Significant changes Qualitative analysis of community resilience and peace efforts
Table of Contents Acronyms and abbreviations…………………………………………………………………………………..3 Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4 1 Introduction .................................................... .......................................................5 2 Theory .....................................................................................................................6 2.1 Multiple roles of livelihoods in promoting peace by Young and Goldman …. .6 2.2 Framework for Resilience in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations ...………. 6 3 Methodology—Most Significant Change stories......................................................8 3.1 Collecting Most Significant Change stories.......................................................9 3.2 Recommendations for improving story collection ........................................ 10 3.3 Qualitative data analysis ………………………………………………………………….………….10 3.4 Limitations of qualitative analysis………………………………………………………………...10 4 Analysis and results ....................................................................................... ........ 11 4.1 Economic subsystem…………………………………………………………………………………….11 4.1.1 Institutions – Training and education .................................................11 4.1.2 Attitude towards the role of women in the economy ........................13 4.1.3 Financial institutions ............................................................................15 4.1.4 Information ..........................................................................................16 4.2 Environmental subsystem…………………………………………………………………………….16 4.2.1 Institutions – Forest committees……………………………………………………….16 4.2.2 Attitudes towards natural resources………………………………………………….18 4.2.3 Human resources and training…………………………………………………………..19 4.3 Improving relationships between people in the Fogni…………………………………..20 4.3.1 Applying peacebuilding techniques…………………………………………………...20 4.3.2 Reducing incentive to join armed groups…………………………………………..21 5 Conclusions and discussion………………………………………………………………………………….22 5.1 Conclusions - Outcomes on community resilience and peacebuilding…………..22 5.2 Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………………………..23 6 References……………………………………………………………………………………………………………24
United Purpose, formerly Concern Universal
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Acronyms and abbreviations
AGADA
Agir Autrement pour le DĂŠveloppement en Afrique, Local partner organization of United Purpose, Non-Governmental Organization
ASAPID
Association d‘appui aux Initiatives de Paix et Development, Local partner organization of United Purpose, Community-Based Organisation
MSC
Most Significant Change
PMU
Project Management Unit
UP
United Purpose The Gambia and Senegal
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Qualitative analysis of the Most Significant Changes The report explores outcomes on community resilience created by Building Sustainable Peace in the Fogni Through Livelihoods Development project implemented in southern Senegal and The Gambia.
ABSTRACT. The underlying problem investigated in this report is in what ways livelihoods can contribute to peacebuilding and community resilience in the Fogni area in The Gambia and southern Senegal. Purpose of the analysis is to investigate the multiple pathways and mechanisms that livelihoods may contribute to building communities that are resilient enough to avoid relapsing into conflict. Outcomes achieved by the middle of the second year of implementation (December 2016) will be studied.
The 3-year project is implemented by United Purpose together with its local partner organizations from September 2014 onwards. The project aims to contribute to peacebuilding in Casamance by reducing poverty through livelihood support and is funded by USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation. This study relies on qualitative data analysis to complement other project reports that have evaluated results using quantitative methods. Qualitative data of the report includes Most Significant Change stories recorded United Purpose, formerly Concern Universal 4
from beneficiaries of the project during April-June 2016 and October-December 2016. Analysis of data was guided by two theoretical contributions: 1) Bujones et al.’s framework for resilience in fragile and conflict-affected situations (2013) created for USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation, and 2) Young and Goldman’s description of the link between livelihoods, natural resource management and peacebuilding (2015). Results of this study reveal that the project has built resilience in target communities by (1) creating alternative source of income and (2) access to information, and (3) by changing attitudes towards and practices of using natural resources. The project has also made progress in improving relationships between villages and introducing peacebuilding tools in local communities. Results suggest that livelihood development can enhance various economic and environmental institutions and resources outlined in Bujones et al.’s framework (2013), which helps build community resilience against further conflicts.
1 Introduction
A large share of people in developing countries relies directly on natural resources such as water, land, pasture and forests for subsistence and livelihoods. Sustainable development of such livelihoods helps address needs of vulnerable communities, may provide opportunities for interaction for warring groups and builds the natural resources base often alleviating the local tensions and even contributing to enhancing security. Restoring the natural resource base helps to rehabilitate livelihoods and provides visible evidence of the tangible benefits of peace which may strengthen the peacebuilding process (Young & Goldman, 2015). According to UNDP, “at least 40 percent of all intrastate conflicts during the previous sixty years had involved natural resources, and that at least eighteen violent conflicts since 1990 had been fueled by natural resource exploitation” (UNEP 2009). Enhancing natural resource United Purpose, formerly Concern Universal 5
management is nothing less than essential. This impact report focuses on the effect that livelihood creation has had on resilience of target communities, which according to theories (described in the next section) may help communities avoid relapsing into further conflicts. The report has a specific focus on livelihoods and the supporting role of CBOs because the data reveals results in these areas. The third result area of the project – peacebuilding – will be analyzed more in depth in the final report when more data has been collected. This will allow for more outcomes on peacebuilding to develop as intangible results like improved relationships between community members may require more time to develop.
2 Theory
2.1 Multiple roles of livelihoods in promoting peace by Young and Goldman
when former subsistence strategies become inaccessible. Illicit livelihoods observed in Casamance include cannabis cultivation, illegal logging and banditry which may contribute to insecurity and even fuel the conflict (Concern Universal, 2014). Livelihood creation may conversely lead to increased security which we will explore further in the final report (Young & Goldman, 2015). UP’s Building Sustainable Peace in the Fogni Through Livelihood Development project affirms Young and Goldman’s (2015) linkages between livelihoods, natural resources, conflict and peacebuilding and supports livelihoods as a peacebuilding approach. Root causes of poverty identified by UP in the Fogni include: poor governance of forest resources, lack opportunities and skills for adding value in agricultural products and forest resources, little access to financial resources to further develop businesses and low productivity of agriculture (Concern Universal, 2014). The project essentially aims to tackle the root causes of poverty and drivers of the conflict through development of livelihoods just like Young and Goldman advocate in their study (2015).
