Documento(s) 14 de 24

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of one PAR team in creating relationships to support CBNRM. Relationships, in this case, occur at various scales (international, national, provincial and community) and take place in various forms such as through partnerships, networks or facilitation by the research team. The chapter highlights the role of such relationships, including an analysis of why creating networks is a key strategy for facilitating CBNRM. Field stories about stolen fishing gear, water conflicts and mangrove logs shed insights into these processes. Unless adequate networking mechanisms and facilitation support are built into the CBNRM processes, community management plans and maps alone will do little to enhance local livelihoods or engage critical provincial and national actors.

Introduction

In part as a response to declining access to natural resources, community-based management (also known as community fisheries, community forestry or CBNRM) has emerged in Cambodia. Although approaches can vary, communities are establishing management plans and territorial claims, often with support from NGOs or government agencies. In comparison with a handful of sites in the late 1990s, in 2002 there were an estimated 162 community fishery sites and 237 community forestry sites in Cambodia (McKenney and Prom, 2002). Many of the community forestry and fishery sites in the country have an elected resource management committee (also known as a community fisheries or forestry committee) that is responsible for guiding resource management activities. This growing community emphasis in resource management appears to be a departure from past practices in Khmer villages, which were based on technical leadership from government institutions and informal regulations directed by village and commune leaders.

Much of the initial community-based work, which began in the 1990s, was experimental because community members, NGOs and government facilitators needed to understand just what resource management could look like on the ground. These initial experiences have contributed to the proliferation of community-based management processes – or at least fragments of them – throughout Cambodia. Examples include approaches to government decentralization, land management activities and increasingly formal community forestry and fisheries programmes. However, it is difficult to get a sense of what it really takes for CBNRM to work once plans are finished, maps made and documents approved. What issues are community resource management committees solving and what support do they require?

Cambodian rural households typically depend upon a diverse range of income sources, including those derived from a combination of common property resources such as fish, forest and water sources. However, access to these depends upon where a household is located and what livelihood opportunities the household is able to harness (Helmers, 2003). There is limited research that only hints at what it really takes in practice to enhance livelihoods, solve conflicts or increase access to resources for rural dwellers. Households and village-level institutions already do implement a variety of resource management strategies, including using forests as buffers from wind and storms. However, lessons from older CBNRM projects suggest that resource management strategies can more easily be enhanced when there is appropriate support that exists beyond the village level for community involvement in CBNRM. Perhaps greater consideration of Cambodia's cultural context¹ is necessary while working on CBNRM. In this country, village-level institutions often cannot engage in resource management practices such as patrolling or enforcement activities without some form of higher-level support.

This chapter tracks a specific case (Marschke and Nong, 2003) in which it is argued that both bottom-up and top-down strategies are needed to successfully bridge knowledge gaps and bring different players together to support CBNRM processes. Specifically, the chapter examines the role that one project team, Participatory Management of Mangrove Resources (PMMR), has taken in creating relationships to support CBNRM. Relationships, in this case, occur at various scales (international, national, provincial and community) and take place in various forms. These include partnerships, networks and facilitation by the PMMR team. This chapter highlights the role of such relationships, including an analysis of why creating these types of networks is a key strategy for facilitating CBNRM. Field stories relating to stolen fishing gear, water conflicts and mangrove logs shed insights into these processes. Unless adequate networking mechanisms and facilitation support are built into CBNRM processes, community management plans and maps alone will do little to enhance local situations or engage critical provincial and national actors.

The PMMR team and coastal villages

The PMMR team, funded by the IDRC, is composed of government staff at the national and provincial levels who come from various technical departments. This is an action research project, which means that team members are engaged with other stakeholders in CBNRM research. The lead institution is the Ministry of the Environment (MoE), and the provincial team is interdisciplinary. The PMMR provincial team members come from the Department of the Environment, the Department of Fisheries, the Department of Rural Development and the Department of Women's Affairs. This research team works directly at the village level, more recently with local-level resource management institutions.

