Expected Results

Progress

To catalyse and facilitate the establishment and/or strengthening viable community organisations that sustain participation in conservation and development

The formation of a network of CBOs in the valley will be the main institutional basis during the project life and after it. The sustainability of these CBOs will depend on the operational transparency of the CBO and the level of interaction with the project staff during the project lifetime.

The supra-cluster CBO(s), also called the ‘All Palas CBO’ will be the focal point for any project strategy that the management and field team wants to initiate. The project will see this target as the initial capacity building exercise and it will probably prove the hardest target to achieve, but undoubtedly one of the most important outputs under this sector.

The remaining outputs under this immediate objective involve forming additional CBOs, training of village activists and establishing village based activities, which address issues pertaining to that particular community. ‘Special Interest CBOs’ for groups such as nursery owner farmers or medicinal plant collectors, will also be set up.

Two important outputs under this objective are the “Village Conservation Plans” and the “Village Saving Accounts”. Both these outputs will require skills in the field team and active participation of the concerned local community. The village conservation plan can also be treated as a natural resource utilization plan for each village or community and will outline how the village members will actively contribute to the conservation and promotion of the natural resource and biodiversity in their area.

In order to initiate the village saving accounts, the project will provide equity collateral. This fund will give the village or community the financial ability to decide which development priority it wants to set.

The establishment of the “Forest Trust Fund” will give the project an option to purchase back the royalties that have been sold to outside contractors. Though this amount cannot compensate for the whole amount that has been sold, the output will allow the core areas for biodiversity to be returned to the traditional custodian owner.

Along with all of the above activities, village PRAs will be conducted in all villages over the project lifetime. These PRAs are expected to provide in-depth information on the needs and expectations of the local communities in Palas.

The numeric and accumulative percentages for these outputs have been kept between realistic to slightly optimistic in regard to the number of CBOs, which are expected to be formed, keeping in view the conservative outlook of Kohistani society.
The supra-cluster CBO has been planned for Year 3, allowing the project field team to prepare the homework needed to facilitate this activity. PRAs and the creation of village CBOs will start in Year 2 with a target of 10% and will aim to reach 100% by Year 4 or 5, allowing for the fact that once communities realize the advantage of participation, they will rapidly follow examples of other CBO organizations.

The potential efficiency of such an approach to local development, and the opportunities it affords for a degree of cost-sharing, can make it extremely cost-effective, reducing developmental costs and minising recurrent costs.

Though participatory methodologies provide a powerful set of tools for pro-active dialogue in Palas, the Project will continue to make effective use of conventional fora and methods for dialogue and decision-making. This is of particular importance in view of the vital role to be played by the Project in the mediation and negotiation of agreements (see in particular Annex 3). Mediation and negotiation require an array of skills quite separate from those of participatory methodologies. The PCDP will maintain a continual dialogue with, inter alia: individuals and small groups through the informal channels of the hujra, mosque, wayside and PCDP field office; the more formal fora of jirgas, jirga committees and CBOs; elected representatives and their workers.

PRA teams will normally include 4-8 PCDP staff (men and women) from Programme Officers to Community Facilitators, plus local Village Activists and, where necessary, outside professionals. All project staff will be trained in PRA methodologies and gender awareness.

Two kinds of PRA are anticipated. Village PRAs will cover the whole range of socio-economic, environmental and institutional issues that affect development in particular villages. Their objectives are: to stimulate in the villagers a critical analysis of local problems and constraints, capacities and priorities; and to provide baseline studies, establishing `milestones' and indicators that can be used in monitoring and evaluating subsequent activities. Topical PRAs carried out in one or more `representative' villages will investigate in greater depth particular sectoral issues, with the main objective being to refine sectoral strategies.

PRA outputs will be shared between the Project and the community, leading to a crystallisation of development objectives, and elaboration of expected outputs, activities, roles and responsibilities, inputs and schedules.

PRA must be applied with care: it is potentially intrusive, demands a lot of time from villagers, and can arouse conflict and heighten expectations. To sustain community confidence and participation, each PRA must lead quickly to follow-up development activities. Development of a standardised methodology will help keep costs of time and energy down, and enable the PCDP to increase the number of PRAs, from no more than four in year 1, to cover all Palas villages by year 5. Documentation of each PRA will provide baseline information for monitoring, and allow comparisons to be made over space and time.

The mid-term evaluation of the PCDP will review the strategy for community organisation and participation, assessing progress and problems encountered, introducing new methods or innovations, and recommending any necessary strategic adjustments.

The PCDP will continue to catalyse, establish, activate and strengthen CBOs for participatory implementation of development initiatives. As with the HJP, these CBOs will emerge from and be linked to the existing institution of the jirga. CBOs will be of several kinds:

* an All-Palas CBO to address valley-level issues such as the management of common property resources; a strong all-Palas CBO, capable of natural resource planning and management is seen as a vital institutional successor to the PCDP and a focus on the support and development of such this CBO will underlie much PCDP activity;

* village CBOs in all villages in Palas, to address issues that fall within the purview of the village - such as the development of agricultural, livestock and local infrastructure;

* special interest CBOs for particular issues such as the collection and marketing of NTFPs, or to ensure that marginalised groups are not omitted from project activities; special interest CBOs often prove more active as they form around issues that matter to them;

* women's CBOs - the formation of women's CBOs will be approached with care and a particular sensitivity to local conventions.

The PCDP will seek to catalyse and strengthen organisations through the participatory implementation of development initiatives in natural resource management, infrastructure, and basic health. For village, special interest and women's CBOs, this will usually involve: selection of village/special interest group; initial PRA to identify development priorities; preparation of cost estimates; inauguration of CBO; agreement on terms of partnership; provision of grant in instalments; provision of training and technical assistance; monitoring and evaluation. Establishment and strengthening of the All-Palas CBO will be a more complex process and is closely linked to the PCDP's strategy for natural resource management.

The PCDP will seek to sustain CBO activity through the development of community skills and of community capital. The PCDP places a strong emphasis on skills training, and will develop options for community savings through dialogue with the people of Palas and local credit institutions. A savings and credit approach to the financing of local development will increase local control of the development process and reduce any dependency on grant assistance.

In the interim, the PCDP will aim to share costs of development with the local community. The first development activity in each village will be supported by limited grant aid from the PCDP. This, however, must be matched by a community contribution in kind (labour, local materials, land, etc.); community contributions under the HJP have ranged from c. 20-60%.