In this analysis, we have used Young and Goldman’s article Managing Natural Resources for Livelihoods: Helping PostConflict Communities Survive and Thrive (2015) for a description of the multiple roles that livelihoods play in enhancing development in a post-conflict society to guide our data analysis. Young and Goldman’s (2015) description of a postconflict situation has proven useful even though the conflict in Casamance has not yet reached a peaceful solution and is currently in a ‘no war no peace’ situation characterized by sporadic violence. Young and Goldman summarize that livelihoods 1) provide the means for rebuilding lives and local communities after the conflict and thus contribute to local, regional and national stability, 2) may help excombatans and other vulnerable populations find a meaningful existence in a post-conflict society, simultaneously reducing incentives to join armed groups and thus mitigate any future conflicts, and 3) may provide opportunities for interaction for groups from opposite sides of the conflict through migration, trade, exchange of labor, joint governance and use of natural resources. Also, conflict-affected populations may resort to new, unsustainable and even illicit livelihoods
2.2 Framework for Resilience in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations Young and Goldman’s description of the connection between livelihoods, natural
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resource management and peacebuilding (2015) is complemented with Bujones et al.’s Framework for Resilience in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations (2013) developed for the office of Conflict Management and Mitigation at the United States Agency for International Development. Also Young and Goldman (2015) recognize resilience as a key concept in building communities that are strong enough to mitigate future conflicts. Bujones et al.’s (2013) framework is a tool for conducting a factor analysis of political, security, social, economic and environmental subsectors to identify the building blocks that can strengthen community resilience in a specific context. Only the two latter subsectors - economic and environmental are included in this analysis due to its limited scope and because these categories capture the themes that appeared during coding. The economic subsystem deals with factors that affect sustainable livelihoods. It covers all
actors on micro and macro levels of an economy involved in production and consumption of goods and services ranging from farmers and retailers to banks and regulatory systems. Due to the nature of data collected from beneficiaries of the project, the analysis will be limited to include only smallholder farmers’ and microentrepreneurs’ perspective on economic resources and the resulting outcomes for enhancing resilience. The environmental subsystem on the other hand is determined by its ability to resist and recover from environmental shocks such as droughts and floods (Bujones et al., 2013). Weakness of limiting analysis to two out of five subsectors is that a full resilience analysis cannot be made. However, two subsectors should be sufficient for the purposes of this pilot study that aims to map relevant themes that will be further analyzed in the final impact report. In this report we want to investigate in what ways livelihoods contribute to enhanced resilience that may protect the target communities against future violent clashes.
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Methodology—Most Significant Change stories Primary data used in the analysis consist of 20 Most Significant Change (MSC) stories. MSC stories were identified as a cross cutting tool for monitoring in the Project Performance Monitoring Plan that was finalized in 2015. The MSC tool was introduced to the Building Sustainable Peace in the Fogni Through Livelihood Development - project team in 2015 and then adopted in earnest as a data collection method in UP in April 2016. The approach was new to UP and partners and therefore we still find ourselves in the process of learning, although making considerable progress. During data analysis we have conducted a rigorous evaluation of MSC stories collected between April 2016 and April 2017, identified areas of improvement and made an action plan on how to master the MSC methodology in order to improve data collection practices for the final impact report and future projects. The stories collected for the analysis at hand were not perfect and some had even to be excluded from analysis, which will be elaborated in the following section.
to ensure shared approach to monitoring and learning and contribute to building relationships between all parties involved in the project. Casamance is a priority area also for UP’s future projects. MSCs fit well as an achievable M&E technique that can be implemented by local partners and field staff. UP is committed to organizational learning within the country program as well as between country programs operating in nine countries. The MSC approach was first introduced to the Project Management Unit (PMU) in autumn 2014 guided by Davies and Dart’s MSC manual The Most Significant Change Technique (2005) and finally adopted in April 2016. Through discussion three domains of change were identified: livelihoods, peacebuilding and organizational development. These domains of change correspond to the three result areas where the project is seeking to make an impact. Stories included in this data analysis are mostly from the livelihood domain of change (14 stories of 20), while organizational development has been named as the most significant change in four stories and peacebuilding in only one. This helps to explain why many significant changes reported by beneficiaries involve incomerelated outcomes. We expect to see different findings from the next round of data analysis which will include more stories from the other two domains of change.
MSCs were chosen as a qualitative M&E tool for the project because it has the potential to capture the kind of wide changes related to livelihoods and peacebuilding that the project aims to contribute to. The MSC technique can also enhance dialogue between project staff, beneficiaries and stakeholders in order
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3.1 Collecting Most Significant Change stories
collected during October-December 2016 primarily by members of UP’s local partner organizations trained in MSC technique, which unfortunately had a negative impact on quality of data. Only three of the total 21 stories were qualified for this analysis suggesting that the interviewers were not sufficiently trained for the task. The first selection round was carried out by thirty partner organization members who selected ten stories as the most representative. The ten stories were then sent to a group including two stakeholder representatives mayors of two host municipalities – for a second round of filtering as the MCS methodology entails. The group narrowed down ten stories to four through scoring and discussion. Not having followed through all the evaluation cycles (first batch of stories) – and including low-quality stories in selection (second batch of stories) - we cannot say which stories represent best the type of outcomes that UP is looking for. For the next round of MSC stories we plan to carry out all the steps of the MSC cycle, including several rounds of selection, content analysis, feeding back results to program managers, beneficiaries and others. Although story selection was not followed through completely, identifying the most significant change by respondents themselves has been useful for analyzing the data. In many cases stories contain a wealth of information and it has been helpful to know which of the numerous changes and outcomes respondents value the most and why. Also, the discussions that took place during the selection rounds were fruitful and gave members of PMU ideas on how to improve the process. In this analysis, the 20 MSC stories have been treated as conventional qualitative data collected through storytelling.