Because team members belong to different institutions, partnership building could only begin once the PMMR research team had a better sense of what actually was happening (or not) within their own institutions as well as at the local level. For example, after the project team had worked together for the first few months, the original name of the project, Community-based Mangrove Management, was changed to the current name, Participatory Management of Mangrove Resources. This happened because the team felt that the term 'community-based' could potentially alienate government partners since they are not community members. Figure 8.1 explains why this research team chose to build partnerships at different levels. Team members found themselves taking on multiple roles in this action-research process, from learner to facilitator to researcher to trainer. However, perhaps more than any other role, the team considers itself a bridge connecting those with typically less power with those with more power to discuss, and potentially solve, coastal resource management issues.

Most of the PMMR team's village-level work takes place in a handful of in-migrant fishing villages in and around Peam Krasaop Wildlife Sanctuary (PKWS) as shown in Figure 8.2. Many of these households were displaced by internal conflicts and economic disasters in other provinces, and so they migrated into this area with the hopes of taking advantage of lucrative resource extraction activities. Most households have learned to harvest various resources, after other income-generating activities collapsed, such as charcoal production and shrimp farming. As resources such as mangrove trees and fish declined, some villages requested support from the PMMR team to help them with resource management initiatives. Although the team initially spent time doing a series of environmental education activities in these villages, they did not help villagers to organize themselves or create resource management plans unless villagers specifically requested help.

The PMMR team's main focus is to research how local-level resource management institutions can engage in resource management and how local livelihoods can be enhanced. The team has worked hard to establish good relationships and cooperation with all governmental levels, and to aid this, the PMMR team facilitates between the national government and local people. In order to build the capacity of provincial and local authorities, the PMMR team has held many training courses and sent provincial and local leaders to participate in training courses on mangrove forest management in Thailand. Local villagers have been sponsored on study tours to other areas in Cambodia where local people are also working on CBNRM. In adopting an action research approach, much of the team's learning has come from working directly with villagers on resource management issues, and from networking with partners to help them to better understand CBNRM processes. It is argued that much of the success of this research project is due to this explicit orientation to learning with partners versus implementing blueprint plans, regardless of how the latter may be developed. Perhaps, in part, this learning orientation was in reaction to individual experiences of team members while working with or watching NGOs and government institutions facilitate time-consuming and complicated planning processes led by a small number of people. Such processes sometimes resulted in plans that were not accepted by villagers.

Figure 8.1 Why PMMR builds partnerships at different levels

Figure 8.2 Location of the Peam Krasaop Wildlife Sanctuary in Cambodia

International and regional partnerships

The PMMR project began in late 1997. This was a time when only a few donors were working on community-based management in Cambodia, when CBNRM as a concept was very new to all participants. Much of the initial emphasis of earlier projects was upon community forestry. The PMMR project did not quite fit into this dialogue, given that the team was working in mangrove fishing communities with many in-migrants. Consequently, at first a national–international dialogue was critical while national-level staff sought to understand CBNRM concepts, and while international advisers started to comprehend the unique Cambodian context. Networking with other IDRC partners, therefore, was an important first step in PMMR. It allowed everyone to learn what was involved with community-based management, and to learn participatory, analytical and other skills related to researching resource management issues.

Project advisers who visited from Canada or who lived in Cambodia have held multiple roles with the PMMR team, being friends, facilitators, trainers, questioners and sceptics. As the CBNRM work unfolded, from the PMMR team's perspective it was essential that there was a dialogue among national and international members regarding questions and situations that arose. Although initially advisers played a critical role in helping to shape the project, with time this shifted into local staff taking the lead. Therefore, the role of project advisers evolved over time. Now, in a supportive context, their role is to challenge team members to help them to reflect and learn more from their experiences. Table 8.1 lists these PMMR partnerships.

Networking in Asia and Canada

Similar to the PMMR team's relationships with project advisers, the team's experiences with regional networking evolved over time. Networking in the region and through international study experiences always seems like a good idea. In fact, several national staff participated in university courses in Canada. Comments such as 'we need more training', or 'we need to build our capacity', are common, especially when embarking on a research project that demands an analysis of complicated situations. Hence, PMMR team members were exposed to several training events, both in the region and in Canada.

