Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T06:11:37.168Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Protected area managers' perceptions of community conservation training in West and Central Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2006

PAUL SCHOLTE ,
WOUTER T. DE GROOT ,
ZACHARIE MAYNA  and
TALLA
PAUL SCHOLTE*
Affiliation:
Ecole pour la Formation des Spécialistes de la Faune, PO Box 271, Garoua, Cameroon Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, PO Box 9518, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands
WOUTER T. DE GROOT
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, PO Box 9518, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands
ZACHARIE MAYNA
Affiliation:
Ecole pour la Formation des Spécialistes de la Faune, PO Box 271, Garoua, Cameroon
TALLA
Affiliation:
Ecole pour la Formation des Spécialistes de la Faune, PO Box 271, Garoua, Cameroon
*
*Correspondence: Dr Paul Scholte, Nieuwe Teertuinen 12C, 1013 LV Amsterdam, the Netherlands e-mail: ScholKerst@cs.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Training needs assessments have revealed the need for people-oriented training to increase the job performance of African protected area (PA) managers. The Garoua regional wildlife college for francophone Africa (Cameroon) developed the first long (diploma and certificate) and refresher courses in community conservation for mid-career PA managers and guards from West and Central Africa. Through lectures, case studies and participatory rural appraisal exercises, the courses emphasized the development of skills for tuning principles of people participation to the conservation objectives of PAs. The present study reviews the trainees' evaluations of these courses, to appreciate their relevance and support their further development. Diploma students judged the course as highly relevant because of the acquired analytical skills, whereas certificate students considered them only of medium relevance. The response to short refresher courses varied as a function of the use of cases from either the trainees' professional experience or from the fieldwork location. The reactions of trainees to this learning opportunity show that PA personnel are not ‘attitude-limited’ as often suggested. Their constraints to develop a more people-oriented work style lie largely in the areas of knowledge and skills. These findings point to the need for increased efforts to implement training of PA personnel in community conservation, preferably early in their careers.