Between April and June 2016 23 stories were collected by UP project staff by interviewing project beneficiaries, out of which 17 stories qualified for this analysis. Respondents were sampled randomly among beneficiaries. In December additional 21 stories were recorded mainly by project staff but also by staff of local partner organizations who had been introduced to the MSC tool. Open-ended questions were used in the interview including: What is the most significant change you observe since the project began? Why is the story significant to you?. Story collection was conducted primarily by UP’s Knowledge Management Officer but also by the Program Development Officer, Gender Specialist, intern and staff of local partner organizations. In order to improve quality of the stories, the collection should have been conducted by a selected group of people specifically trained in qualitative data collection and interview techniques. However, story collection was a good attempt to build NGO and CBO staff’s capacity in M&E which could be further built on. To ensure an outstanding quality of stories in the future further internal training will be held (please see a list of additional recommendations for improved data collection in the next section). Analysis and selection of most representative stories followed the data collection – in line with the typical MSC methodology. A team consisting of members of project management unit (PMU) analyzed the stories and chose the ten most representative but the results were never fed to a higher level of organization’s hierarchy for further analysis. The second batch of MSC stories were
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3.2 Recommendations for improving story collection
A practical internal training on interview methods and qualitative data analysis will be held for selected members of project management unit (PMU) and partner organizations who will conduct data collection. Ground rules for MSC stories must be revised, including that stories must be recorded as a simple first person narrative that describes the sequence of events, stories must follow a specific structure.
The interview guide will be rewritten to ensure that MSC stories contain all necessary information.
While collecting MSC stories, the data should be checked right after the interview. A follow up interview must be made to fill the gaps. People with good writing skills should check the recorded stories and correct any mistakes made while writing down stories.
3.3 Qualitative data analysis Data analysis started by coding the 20 MSC stories, 17 of which were collected in AprilJune 2016 and 3 in October-December 2016. Similar codes were then clustered together in order to identify repetitive patterns of action, consistencies and inconsistencies, and for categories to emerge. Themes that came out of the MSC stories coincided with three categories described by Young and Goldman (2015). Several more themes arose from the data that corresponded with categories in Bujones et al.’s framework (2013). This report should be perceived as a pilot data analysis as it maps out the different themes that arise from the qualitative data. Findings of this analysis will be used to draft interview questions that may be used to collect data for the final impact report.
3.4 Limitations of qualitative analysis The author of this report is well aware that “all coding is a judgment call” since we bring “our subjectivities, our personalities, our predispositions, “and our quirks” to the process” (Sipe and Ghiso, 2004, as cited in Saldaña, 2009, p.7). Since the author of this report coded alone there is a risk that her predispositions are apparent in the codes. To avoid this in the final report of this project, more people should be involved in coding which will also be a useful capacity-building exercise for UP staff.
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Analysis and results
4.1 Economic subsystem
kafos in Casamance that benefit from the project have a dual mission of promoting peace in the region and advocating their members’ access to public services, free movement in the combatant-controlled area and right to development, also by supporting their farmer members. Most beneficiary kafos in the Fogni area in The Gambia are farmer kafos that support their members with inputs, information and access to land as they control a land collectively that is subdivided into smaller plots for individual farmers to cultivate. Market federation Fangsoto operating in the Fogni area in The Gambia is an umbrella organization that consists of 40 women member kafos. The federation provides its members an access to financial services by setting up bank accounts that enable savings, supports members through networking and farmer-to-farmer support, facilitates registration of land and sustains its operations by collecting membership fees from member kafos. Several respondents report that efficiency and effectiveness of their kafo has increased thanks to project intervention. Outcomes of training in improved production methods include raising interest in commercial horticultural gardening (MS0616), increased yields (BS0616, MS0616) and increased productivity (MS0616), as demonstrated in the quotation below.
4.1.1 Institutions –Training and education Effective institutions are important to the resilience of the economic system as they provide the rules, practices and a governance system that market economies fundamentally depend on (Bujones et al., 2013). Local institutions are also needed to support the sound management of the natural resource base (Young & Goldman, 2015). Institutions mentioned in the MSC stories include market federation Fangsoto, several kafos and forest committees. The latter institution will be analyzed further in the Environmental subsystem section. Both kafos and the market federation operating in The Gambia are registered at the AttorneyGeneral Chamber while kafos in Casamance lack legal registration. However, for the purposes of this analysis all kafos are considered as formal institutions. Kafos were particularly targeted by the project as members received training in improved production methods and group management. Hundreds of kafos operating in the Fogni area all have a management committee and bylaws that govern their operations but find themselves in varying stages of organizational development. Most of the
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“Before we produced many products for household consumption but we didn’t even think of selling the rest. And we had very little knowledge in gardening. With the awareness created by [UP’s partner organisation] AGADA we became interested in gardening. The entire population, both men and women, are interest and fully participate in the project. [ ] There is an increase in our production. For example last year I got 30 kg of onions and this year from the same number of 4 beds I harvested 95kg of onions. [ ] We share ideas and have established a production management committee that is the custodian of principles governing the garden.” (MS0616)
planned and addressed pressing issues to make progress. Through proper sensitization and handover, the old executive still gives us guidance and support and is an active member. [ ] The most significant change is the acquiring of skills and knowledge through capacity building to improve our status as women horticultural farmers. The best example was registration of the new land issued to the group by the Alkalo [village chief]. We have moved ahead in the process and all local authorities have signed and the documents have reached the area council for finalization. We are becoming more proactive to our concerns and rights which makes us move forward.” (MK0616)
Training kafo members in group management techniques aimed to increase their effectiveness. Outcomes of training kafos in organizational development include gaining new skills in income generation (KAWB0616), connecting kafo members to neighboring villages which has enabled cooperation and exchange of market information (TB0616), facilitating community organizing through establishment of a production management committee (MS0616), making women kafo members aware of their right to land (MS0616) and supporting them in the actual registration process (MS0616). The passage below shows that organizational capacity-building activities were highly appreciated by the respondent (MK0616) as the training has led to a concrete result: start the process of land registration to a group of women horticultural farmers.