My first trip to Canada, learning with other students, was really hard. I had been so excited to have the opportunity to learn from others, but I found it really hard to follow the ideas or to share very much even though I had a lot of field experiences. I really had to make an effort to speak and to get people to listen to me.

Table 8.1 Partnerships with PMMR: enhancing a movement

Source: PMMR, 2004.

Ouk Li Khim, a national PMMR team member

However, training, study tours and international courses alone are not enough to understand CBNRM concepts. It takes continuous practice, reflection, more training and then refinement before experiences can be synthesized and fully understood.

At times, workshops, meetings or projects with regional IDRC partners have created a cooperation that actually felt forced, like something that PMMR was obliged to participate in. At other times, team members have been genuinely excited by such opportunities. Team members' skills in English might be considered adequate, but none is particularly fluent. It takes serious effort to respond to e-mails, read documents, search the web or contribute to discussions. Regional networking takes away from local work. However, regional interaction can provide the spark that helps people really grasp what they are doing. Over time, the research team began to appreciate the value of such networks and the potential that the learning brought. 'Sometimes I need to hear outside ideas, even if I don't fully understand them, to consider if these may help me in my work,' noted An, a provincial team member.

Over time, the PMMR team became more sophisticated in ensuring that they could benefit from these sorts of exchanges. For example, when the team wanted to initiate a reflection session with local institutions, they knew they did not have the time to design an in-depth training programme. They contacted a Philippine CBNRM networking project called Learning and Research Network for CBNRM (LeaRN). This group designed an approach that would enable the team to learn more about participatory monitoring and evaluation approaches. For LeaRN, it was an excellent chance to learn about a new context and to adapt their skills. After LeaRN facilitated a training session in Phnom Penh, the PMMR team was able to adapt the lessons so that they could facilitate an appropriate village-level reflection session (with support from LeaRN). Such a networking approach, which enables both partners to learn, results in greater appreciation for context and differences. Moreover, it builds a pool of resource people in the region who can contact each other, long after projects end, to work through other issues.

PMMR team members have linked with other networks too. In August 2003, they hosted a workshop in Koh Kong for fishers from Thailand, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. Although Cambodian fishers had participated in such exchanges previously, it was the first time that the network had come together in Cambodia. The workshop was hosted by the PMMR team in collaboration with local resource management institutions. The emphasis was on fishers learning with each other. One fisher from Siem Reap province who attended the Koh Kong workshop noted:

While sometimes this is a new way of thinking for us, but if we think about our homes and what we do, it makes sense that we have to take care of the fish and the. forest. I am just very sorry that those with power do not see the importance of this. (Marschke, 2004)

For this fisher, such exchanges created an understanding of environmental issues and the reasons why villagers play a role in resource management. Exchanges help broaden views, incorporating complicated issues that concern government officials, community members and international experts. Networking can also create unexpected opportunities such as securing additional funding, learning new skills and solving a problem.

Understanding the national policy context

Since Cambodia is a strongly hierarchical social context, having high-level political support for NRM activities is essential. That is, one needs to engage with policy-makers in ways that are both formal (laws) and informal (official endorsement). Consider the fisheries reform. In October 2000, the prime minister of Cambodia visited the provinces and heard about conflicts between fishers and fishing lot owners. He immediately announced the release of 8,000 ha from the 84,000 ha under commercial fishing lots in Siem Reap province. By February 2001, the government had agreed to release 536,000 ha from the fishing lot system for local community management, which represented 56 per cent of the entire area under commercial fishing lots in Cambodia (Evans, 2002). Although no law was in place to support such a reform, the prime minister wields enough power to mandate such a change.

It is perceived by many government officials that villagers have a low capacity or limited skills and experiences for resource management. This, in part, is related to the hierarchical nature of Khmer society. The challenge, therefore, is to break down negative perceptions while getting higher-level officials to support CBNRM processes. The PMMR team has had to consider how to present CBNRM concepts, especially to those persons who can make decisions to support – or not support – community involvement in NRM.

