwindi

• The process has been an avenue for formulation and evaluating the Annual Operations Plans

• Annual evaluations encourage a sense of responsibility amongst the staff - accountability

• Facilitates policy formulation (e.g. guidance on staff recruitment, establishments of controls)

Systems adopted so far

• Provision of feedbacks (reporting mechanisms/ sharing of reports)

• Situational and Quarterly planning meetings• Bi-annual reviews of annual operations plans• Joint Annual operations planning• Reviews of project implementation• Staff annual appraisal systems• (planned review of the GMP)

Some difficulties/ Challenges

• Complexity of the workbook tools at the beginning (especially the tables) - Reviewed with EoH team

• Differing levels of education of stakeholders and staff at introduction stage - use partners’ contributions for an objective rank

• Easy acceptability of new ideas – Slow and patient• Differentiation of ranking – Reviewed with EoH team• Need to transfer staff from one station to another –

continued training of staff • The need for patience in understanding how the tools

work and getting other to understand them• Unavailability of some baseline data (carrying capacity for

Bwindi) Depend on previous censuses• Bwindi terrain vis a vis amount of work done

Some points to note

• Some people may not be aware that they are already using the ME tools and think that this ME will increase their work and responsibility. It’s a means of improving on the systems in place

• The workbook tools are flexible and can be tailored to suit the site conditions

• ME provides for planning and abating threats but will not solve any problem if you do not use the data generated for the benefit of the site

• Commitments to learn new ideas

My View

“ME is a useful tool that brings all stakeholders together to share

responsibilities and experiences. Its adoption at all natural resources

management sites may be one way through which we could encourage

networks once systems are well established on the ground”