Quotation below (TB0616) demonstrates another significant outcome for Casamance where the conflict has hampered normal interaction between villages: connecting neighboring communities through exchange of information and cooperation in production. Training on group management also revitalized a dormant kafo, facilitated election of new executive members and motivated a member to take further collective action thanks to the group’s commitment for common goals (KAWB0616). “Thanks to the high standard of discipline everybody adheres to the rules governing the garden which all emanated from the group management training. [ ] Strengthening our cooperation is the most significant change to me. It has linked us more closely to our neighboring villages through exchange of market information and cooperating in production. The technical field supervisor has created good linkages between the groups he is working with.” (TB0616)
“I am the new president of a women‘s marketing group in Bulock village. I feel confident about leading the group to achieve its aims and objectives. After our training on group management with Fangsoto [market federation], I regularly convened meetings,
“Since our affiliation with the FANGSOTO apex group, marketing has really improved through market information and staggering of different crops. [ ] As a member of the new
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according to Bujones et al.’s (2013) framework may contribute to community resilience. Skills in income generation (eg. value addition, general business skills and functioning of markets) facilitate the creation of new sources of income and thus add to resilience. Registering land to a group of women farmers is important because land ownership is often a condition to receive a microcredit for scaling up a farming business. Connecting kafo members to neighboring villages has enabled creation of a network consisting of a few villages in a region where such networks have been effectively dismantled by the conflict. According to the respondent, this network gives access to price information for agricultural products which is used to make informed decisions on appropriate volume, types of crops and profitability of value adding activities - all aiming to make higher profits and household income and thus increase community resilience. Networks and other organizations on community level (eg. the production management committee reported by MS0616) equip individuals to resist possible economic shocks for instance if the price of an agricultural input was to rise unexpectedly. Bujones et al.’s (2013) framework theorizes that interconnected individuals are better equipped to adapt to the new circumstances through feedback loops1 among each other and mechanisms for citizens to express their grievances provided by networks.
executive [committee], I am highly motivated by the commitment of both the group members and the committee. Now we meet regularly and do reviews and planning together which strengthens our income generation capability and relationship with stakeholders. [ ] Further training was done to improve our group management system. This has made us change our old executive committee to a new one by using set criteria for selection because we realized that they had held their positions for too long and thus become ineffective.” (KAWB0616)
In addition to increasing efficiency of kafos, the project has made an effort to reduce the gender gap prevailing in UP’s local partner organizations in the Fogni. Numerous gender trainings have been held to encourage women become active members and leaders in the target CSOs and CBOs and retain this positive development by including gender mainstreaming in strategic plans. Impact on resilience - A significant achievement of the project is the change in perception that one community reportedly has gone through (MS0616). Training in improved production practices changed community members’ perception on farming from a source of subsistence to a commercial activity with considerably higher productivity and yields (MS0616). Commercial farming provides an additional source of income and an alternative livelihood for community members which increase resilience. Impact of increased income and yields on community resilience will be discussed further in Conclusions section. Trainings in group management given to kafos have developed these locally important institutions in different ways that
4.1.2 Attitude towards the role of women in the economy Attitudes toward the role of women in the economy also determine to what extent women can contribute to community resilience by participating in the labor force (Bujones et al., 2013). Due to attitudes,
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“Feedback loops are a feature of complex systems in which an output affects the input. Negative feedback loops exist when an input creates a detrimental loop of negative conequences. Conflict can create violence that can lead to destruction of economic resources than can then exacerbate the initial conflict. Positive feedback loops are the opposite. Cooperation can alleviate economic suffering that in turn fosters relationships and further cooperation.” (Bujones et al., 2013, p.8)
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behaviors, values and norms that continue to prohibit women’s equal participation in the Fogni economy, the project has taken an active approach to visibly reduce gender gaps which has borne fruit according to several respondents. One respondent reports that through active participation in a forest committee women have gained an access to forest fruit - a new economic activity and source of income for women (BS0616). According to another respondent, providing for the family has helped her and other women become involved in the household decision-making instead of being perceived as “liabilities” (MK0616). The respondent hopes this may lead to a more active participation also in public matters which we hope to witness. Attitude change of women as beekeepers has allowed women to shift from environmentally destructive livelihoods and a more sustainable business – beekeeping (YS0616). These positive results suggest that livelihoods may provide the means for influencing the cultural restrictions on who can engage in various economic activities and support the household.