Exchanges with government institutions: national and provincial partnerships

A direct benefit from extensive networking during meetings, study tours, field visits, workshops and socializing is the strong support all PMMR project team members derive from national and provincial government organizations. For instance, higher-level officials are willing to give their support to village-level resource management activities, even though there is no legal framework to mandate such activities. That is, each local-level resource management institution, known as a village management committee (VMC), has created a management plan, which includes rules and regulations along with an area to manage. These plans are recognized by appropriate technical institutions and by the provincial governor, as well as by the Minister of the Environment, for those villages found inside a protected area. When dealing with resource issues, it helps the VMCs to know that they have support for their work, whether it is to stop illegal activities or to try different village-level initiatives.

By enhancing decision-makers' understanding of CBNRM concepts, the PMMR team has had a significant influence in the MoE and in Koh Kong province. Between 1997 and 2004, the PMMR team organized a series of workshops and strategic field visits with national and provincial government officers whose mandate was to develop coastal resources and local livelihoods. This strategy involved consistently bringing key decision-makers to the field and facilitating an exchange between villagers and government officials. Table 8.2 outlines the strategy.

While the PMMR team has hosted multiple workshops and study tours, written reports and papers, and encouraged villagers to speak in many venues, the annual televised field visit from the MoE and other high-ranking officials has been the activity which has contributed the most to promoting the work of the communities. These visits, combined with annual mangrove replanting activities, were what the villagers remembered as most significant. In fact, some activities facilitated by the PMMR team have been particularly useful for villages while others have been insightful for government staff. This is why engaging in a range of strategies is an important aspect of the research team's work.

Initially, the PMMR supported villagers to plant mangroves in exchange for rice. After several years, the provincial governor began supporting this activity personally, and it appears that support for mangrove replanting continues to grow. In 2004, a National Assembly member pledged his support for the communities to replant mangroves in exchange for rice. Sok Net commented, 'Did you hear that Tia Bun (a National Assembly member) will support our mangrove replanting? He will provide 15 t of rice for us, and 5 t for Koh Kapic [a neighbouring village]. I'm really pleased.' Net, although not a member of the VMC, participates annually in mangrove replanting activities. She was pleased that a high-ranking official would consider supporting her community.

Table 8.2 Creating relationships with strategic government officials

Source: PMMR, 2002.

Sometimes additional attention can lead to conflicts among the VMC members or in the community. For example, unknown to the PMMR, the MoE issued a certificate of dedication to key villagers working on community-based management in various protected areas. The provincial director of the environment nominated one VMC member from Koh Sralao who was given this certificate. Other villagers became angry because they felt that the entire committee worked on community-based management and that one person should not be favoured unless it was the VMC chief. The provincial director of environment never thought to ask the PMMR team or the VMC members before making this appointment. In addition, he did not consider the internal ramifications of what he perceived as a nice gesture. The PMMR team, therefore, held group sessions with government officials encouraging them to think about the implications of their deeds before acting. Also, they were asked to consult VMC members so that people would not have bad feelings about one person being singled out, but rather feel proud that someone in their village had been recognized.

Local authority cooperation

In Cambodia, local authority refers to administrative units that conduct various government functions. Provincial, district, commune and village administrative units all fall under the Ministry of the Interior. Any community-based management initiative requires both support from and participation by local authorities, especially endorsement for activities at the village and commune levels. Of note is that commune powers increased with the 2002 elections. If civil society movements emerge without local support, conflict can arise. Therefore, the PMMR team took the approach to involve local authorities wherever possible to ensure smooth operations at the village level. This provides village institutions with a line of communication, apart from the PMMR team, when they wish to solve their conflicts.

However, the following story indicates the challenges of getting local institutions (police and the VMC) to cooperate to solve resource management conflicts:

Dom was acting as the temporary head of Koh Sralao's VMC, since the VMC head was exploring livelihood opportunities elsewhere. Stolen fishing gear is one of the biggest challenges fishers face, and sometimes the VMC is asked to help solve thefts.

