Results of the ADMADE program

What is CBNRM success?  

How does the College help measure it?

CBNRM is analogous to a national business enterprise struggling to remain profitable and competitive but using the currency of rural development and biodiversity conservation as its primary measures of success.  Like any business organization it must understand how to produce natural resources, market them and reward its employees for good work.  

In the community-based scenario, competition comes from those who persist with destructive resource uses that may be illegal, those who impede or discourage freedom of participation in the CBNRM process, or those who use the land in ways that could lower the program's capacity to generate income.  

These threats represent in reality a business challenge.  If CBNRM's products are fully appreciated by the entire range of stakeholders who are expected to support and benefit from the program and if the challenges that face such products are explained and understood, chances for its success are greatly increased.

Measuring CBNRM success

In ADMADE, results are based on economic, wildlife and social indicators.  In order to evaluate these indicators, verifiable measures of ADMADE's impact are used to assess how well the program is achieving its objectives.  The African College for CBNRM has worked closely with local communities to develop indicators that effectively measure this while also providing skills so that communities themselves can collect these data to self-monitor their own efforts.  ADMADE 's growth and expansion over the past 10 years is attributed to a strong reliance on monitoring and evaluation results that help guide community efforts while also providing critically needed input into the development of improved CBNRM policies.  

Use of data to support community decisions for improved resource management is well developed by ADMADE and is providing compelling examples for community capacity to manage their own natural resources. Similarly, community-collected data provide a critical basis for evaluating compliance to community constitutions and to norms of good governance by both traditional and elected leadership.  

The African College carries out routine inspections of these data and of community capacity to use them for enhancing ADMADE success.  From these inspections, the College is able to identify gaps for further CBNRM skills training and whether the level of CBNRM performance by a given community meets ZAWA's criteria of CBNRM success, namely:

1. local involvement is contributing to wildlife protection  

2. wildlife population growth trends are positive

3. community-collected data for assessing CBNRM results and making resource management decisions are reliable and comprehensive 

4. wildlife revenues are supporting household livelihood needs as expressed by households themselves

5. financial information is available and accurate

To promote the use of these CBNRM monitoring skills by ZAWA throughout Zambia, the College provides training to ZAWA staff based at regional offices for conducting such inspections and facilitating continued training in CBNRM skills at the community level.  

Not always appreciated is the enormous challenge CBNRM programs, particularly those that operate at a national level, face in developing such monitoring and evaluation systems.  The African College has been very conscious of this need and has developed a practical database approach that provides policy makers, CBNRM field practitioners, and community leaders with the necessary indicators for guiding future program needs.  

A Sample of ADMADE Results

Click below to see a selected sample of database results and tools for storing and using community-collected data

What are Some Indications of CBNRM Success?

Below is a summary of some important indicators of CBNRM success...

revenue trends:  

Social and economic trends:

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