villagers are given first priority to buy from harvesters whereby some women capitalize on it by selling their share to the best market.” (BS0616) “The change we have observed as a group and as individuals is that the status quo for women has significantly improved. Our economic status has increased which has allowed us to contribute to the livelihood upliftment of our families.” (KS0616) “Our lives as women have changed drastically because of the income generated over the period from our vegetable production which was largely due to improved production techniques and market information system. We are no more seen as liabilities in our households because of our contribution to the welfare of our families. We now have frequent consultation for family affairs for critical family decisions which we think will lead to more public engagement for women.” (MK0616) “Beekeeping was strictly considered as a domain for men but now women are courageous enough to venture into the business. It [beekeeping] also significantly contributes to general livelihoods because of the high income one could gain out of the business, and of course the encouragement. We thought that women cannot be good beekeepers but now the concept has changed and we are fully engaged.” (SG0616)
“As a member of the forest committee I have realized the importance of women’s role in the overall management of our forest. At first I thought that our participation in the committee was not very important because we believe that men should control it based on their advantage in dominating key decisions and actions. From my perspective, the most significant change is women‘s active participation in the [forest] management committee. We [women] are even becoming more proactive because of the equal benefit we get from forest resources. [ ] Now many women are involved in this [forest fruit] business because
"The fact that women are courageous enough to venture into honey business is very significant to us as women. It also allowed us to change to a more environmentally friendly business by abandoning the destruction of the forest through fuel wood collection and charcoal business and do beekeeping instead." (YS0616)
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The stories reveal attitude changes that the women themselves and their household members have undergone. The women respondents quoted above have contributed to community resilience through new sources of income and livelihoods for their families. Through inclusion in household decisionmaking women’s grievances - that vary from those of men - are voiced and have a better chance of being addressed. These encouraging but preliminary results will be analyzed further in the subsequent data collection to draw conclusions on how to best support similar positive development in UP’s future projects.
through microcredits has increased resilience to economic shocks by allowing more room for manoeuvre if household’s primary source of income is adversely affected. “I got a credit from CADP through Concern Universal‘s USAID-funded sustainable peacebuilding project in the Fogni to improve my bakery business with 500,000 CFA. This saved me time and cost of going 50 kilometers to the main market every other day to buy flour. My business was not growing due to a lack of capital to buy enough flour to bake bread for many days. [ ] The new credit I got helped me to get a stock of 2 tonnes of flour that allow me to work for at least 15 to 20 days without going to the market like before. This has increased my profit because of increased volume of business and clientele satisfaction. Now I have the capacity to meet demand on bread in five villages. [ ] Now I earn 100,000 CFA per month compared to 15,000 CFA like before which is more than fourfold what I used to earn. Apart from repaying my loan, I have enough income to save part of it and I am ready to improve the structure of the bakery and transportation system. This gave me the idea to expand to other villages.” (KALB0616)
4.1.3 Financial institutions A few respondents (SD0616, KALB0616, KS0616, FB0616) received a microcredit through the project. Microcredits have induced several outcomes including increased profits, household savings and supply of bread to local communities (KALB0616). Lack of financial resources has created a bottle neck limiting the growth of microbusinesses in the Fogni while there is reportedly a demand for the various goods and services, as one respondent reports (KALB0616). Microcredits supplied by the project have alleviated this need. Two of the respondents appreciated the favorable loan terms – low interest rates and the three month grace period - which have enabled them repay the loan without any stress. Three respondents have plans to invest their savings back into the business for further expansion which suggests that the microcredits have unlocked the business potential in the entrepreneurs (KALB0616, SD0616, FB0616). Income generated
“The low interest rate of 5% with a grace period of three months enabled better use of the loan and gave me less stress to pay the agreed installments.” (KALB0616) “My business is in the area of locust bean (parkia biglobosa - a forest product) processing. I ferment it to a food additive that is concentrated with salt, very rich in protein and commonly used for many food recipes. After the processing I took it all the way to Dakar, sell it and buy other goods that are locally needed. This further boosts my business. To start this business, I was given a startup capital of 200.000 CFA
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forest committees have played a significant role in conservation of forests and generating income through sustainable use. Although forest committees are not formally registered they are legally recognized by local administrative authorities both in Casamance and in The Gambia and thus classified as formal institutions in this analysis. Forest committees are given a mandate to manage a forest area sustainably which is considered an efficient way of natural resources management by the Senegalese government. Forest committees are similar to CBOs in the sense that committee members are selected by their fellow villagers based on their skills and merits and are trusted with the task of supervising the management.
and I could make a net profit of 150,000 CFA in three months. Overall, it became easy to pay the loan because of the soft interest rate of 5% and the high demand of our local product.” (KS0616)
All the three respondents report that the income generated with microcredits has had a substantial impact on their household’s financial situation. 4.1.4 Information Bujones et al. (2013) emphasize that informational infrastructure like mobile phones and software “greatly affect farmers’ ability to make the best of the volatile and perhaps regionally segmented market”. One respondent (KAWB0616) reported that sales of vegetables have improved as a result of joining a market federation. Respondent has learned to stagger crops thanks to an access to a market information system operated by UP in The Gambia. The system provides price information on different crops directly from saleswomen/men at local markets so that farmers can time their crop production to get the highest return. Access to various types of information is essential for building community resilience as it enables households make informed decisions.
“The strategies we use as women are to buy our forest products before they leave our sites and process them to get more value. Before this was done by middle women and men who bought [the forest products] from the site with very little money and made good profit out of it. This trend has changed now. We stand together and say no to economic exploitation.” (KS0616)
In the quotation above the forest committee is not only functioning as a regulatory management unit for sustainable natural resource management but also as a type of producer organization that protects the producers’ interests against greedy middlemen. Several respondents have emphasized the fact that a forest committee has provided an equal access to forest fruit for all members of community governing that specific forest area (see quotation from BS0616 below). This has brought about significant profits to all community members. Before organizing into forest committees, competing individuals would sell forest fruit to
“Since our affiliation with the FANGSOTO apex group, marketing has really improved through market information and staggering of different crops.” (KAWB0616)
4.2 Environmental subsystem 4.2.1 Institutions – Forest committees Several respondents (KS0616) report that
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middlemen on an ad hoc basis for a price set by the middlemen. This form of community organizing has reduced competition over forest resources to some extent.