Sareun, a crab fisher from Koh Sralao, came across 40 empty crab traps near his fishing ground. No one claimed these traps during the time he was out fishing, so he decided to take them himself. When he returned to the village, he talked to Dom. They decided that most likely someone had stolen the traps and subsequently left them. They agreed to leave three traps at Dom's house and the rest with Sareun, and to advise the villagers that some crab traps had been found. They documented what they were doing and thumb-printed the paper to make it clear that Sareun did not steal these traps.

A month went by, and no one claimed the traps. Sareun decided to sell the traps to someone known as Po who lived in a neighbouring village. This exchange took place at a communal fishing ground called Chrouy Pros Bay, used by both villages. A few weeks later, the original owner happened to see his crab traps and reclaimed them. He was quite upset that someone from a neighbouring village had his traps and went to the police. The police hauled Po in for questioning.

Sareun quickly called Dom, the VMC chief, to explain to the police what had happened. However, the police dismissed Dom, saying that this was a matter for the police to handle and that he should not be involved. The police thought that the fisher, Po, had stolen the traps and should be fined. After an intense exchange of words between the police and Dom, Dom realized that he needed some help to negotiate this situation. He called Rathana, a PMMR provincial team member, to help solve this conflict.

Rathana met the police and Dom to help them find a solution. Since the police are meant to cooperate with the VMC on issues relating to NRM, Rathana encouraged each side to explain their story. He emphasized that fishing gear theft is complicated, since gear often is exchanged through many hands. Eventually, a solution was found. The original crab trap owner got his crab traps back and Po got half his money back from Sareun. It was not a perfect solution, but it was considered fair. More importantly, it was agreed that in the future the VMC must work directly with the police and notify them if stolen gear is found.

Theft of fishing gear is a constant issue in fishing villages. The police are in on this. The villagers steal from each other. The VMCs make mistakes in how they handle these situations. These days, PMMR staff are acting as facilitators and are an important option for villagers to turn to. Smaller conflicts generally can be solved locally, but sometimes require outside facilitation. The VMCs need adequate support to help them solve issues related to resource management. If not, the CBNRM process will fall apart.

Community partnerships

The PMMR team was welcomed in the villages because it is composed of provincial and national staff, and because Khmer culture demands deference to authorities. Over time, this relationship has changed from one of formality to one of cooperation. Villagers initially agreed to anything that the PMMR suggested, even if they never planned to do anything about it. For example, villagers agreed to do monthly garbage cleanup but never did unless the PMMR team came to the village. After five years of thinking about waste management issues, however, one village has now devised its own waste management system, and is in the process of trying it. Over the years, villagers have become more comfortable in expressing their views and in connecting with the team, either at their provincial office or even in Phnom Penh. Meanwhile, the team realized that there was much to learn from villagers, and that each field visit brought some new learning or insight. Notably, the current approach evolved over several years of field visits, training and exchanges.

To date, four VMCs have been elected by villagers. These committees, to varying degrees, play a role in helping villagers with livelihood issues and coastal environmental protection. Importantly, they work together not only to identify and prioritize their problems, but also to experiment with different solutions. The VMCs engage in multiple activities including mangrove replanting, stopping illegal fishing and hunting, forming strategies to prevent loss of fishing gear, waste management, conflict resolution in the community and village infrastructure development (school, pagoda, bridge, road). Table 8.3 shows the key characteristics of the VMC in Koh Sralao.

Table 8.3 What one VMC did: the case of Koh Sralao village

Source: Adapted from Marschke, 2003.

Some VMCs appear to be able to run activities on their own, using the PMMR to help with conflict resolution or for financial support. Others struggle to carry out activities or find solutions and require greater facilitation input from the PMMR. Committee members all volunteer their time. Some may initially join, thinking it will enhance their power in the village or for other reasons. However, those who remain engaged see this as an opportunity to learn with outsiders and believe in what they are doing. 'I want to help my community. We are really poor. We know that when the mangroves increase, this will help the poor fishers a lot, especially in the rainy season,' comments Wayne Som Sak.

