Browsing by Author "McDougall, Cynthia"

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Contextualizing Common Property Systems: Action Research Insights on Forging Effective Links between Forest Commons and Meso Layer Governance
(2006) Paudel, Naya Sharma; Banjade, Mani Ram; Ojha, Hemant R.; McDougall, Cynthia; Prabhu, Ravi
"The literature on common property resources is heavily focused on understanding how users of the commons interact with each other regarding production and appropriation of these resources. There is, however, relatively little attention paid to understanding how meso level governance - i.e., that layer between local level and national (policy) level - interacts with users of the commons in shaping the social and environmental outcomes of commons management. The meso level consists of actors, institutions and processes which interact with each other and with users of commons, interpret and enforce policies and regulations, and can also reinterpret or misinterpret policies according to their own interests and agendas with beneficial or deleterious effects on the actors and the commons. We contend that the dynamic link between meso level governance and the commons is not sufficiently appreciated and poorly understood. Taking Nepal's community forestry as a case study, this paper seeks to explore the dynamic links between meso level processes and the commons. Based on the learning and reflections from an 'adaptive collaborative management' research project implemented in five districts of Nepal over the past two years, the paper seeks to: a) develop a preliminary conceptual framework for understanding meso spheres of governance in relation to local level commons; b) describe the nature of linkages between the meso level and community forestry and their influences on the condition of the commons and the livelihoods of forest users; and, c) share action research insights on how mesocommons linkages can be improved."
Increasing Equity and the Livelihoods of the Forest Dependent Poor through Adaptive Collaborative Approaches: Experiences from a Non-Timber Forest Product Network Enterprise in Eastern Nepal
(2006) Pandit, Bishnu Hari; McDougall, Cynthia; Maharjan, Manik Ram; Dangol, Sushma; Raya, Yam
"This paper examines the performance of the ACM based planning process for increasing benefits to poorest of the poor households in eastern hills of Nepal. This research is part of on-going CIFOR led project funded by IDRC during March 2004 to September 2005. Ten Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs, with rights over some two thousand hectares of Community Forests and more than 1000 member households, were federated into network in one of the project districts. The network has rights over some two thousand hectares of Community Forests with more than 1000 member households. Of the total members, 40% women, 20% poorest of the poor, 20% village traders and 20% other general members are included in the general assembly. These members elected 9 member committee including 3 women. Four sub-groups (common interest network groups) have been formed within the network based on the type of NTFP available in their Community Forests. "The study reveals that attitude of chiefs, elites and CFUG leaders seems to have changed towards providing benefits to poor, and have attempted a wide variety of forest management initiatives. In many CFUGs with strong leadership have attempted to preserve valuable Non- Timber Forest Product (NTFP) species such as Nardostachys grandiflora and Asparagus racemosus. The forest management system has changed from protection oriented (restricted use) to use right system of NTFP resources for the poor. The poor and marginalized groups of people including women have received an increased share of benefits from use of NTFP resources in all of the CFUG sites of the network. Of the total households, five percent of the poorest of the poor households are being provided with NTFP collection license and the necessary revolving funds to invest share in their network enterprise. The Livelihood Forestry Program funded by DFID and the World Conservation Union have created revolving funds of rupees 200,000 for these poorest of the poor households. These households get benefits in four ways (1) have access to employment opportunities (work as NTFP collectors (2) They get share dividend based on their shareholding (3) They will receive a dividend based on their CFUG shareholding and (4) They receive productivity bonuses and wages while working in the NTFP processing company. With these provisions, small common interest network group consisting of only women member of Allo products has been able to increase profit margin from sale of Allo clothes. The bargaining power of poor collectors has increased in the marketing chain. Nonetheless there is still a fear and uncertainty of how above mentioned benefits will be equitably distributed in long run among different groups of people involved in NTFP network in future as the competition for access to common property resource (CPR) would be increasing."
Scoring and Analysis Guide for Assessing Human Well-Being.
(1999) Salim, Agus; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; McDougall, Cynthia
"The ability to assess human well-being has been increasingly recognised as an important element in assessing sustainable forest management around the world in recent years. The ten tools in CIFOR’s C&I Toolbox include a generic set of principles, criteria and indicators, and related methods. These are designed to help people make assessments of management in particular production forests where people live and work in and around the forest. The assessments include aspects relating to management, the environment and human well-being. Potential assessors might be project managers, certifiers, donors, government agencies, researchers, NGOs, and communities."
Social Capital, Conflict, and Adaptive Collaborative Governance: Exploring the Dialectic
(2015) McDougall, Cynthia; Banjade, Mani Ram
"Previously lineal and centralized natural resource management and development paradigms have shifted toward the recognition of complexity and dynamism of social-ecological systems, and toward more adaptive, decentralized, and collaborative models. However, certain messy and surprising dynamics remain under-recognized, including the inherent interplay between conflict, social capital, and governance. In this study we consider the dynamic intersections of these three often (seemingly) disparate phenomena. In particular, we consider the changes in social capital and conflict that accompanied a transition by local groups toward adaptive collaborative governance. The findings are drawn from multiyear research into community forestry in Nepal using comparative case studies. The study illustrates the complex, surprising, and dialectical relations among these three phenomena. Findings include: a demonstration of the pervasive nature of conflict and 'dark side' of social capital; that collaborative efforts changed social capital, rather than simply enhancing it; and that conflict at varying scales ultimately had some constructive influences."
Who Counts Most? Assessing Human Well-Being in Sustainable Forest Management.
(1999) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Prabhu, Ravi; Gunter, Mario; McDougall, Cynthia; Miyasaka Porro, Noemi; Porro, Roberto
"In this paper, we present a tool, the ‘Who Counts Matrix’, for differentiating ‘forest actors’, or people whose well-being and forest management are intimately intertwined, from other stakeholders. We argue for focusing formal attention on forest actors in efforts to develop sustainable forest management. We suggest seven dimensions by which forest actors can be differentiated from other stakeholders, and a simple scoring technique for use by formal managers in determining whose well-being must form an integral part of sustainable forest management in a given locale. Building on the work carried out by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) on criteria and indicators, we present three illustrative sets of stakeholders, from Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire and the United States, and Who Counts Matrices from seven trials, in an appendix."