One benefit of forest committees is that they are organized in the way that ensures sustainability of the organization by generating a steady income for the committee that can be invested in management activities. One respondent reports that those funds are at least partly used to develop the host communities, not only the forest itself as is the usual practice.
“From my perspective, the most significant change is women‘s active participation in the [forest] management committee. We are even becoming more proactive because of the equal benefit we get from [forest] resources. Now all fruits in the forest [are] harvested at a particular stipulated time which allows the products to ripe properly and gives equal opportunity for everyone to harvest or buy from people. At first only few people used to have this benefit because there was no control and everything was dictated by merchants who used to come and offer any price to those who scrambled and got little benefits.” (BS0616)
“The forest resource management has earned the [forest] committee good money to manage the forest and save the extra income for other community needs thus making it available to all members of the community.” (AK1216)
Another important function of community forests is to safeguard the forest against illegal loggers. One respondent (MBJ0616) reports a unique occasion where this activity has led to an arrest and a legal case against an illegal logger. This piece of data suggest that community forests are indeed filling the void left by the government officials by carrying out monitoring and safeguarding activities that actually are a government responsibility but difficult to enforce in a conflict zone particularly in rebel controlled areas where most of the community forest activities are located.
"Over the period we have seen enormous benefits coming from the forest by controlling the fruit harvest and random felling of trees. The fruit business has become a good business for villagers and the committee. The committee gets a percentage from sales of every harvest and chance is given to everyone to get some of it [the harvest]. Before it was usually the middle men who took everything. This scenario has developed extra interest for all the residents to control and protect the forest. It has also helped in the management through participation in tree planting, bush fire protection and policing." (AJ1216)
“Now instead of destruction, I am involved in serious reforestation personally and jointly in my own land and in the community-owned land. Our committee has a task force that can trace any plunderer using a chain saw or other equipment and brought to justice. We have completely banned charcoal making and timber logging in the forest. Our committee arrested a twenty tonne vehicle loading timber logs that was illegally harvested. The case ended up to the Zandameri police and the truck was
The latter quotation suggests that the new business opportunity provided by forest fruits and the profits generated have given villagers managing the forest an additional incentive to protect the forest. A share of the profit that is given back to the forest committee actually enables continued forest protection activities as pointed out above.
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farming practices, which may reduce resilience (Bujones et al., 2013). Several respondents report an attitude change towards forests as a result of participating in the project. The following passage is an account of a unique personal transformation that has led to a fundamental attitude change towards the forest as a valuable asset that must be conserved in order to preserve its long-term value. This attitude change also gave the incentive to adopt a more environmentally sustainable source of livelihoods through active participation in a forest committee.
confiscated and fined. This lesson was circulated to every corner of the zone [La Zone Des Palmiers] which has made everybody be more careful.” (MBJ0616)
Qualitative data indicates that forest committees have strengthened protection and sustainable management of forest resources. Conflict in Casamance has had a devastating impact on the forests by enabling illegal timber logging that has also contributed to funding of the conflict. Senegalese government is supportive to community governance of forests particularly as there are still areas in Casamance that are inaccessible to central government and regional officials thus hampering the enforcement of necessary regulation and monitoring mechanisms. Government interest to community forest indicates that goals of formal (government) institutions as well as informal institutions (forest committees) are aligned and thus have favorable preconditions to make the environmental subsystem more resilient and protect the local people against environmental shocks, such as floods, droughts and land erosion. Qualitative data gives some initial indication that community forests have managed to monitor and in one spectacular case even inhibit further destruction of forests that provide livelihoods to local population. Forests increase local people’s resilience against exacerbating conflict by providing a legal source of income sometimes even replacing illegal activities.
“My story is about personal change although it is now harder for me to survive because I used to have fast money from illegal timber harvesting. I had three different chain saws but decided to burn them because of the sensitization of ASAPID [UP’s partner] organization. The strategy they [ASAPID] used was that they knew I was deeply involved in the business so they advised my community to encourage me become a member of the forest committee. I thank God for repenting of my contribution to destruction of the forest. Now instead of destruction, I am involved in serious reforestation personally and jointly in my own land and in the community-owned land.” (MBJ0616)
This particular case is a significant outcome of the project which UP and its stakeholders will reflect on and draw lessons from. In the coming M&E activities UP will investigate the case more in depth, for instance whether the respondent’s new approach has influenced other illegal loggers’ attitudes and/or approaches or influenced the community practices in any way. If the respondent is willing, this story of true personal transformation could be disseminated to a wider audience to serve as a positive
4.2.2 Attitudes towards natural resources Values, attitudes, behaviors and norms influence community actions, including
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example and inspire other illegal loggers to follow suit. Having a local voice describe the benefits of the new, legal livelihoods from his personal perspective can make information campaigns even more powerful and impactful.
many people become interested in the improved bee keeping system because of its simplicity and efficiency.” (AG0616) “The most significant change was when [UP’s partner organisation] AGADA brought a technical field adviser to the garden who gives technical advice that make a significant difference. At first there was no demarcation of beds and improved seed varieties that can tolerate heat and stress. There was no market information to help target the market demand. Now we like the job more because production has improved thanks to the technical advisor.”(TB0616)
4.2.3 Human resources and training Several respondents report that they have significantly benefitted from the training and advise given by partner organizations and extension workers on more environmentally sustainable production methods. The multiple benefits from improved production methods include higher yields (ST0616, KN0616, MS0616), higher profits (ST0616, MK0616, TB0616), preserving the bee colony healthy (GB0616), safer work environment thanks to protective clothing for bee-keeping and appropriate safety measures (GB0616), reduced exposure to hazardous agricultural chemicals and fertilizers (KN0616), savings from abandoning expensive chemical fertilizers (KN0616), passing knowledge on to other community members through informal stepdown trainings thus strengthening group cohesion (ST0616), access to quality food stuff (TB0616).