The PMMR team often finds itself acting as an anchor, facilitating potentially sticky situations. The following experience highlights the need for facilitation, to ensure situations do not become explosive.

Water is an issue in Koh Kang village: there is no ground water supply on this tiny mangrove island, and fresh water is brought by boat by a middleperson from an upland area. With support from the PMMR team, the VMC decided to build two water-holding tanks in the village. A contract was made with the middleperson to sell water at a slightly reduced cost because water could be pumped into one tank, saving the time involved in water delivery. The tanks were placed at opposite ends of the village, with the caretaker of the holding tanks getting access to free water supply. Two women from poorer households, who were active in the VMC, were chosen as caretakers.

This system has been in place for several years now. However, the PMMR team has helped to negotiate several internal squabbles within the village. For example, several people complained to the team that the caretaker only sold water to members of the opposing political party. These people were connected to the village chief and the ruling political party and the situation happened around national election time (July 2003). The PMMR facilitators felt that this case was related to politics and suggested that it could only be resolved through a group discussion, open to everyone.

PMMR team members went to the village to learn more. The caretaker was quite upset and wanted to meet the people who accused her of not selling water. Facilitators encouraged both parties not to cause conflicts. Then, a meeting was called to remind people that the VMC work was not political and that it was designed to help the entire village. Interestingly, the villagers who had complained privately were unwilling to bring this issue up with the entire VMC. While PMMR team members have monitored the situation since, everyone seems clear that politics cannot be brought into water selling, and no more complaints have been heard.

Having additional water-storage tanks built in the village and having water subsequently being sold at a reduced price has helped to ease life in Koh Kang. Those villagers who cannot afford water tanks can access water at a reduced price, while those who have water tanks can get their water pumped directly at a slightly higher cost. As with any resource management system, internal conflicts will ensue. Successful management occurs 'not because there is an absence of diversity, conflict, and power struggles, but through established mechanisms for negotiation and resolution' (Sick, 2002).

Since the PMMR project research team is only temporary, it is critical to encourage permanent conflict resolution mechanisms. For now, the team serves as a moderator, offering a valuable learning experience to team members and to those involved in resource management. An important lesson is that each situation needs monitoring. In Cambodia at least, community-based management work often ignores the influence of local politics. It is important that CBNRM initiatives are seen as politically neutral so that all villagers can feel comfortable to participate. It is equally important that government facilitators do not spread their political beliefs to influence who participates in resource management at the local level. What needs to be fostered is the notion that technical departments have a role in supporting local resource management institutions.

Stopping charcoal production: using the networks

Just like fishing gear theft, stopping illegal charcoal production represents another ongoing battle for villagers and provincial officers. In the 1990s, many villagers came to the area to produce charcoal because mangrove wood burns well, producing a high-quality charcoal, which is sold to Thailand. This system was complicated, with intermediaries reaping most of the benefits and poorer persons cutting the mangrove trees and producing the charcoal. Various government-supported crackdowns began in the mid-1990s, with the most significant in 1999. By this point, it was clear to villagers that producing charcoal was not a secure option for them, and most people switched to fishing.

When the VMCs in the area began producing their resource management plans, stopping illegal activities such as charcoal production and dynamite fishing was included. Each community tried to make its plan for coastal resources protection and conservation. Before the establishment of the VMCs, local communities were afraid to stop illegal activities, especially those supported by powerful persons. However, the situation described below shows the growing confidence of the VMC in its resource management work.

In May 2002, the VMC in Koh Sralao detained one boat carrying mangrove logs. This boat did not have permission from the VMC to cut trees. According to the regulations, mangrove trees could be cut for house construction by villagers only with permission from the VMC. However, the boat owner was related to the provincial police commander. Therefore, after the VMC had confiscated his logs, he called the provincial police. The provincial police called the provincial PMMR team leader, who reminded them that the provincial governor was the one who had signed the management plans of the VMC, and that the VMC was stopping illegal activities. The PMMR member asked the police to work with the VMC to solve this issue while reminding the VMC that it had the right to solve this conflict. The VMC was able to negotiate with the boat owner to pay a fine and sign an agreement saying he would no longer carry out illegal activities in the area.

