Structure of the CBNRM program

People:  making conservation work

Individuals from the community are the foundation of the CBNRM approach.

 primary feature of CBNRM is the level of community organization that provides community members the opportunity to overcome many of the causes of rural poverty.  Through training services provided by the College, households are educated on how to form groups composed of people who live together in the same area and share similar needs and interests.  Through these groups and with livelihood skills provided by the College, group members embark on improved ways of increasing personal income or household food production. By having these groups represented as members of their local Village Area Group (VAG) committee, which receive and distribute wildlife income for projects in support of community needs, these groups are able to request loans or grants for particular projects that can help support the start-up costs of their activities.  The College is actively promoting VAG-level leadership to facilitate the formation of these groups and to administer funds for such purposes. Through this approach, households show increased cooperation with community-led efforts to manage and protect natural resources.

he overall leadership of the ADMADE structure is invested in democratically elected Community Resource Boards (CRBs), whose membership represents different VAGs in the community.  Members of the CRBs are among the most educated and respected people in the community and the College works closely with them to develop the necessary leadership and administrative skills to ensure that VAG leaders are responsible to their constituents and that household groups are supported to overcome food shortages and poverty.  In addition,  CRBs work closely with the VAGs to develop and implement land use plans to help reduce or avoid land use conflicts with their natural resources.  

he CBNRM community organization requires decision-making to be participatory, such that no member of the community is excluded and that leaders elected to facilitate this approach are held accountable to their electorate.  The ADMADE experience has shown that community organization requires a structured leadership that is well defined and encourages active participation by all residents to sustain development needs through improved management of natural resources.  By opening up the process of decision-making and accountability of actions to all, the community as a whole becomes more unified in resolving problems that affect the welfare of the community.  For a more detailed explanation of these structures and how they work in the ADMADE approach review College publications listed in Research.

ADMADE activities for a given Community Resource Board are carried out in a Unit, which in most cases also corresponds to a single Game Management Area (GMA).  An ADMADE Unit can also be thought of as a wildlife production unit through the collective effort of the community and through its various leadership structures.  This is summarized in the diagram below: 

Community: (colors below correspond with map above)

Village Area Group Committee:  Members of this committee comprise the elected officers,  representatives of household groups formed to improve living standards, and people co-opted to join because of special interest in natural resources and or skills in community development.   The VAG is important for involving individuals at the village level in supporting resource management, community participation and benefit sharing under the ADMADE  policy.  It is also the unit for deciding how to support community needs from their wildlife revenue shares.  All the VAGs in a Unit are supported by technical committees for Financial Management, Community Development, and Resource Management.  These three management committees report to and advise the Community Resource Board on VAG activities pertaining to these issues.

Community Resource Boards:  Head of the community organizational structure, they are the single management authority for wildlife resources in their area.   They also promote private sector partnerships with the community and help create opportunities for employment and market linkages.  As the highest local authority presiding over the VAGs, they also provide guidance for promoting good leadership at the VAG level.

Financial Management Committee:  Consists of elected representatives from each VAG, members are trained to advise VAG committees on how to budget and prepare financial reports. They also assist in carrying out routine audits of VAG accounts and report any anomalies to the CRB.

Resource Management Committee:  Consists of elected representatives from village area groups to evaluate the work of CRB-employed village scouts and to help formulate land use plans, resource management budget, and hunting quotas for the Community Resource Boards.

Community Development Committee:  Consists of elected representatives from each VAG, they provide technical stewardship for designing and implementing projects at the VAG level.  As technical advisors to the household groups, they help plan projects and advise on how best to invest funds for VAG development activities.

Traditional Leadership:  Traditional rulers are recognized as integral and important parts of African culture and are also fully involved in the ADMADE program as Patrons to the CRB.  In their capacity as Patrons, they assist the CRB by resolving conflicts, encouraging improved land uses, and promoting improved livelihoods for community residents.

Government:

Village scouts:  Young adults recruited and employed by the community to police resources, monitor use, protect crops from wildlife and improve public awareness about CBNRM.  Over 650 are in service throughout the country.  Though employed by the CRB and responsible to local management authority, they are also responsible to ZAWA and are therefore considered an auxiliary staff of Government for protecting wildlife resources.

Unit Leader:  The ZAWA officer resident in the community who facilitates local participation and leadership in wildlife management.   NOTE:  Because of ZAWA's commitment to developing Community Resource Boards as self-supporting units of wildlife management, the College is embarking on a new training program for locally qualified people to assume much of the role of Unit Leaders.  These people are referred to as Unit Managers, who are local people selected and employed by the CRBs to provide technical supervision of the units in resource management and VAG-level activities. 

Private:

The Unit makes income through safari hunting partnerships which leads to...

How it works at a glance...

Democratically elected community leaders:  Key community leaders are elected based on educational standards and proven performance.  A structured leadership system engages active participation by residents and establishes a framework for assessing its own efforts.  Communities are required to ratify and develop their own constitutions, formalizing the CBNRM structure and ensuring investment in rural development meets the expressed needs of local resident households. 

Integrated leadership: For the first time in Zambia, Government, private sector, and communities work as strategic partners in natural resource management.

Support from the College: The College emphasizes a range of skills that complement the overall technical needs of CBNRM in resource management, community development and financial management but emphasizes community participation, collection and use of data, and self-evaluation of management targets.

ZAWA: ensures community funds generated from wildlife through the sale of licenses and other gazetted fees are collected and dispersed to Community Resource Boards (CRBs). ZAWA also carries out periodic audits on the use of the funds and inspects the CRB compliance to its constitution, local by-laws and co-management agreements with ZAWA itself.

What emerges

A unified approach toward managing and benefiting from natural resources.  For the first time, Government and private sector are beginning to regard communities as a strategic partner, and in so doing, are dramatically reducing the costs in delivering social benefits in rural areas and in maintaining wildlands as viable investment opportunities in tourism.

A system of local governance not seen before in Zambia for managing natural resources.  This is giving rise to effective use of local manpower (village scouts), creating local leaders who apply civic duty to a range of important functions of resource management and community development, and establishing village based communities that meet regularly, reinforcing the link between development and conservation. 

Diversifying a community's income is now becoming possible as resource production levels increase and households become better educated on forming small group businesses through legal markets.  VAG and CRB-level leadership is also promoting improved linkages between these groups and private sector partners.  Such joint-ventures is opening up new markets and opportunities for reducing poverty as a prime cause for illegal hunting in Zambia's Game Management Areas. 

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