“There is also big difference in group coherence from having regular meetings with group members and training others who couldn’t attend [UP’s partner organization] BEECause’s centre-based training in Kumukunda bee centre.”(ST0616)
Extension officers have contributed to building resilience of target communities to natural disasters and environmental stressors through increased income and savings – to provide basic services for households, improved provision of ecosystem services delivered by the healthier bee colony, reduced risk of wildfires that hopefully leads to healthier forest ecosystems and more nutritious soils, preserving the healthy bee colony as an economic asset instead of destroying it in order to secure the value of the asset in the long-term. Healthier forest ecosystems give arise to numerous significant benefits such as improved water regulation that collectively increase resilience of community to natural disasters.
“The most significant change I observed was the change in technique of harvesting honey and managing the hives. Before we used to harvest with the fire fighting system that killed most of the bees and sometimes created bush fires. Now instead we have been supplied with kits and equipment that we can use without killing the bees or causing any environmental havoc. This has made us realise that the bee population in the area has increased. It has also made
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4.3 Improving relationships between people in the Fogni
quotation confirms that the project has provided opportunities for disagreeing communities to work together which may help build social cohesion in the Fogni. Peacebuilding mechanisms will be explored further in the final report.
4.3.1 Applying peacebuilding techniques UP has trained staff of local partner organizations in the use of P2P and Do No Harm strategies using the training of trainers approach. To scale up peacebuilding activities in host communities, members of partner organizations’ staff have trained many more people involved in peacebuilding through step-down trainings. Goal is to enable communities to facilitate a dialogue between them to promote and maintain peace. Respondents have reported a few cases of improved relationships between villages (AB1216, MBJ0616, AJ1216, MS0616) and community members (AB1216, MS0616) as a result of using P2P and Do No Harm techniques. Respondents describe two events where the peacebuilding techniques have enabled resolution of a conflict over a natural resource – forest. In one case (MBJ0616) the solution was to share the resource by incorporating the neighboring village to a joint forest committee which granted them user rights as well as responsibilities towards the forest. An additional benefit of the successful conflict resolution is increased monitoring over the forest which may strengthen the natural resource base for higher value in the long term. In the other case UP’s partner organization ASAPID was able to create dialogue and finally settle a dispute between two communities who had differing views on a forest border (AJ1216). The statement that “number of metres is insignificant” (AJ1216) suggests that the key was creating a safe space for dialogue for conflicting parties. This
"One of the latest achievements of the committee was a proof of their [forest committee’s] negotiating power using social dialogue. There was a misunderstanding when we placed our sign boards on different edges of the forest. The neighboring villages claimed they had a right as neighbors to participate even though they didn’t own the forest. We decided to include them and we all are now enjoying the joint venture for short and long-term benefits and hope. [] The committee decided to involve the other two villages living near the forest to be part of the committee in order to have a wider security coverage.” (MBJ0616) "The most significant change is the peace built between our community Selity and Kouba. There has been a long-standing dispute between us about the border line of the forest. Although the number of metres is insignificant it has caused a lot of misunderstanding between us which made us have a less friendly approach to each other. Now our mutual interest is not only to collaborate on forest protection but it has gone beyond that and we attend each other’s cultural, social and traditional events. ASAPID has helped us to negotiate with Kouba through dialogue and both parties were very interested. Now we are managing the forest efficiently through creation of a forest management committee where each community has its representative."(AJ1216)
The quotation below (AB1216) illustrates how UP’s partner organization AGADA
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succeeded in building trust and social cohesion between members of one community and several villages. A sign of appreciation of P2P and Do No Harm tools is that the respondent continues to promote the techniques to his/her fellow community members - integrated into daily faming activities. The former is a promising result of the project and we hope that the next batch of MSC stories will reveal many more similar success stories.
4.3.2 Reducing incentive to join armed groups There is only one reference in the MSC stories (KALB0616) to livelihoods’ potential to reduce young people’s incentive to join armed groups, which Young and Goldman (2015) mention as an important function for livelihoods in a conflict-affected area. The respondent thinks that his/her bakery business that was supported with a microcredit could serve as an example to young people in the area showing that livelihoods provide an alternative, profitable source of income. The positive example could discourage them from joining armed forces, according to the respondent.