This action set a precedent of vital significance, particularly because the boat owner had connections to the provincial police, an organization far more powerful than the VMC. The VMC needed the support of the PMMR team especially to remind it that it had the right to stop this activity. It was up to the VMC to negotiate how to solve this problem. Without the signature of the governor and the facilitation support from the PMMR team, it is debatable whether this could have proved successful. There are many issues in CBNRM development, but capacity-building and cooperation among relevant stakeholders on coastal resource management are key priorities. Sometimes the task of including multiple stakeholders is exhausting but the support generally proves beneficial over time. The successful mangrove resources protection in PKWS comes from strong cooperation and participation among interested stakeholders who support CBNRM both directly and indirectly.

Conclusion

Field stories, whether about negotiating crab trap theft, illegal mangrove cutting or the politics of selling water, help to illustrate why it takes active facilitation and extensive networking (in this case from the PMMR team) to ensure adequate support is in place for community-based management. The Khmer saying 'neak mein knong', which literally translates as 'person with back', refers to the idea that someone with greater power is supporting them. Thus, there is a role for donors and international consultants to play in these processes, just as there is for high-level officials. Such backing and political support are a key ingredient for successful community-based management, since project partners also need to know that their work is supported. Yet when it comes to actually implementing CBNRM on the ground, it takes a team of people committed to problem-solving and working consistently on issues with different partners. Most importantly, it takes villagers who are willing to take risks and dedicate their time to resource management activities. The PMMR team's experience shows how critical such support or backing is at national, provincial and local levels to ensure that CBNRM processes can be carried out.

The PMMR experience illustrates the active role that one project team has taken in facilitating partnerships to support CBNRM. Is an external agent required, in the Cambodian context, to mobilize and stimulate a successful CBNRM movement? Backing beyond the village level is an important aspect of CBNRM in Cambodia. Villages are constantly negotiating and renegotiating livelihood and resource management issues, with or without CBNRM networks. Perhaps the value-added benefit that external agents can bring in enhancing (or creating) such partnerships is to create platforms to potentially address CBNRM issues at multiple levels. This is particularly apt because many things cannot be handled at the village level alone. We believe that this support does not need to come from an outside project or NGO. It can also be fostered within, and even between, government departments, if there are a few motivated individuals able to mobilize themselves and others located in strategic positions.

The activities in this case study are described in terms of networking and facilitation. However, in this case the real transformation is in the perceived nature of rural development work and the role of senior government agents. The importance of village-level involvement in resource management is acknowledged. The transformation of perceptions has occurred through team members and partners who are involved in multiple PMMR project activities. It would now be hard for project staff to continue on to any other project or agency and not approach rural development as a more participatory, adaptive learning exercise.

CBNRM is a long-term process, and is challenging to negotiate in a context where short-term needs are also pressing and immediate. Thus, it is important to work on facilitating short-term solutions (such as solving fishing gear theft) and long-term ones (such as creating lasting conflict resolution mechanisms). From the PMMR team's perspective, taking the time to bring partners on board, and repeating messages and sharing lessons consistently is an important part of CBNRM. Trust-building takes time: partnerships do develop, especially when the goal is working towards a common objective. Therefore, CBNRM work is as much about changing attitudes as it is about changing practices.

Although many local authorities may have low technical skills in NRM, they know their local situation well. Provincial technical departments are mandated to help local authorities with resource management. The PMMR members come from provincial departments, and tend to have stronger skills from their extensive fieldwork than others in their departments. The intention of the PMMR team, therefore, is to continue building capacity and support for CBNRM within technical institutions and local authorities, so that village institutions can be adequately understood and appropriately supported. Working with a project that helps to facilitate learning and thinking is an important aspect of CBNRM.

We believe that training in project planning and implementation is not so critical. What is vital is helping people to solve their own problems and to think for themselves. This is a subtle but crucial difference. We advocate the use of networks to support a flexible and responsive approach to rural poverty reduction, rather than a document-driven approach.

Documento(s) 14 de 24