“The project has made communication between us villagers and neighboring communities easy. This has created a good peace of mind which has brought about trust and support to each other. [UP’s partner organization] AGADA has helped us come together to improve our lives by producing more food and having better income to work on the common peace of mind which has brought about trust and support to each other. [UP’s partner organization] AGADA has helped us come together to improve our lives by producing more food and having better income to work on the common goal of having peace among ourselves. This has given us the strength to come out of the stress and chaos we used to find ourselves in due to fear of reporting each other to the combatants. Nobody was trusted because of rampant false allegation reports that made many families suffer from all forms of mutiny and violence. [Now] we always take advantage of the farm gatherings by using social dialogue tool to sensitize our peers. We use the farm not only to work but for relaxation so that many of us have begun to enjoy it more than staying at home.” (AB1216)
“I also envisage that there will be an increase of labour for the rainy season crop production for those youths who are occupied in the bakery business as a part time participant. Overall, we hope that those youths will resist the temptation to get involved in illegal business for fast money or to join the combatants.” (KALB0616)
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Conclusions and discussion
5.1 Conclusions - Outcomes on community resilience and peacebuilding
reduced or destroyed. The second pathway to resilience revealed by data is access to information through either market information system (for kafos in The Gambia), community organizations including UP’s local partner organizations, kafos, forest committees and marketing federations, or networks between those community organizations and with other relevant actors. Bujones et al. (2013) theorize that economic and environmental institutions and resources are interconnected and interact through these networks to adapt to new circumstances created by shocks and stresses. Interaction determines how well institutions and resources can recover after a shock or a stress (Bujones et al., 2013). The support provided by the project has to a large extent been channeled to beneficiaries through CBOs. Therefore these locally important community-level institutions (kafos, forest-committees) have provided the beneficiaries an access to resources such as equipment, funding (microcredits), information (on prices and products through market information system in The Gambia) and human resources (including skills obtained through agricultural extension officers). CBOs have also provided an access to stakeholders such as local authorities (through registration of land and community forests) and development actors
The data reveal three primary ways for increasing resilience in the target communities: 1) creating alternative sources of income, 2) creating access to information, and 3) changing attitudes and practices towards natural resources, forest in particular. Alternative and additional source of income have been created by shifting from subsistence to commercial farming, including women in the workforce, scaling up microbusinesses with microcredits (bakery, value adding to a forest product, petty trading of food stuff) and starting up new businesses with training (honey and honeybased natural cosmetics, forest fruit and processed products). All these activities have reportedly increased household income and in some cases even allowed savings to accrue. An enabling factor in livelihoods creation has been development of skills in value addition, group management, improved farming practices and business development - an essential area of project intervention. In one case project intervention has facilitated creation of asset through registration of land to a women farmers’ kafo. Alternative income sources, savings and assets increase resilience as the underprivileged have something to fall back on if their primary source of livelihood is
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(UP, USAID). Last but not the least, CBOs have reportedly given beneficiaries motivation, encouragement and emotional support needed to start up and scale up microbusinesses and to tackle obstacles that may and will arise along the road. All these resources and emotional support are vital for livelihood creation and local institutions have supported the process. We can conclude that kafos and forest committees have played a key role in channeling material and immaterial support to beneficiaries. Several respondents have identified strengthening of these CBOs as the most significant change which suggests that building the managerial capacity of CBOs is a good investment enabling CBOs to serve their members and host communities more efficiently. The type of appropriate support will be investigated more in depth through data collection for the final report.
resilience of the natural resource base that local communities depend on for livelihoods and reduces competition over forest resources. Data indicates that the project has made some progress in improving relationships between villages and establishing the peacebuilding tools in local communities so that communities can continue to resolve conflicts after the project intervention is phased out. Best practices for peace-building activities will also be explored through further data collection for the final report. 5.2 Discussion An unexpected finding of the study for UP is the importance of local community-based institutions for beneficiaries. Most sSgnificant Change - technique focuses respondents’ attention on the outcomes created by the project. Since beneficiaries have received material and immaterial support through kafos and forest committees, it is understandable that beneficiaries also connect several outcomes to these organizations including increased household income, motivation, improved relationships among community members and between villages, alternative sources of livelihoods, skills, improved productivity, new skills and business development. This would nevertheless suggest that community organizing has been lagging in the Fogni and the project has made a significant contribution in the area. This is a significant result for the project as community organizing into official and unofficial institutions is theorized to bring social cohesion and help build peace. There is
The third pathway to resilience is changed attitudes towards natural resources which reportedly have changed agricultural and forest management practices. In one spectacular case the transformation was so profound that the respondent gave up an illicit livelihood - timber logging- in favor of honest trade in forest fruit. More environmentally sustainable use of natural resources (forest resources, bees) has made beneficiaries internalize the long-term economic value of the resources. This realization in turn has reportedly changed beneficiaries’ practices for using natural resources for instance harvesting honey without killing the bees, replacing mineral fertilizers with organic, abandoning charcoal production and illegal logging. More sustainable resource use strengthens the
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evidence in the data that these institutions have developed sustainable structures, for instance forest committees generating funds, which enable CBOs to continue function as long as they are perceived useful. Data indicates that the project has also contributed to building horizontal networks between communities as well as vertical networks between kafos/forest committees, market federations, UP’s local partner organizations and local authorities. Vertical connections are essential for channeling communities’ grievances to local, regional and national authorities and decisionmakers, which may help authorities address the local needs more efficiently and thus facilitate peacebuilding. These linkages were dismantled by the conflict.
natural resource base which is precondition for environmentally, economically and socially sustainable development of the region where a large majority of people depend on natural resources for their livelihoods.
6 References Concern Universal (2014). Building Sustainable Peace in The Fogni Through Livelihood Development – Technical Narrative. Davies, R. & Dart, J. (2005). The ‘Most Significant Change’ (MSC) Technique: A Guide to Its Use. Retrieved from https:// www.mande.co.uk/docs/MSCGuide.pdf. Young, H. & Goldman, L. (2015). Managing Natural Resources for Livelihoods: Helping PostConflict Communities Survive and Thrive. In Young, H. & Goldman, L. (Editors), Livelihoods, Natural Resources, and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding. London: Earthscan.
Another significant result of the project that the data point to is the evolution in women’s role in household from a housewife to an active contributor to household income which has reportedly allowed some women to take part in household decision-making. This attitude change is encouraging as it enables women to join workforce and help increase livelihoods in a region where subsistence has dominated. Also, the project has reportedly had a positive outcome on the
Saldaña, J. (2009). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. California: Thousand Oaks; London: Sage. Sipe, L. R. & Ghiso, M. P. (2004). Developing Conceptual Categories in Classroom Descriptive Research: Some Problems and Possibilities. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 35(4): 472– 85. UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) (2009). From conflict to peacebuilding: The role of natural resources and the environment. Retrieved from http://postconflict.unep.ch/ publications/pcdmb_policy_01.pdf.
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