Keywords

Africacommunity conservationevaluationprotected areatraining
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , December 2005 , pp. 349 - 355
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, W.M. & Hulme, D.(2001) If community conservation is the answer in Africa, what is the question? Oryx 35: 193–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrow, E. & Murphree, M.(2001) Community conservation, from concept to practice. In: African Wildlife and Livelihoods, ed. Hulme, D. & Murphree, M., pp. 24–37. Oxford, UK: James Currey.Google Scholar
Bergin, P.(2001) Accommodating new narratives in a conservation bureaucracy. TANAPA and community conservation. In: African Wildlife and Livelihoods, ed. Hulme, D. & Murphree, M., pp. 89–105. Oxford, UK: James Currey.Google Scholar
Borrini-Feyerabend, G., Taghi Farvar, M., Nguinguiri, J.-C.,& Ndangang, V.(2000) La Gestion Participative des Ressources Naturelles: Organisation, Négotiation et Apprentisssage par l'Action. Heidelberg, Germany: Kasparek Verlag.Google Scholar
Brown, M. & Singer, A. (1991) La gestion des zones tampons en Afrique. Unpublished report and video, PVO-NGO/NRMS [Private Voluntary Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations in Natural Resources Management Project, Uganda], World Learning Initiative, Washington DC, USA.Google Scholar
Bruner, A.G., Gullison, R.E., Rice, R.E. & da Fonseca, G.A.B.(2001) Effectiveness of parks in protecting tropical biodiversity. Science 291: 125–128.Google Scholar
Cracknell, B.E.(2000) Evaluating Development Aid. New Delhi, India: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
De Groot, W.(1998) Problem-in-context. A framework for the analysis, explanation and solution of environmental problems. In: Environmental Management in Practice Volume I. Instruments of Environmental Management, ed. Nath, B., Hens, L., Compton, P. & Devuyst, D., pp. 22–43. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dochy, F.J.R.C., Segers, M.S.R. & Moerkerke, G.(1997) The importance of prior knowledge and assessment for increasing efficiency of the learning processes, especially in ‘problem-based’ powerful learning environments. In: Biodiversity, An Issue in Higher Education. Proceedings of the Third European Conference on Higher Education for Agriculture, ed. Charrier, A. & van Haarlem, R., pp. 73–96. Wageningen, the Netherlands: Wageningen University.Google Scholar
El-Ashry, M.T.(2001) Foreword. In: Important Bird Areas in Africa and Associated Islands: Priority Sites for Conservation, ed. Fishpool, L.D.C. & Evans, M.I., pp. X. Newbury and Cambridge, UK: Pisces Publications and BirdLife International.Google Scholar
Feron, E.(1997) Les processus participatifs de gestion et de conservation de la faune en Afrique Australe, ou la recherche d'un nouvel Eden. Le Flamboyant 42: 20–25.Google Scholar
Gilbert, D.(1971) Natural Resources and Public Relations. Washington, USA: The Wildlife Society.Google Scholar
Hulme, D. & Murphree, M.(1999) Communities, wildlife and the ‘new conservation’ in Africa. Journal of International Development 11: 277–285.Google Scholar
IIED (1994) Whose Eden? An Overview of Community Approaches to Wildlife Management. London, UK: IIED.Google Scholar
IUCN (1994) Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: CNPPA-WCMC [World Congress on National Parks and Protected Areas – World Conservation Monitoring Centre].Google Scholar
Jacobson, S.K. & McDuff, M.D.(1998) Training idiot savants: the lack of human dimensions in conservation biology. Conservation Biology 12: 263–267.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, D.(1994) Evaluating Training Programs, the Four Levels. San Francisco, USA: Barrett-Koehler Publishers.Google Scholar
Nguinguiri, J.C., ed. (2001) Guide pour la Formation en Gestion Participative des Ressources Naturelles. Yaoundé, Cameroun: UICN-BRAC [World Conservation Union Regional Office for Central Africa].Google Scholar
Oates, J.F.(1999) Myth and Reality in the Rainforest: How Conservation Strategies are Failing in West Africa. Berkeley, USA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Pitkin, B.(1995) Protected Area Conservation Strategy (PARCS): Training Needs and Opportunities Among Protected Area Managers in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. Washington, USA: Biodiversity Support Program.Google Scholar
Pretty, J.N., Guijt, I., Thompson, J. & Scoones, I.(1995) Participatory Learning and Action, a Trainer's Guide. London, UK: IIED Participatory Methodology Series, IIED.Google Scholar
Rothwell, W.J. & Sredl, H.J.(1992) Professional Human Resources Development: Roles and Competencies, Second edition, Volume II. Amherst, USA: HRD Press.Google Scholar
Saberwal, V.K. & Kothari, A.(1996) The human dimension in conservation biology in developing countries. Conservation Biology 10: 1328–1331.Google Scholar
Scholte, P., Adam, S., Kari, S. & Mbouche, J.H.(1999) Walking a tightrope: using PRA in a conflict situation around Waza National Park, Cameroon. PLA Notes 35: 7–12.Google Scholar
Scholte, P.(2003 a) Immigration: a potential time bomb under the integration of conservation and development. Ambio 32: 58–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scholte, P.(2003 b) Curriculum development at the African regional wildlife colleges, with special reference to the Ecole de Faune (Cameroon). Environmental Conservation 30: 249–258.Google Scholar
Scholte, P.(2005) Floodplain rehabilitation and the future of conservation and development. Adaptive management of success in Waza-Logone, Cameroon. Tropical Resource Management Papers 67, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, the Netherlands.Google Scholar
Snelson, D.(1993) CEC protected areas and biodiversity strategy: case study of training and the College of African Wildlife Management. Unpublished report, IUCN (WWF Regional Office, Eastern Africa.Google Scholar
SPSS (1999) SPSS for Windows, Release 9.0. New York, USA: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Stone, R.(1997) What's Your Role? Training for Organizational Impact. A Guide for Training Officers in Protected Area Management. Washington, USA: African Biodiversity Series, No. 5, Biodiversity Support Program.Google Scholar
Thibault, M. & Blaney, S.(2001) Sustainable human resources in a protected area in southwestern Gabon. Conservation Biology 15: 591–595.Google Scholar
ULG Consultants Ltd (1998) Training needs assessment. Unpublished report, SADC Wildlife Management Training Programme, Harare, Zimbabwe.Google Scholar
Vanclay, J.K.(2001) The effectiveness of parks. Science 293:1007.Google Scholar
Van de Ban, A.W. & Hawkins, H.S.(1988) Agricultural Extension. Essex, UK: Longman.Google Scholar
Western, D.(2003) Conservation science in Africa and the role of international collaboration. Conservation Biology 17: 11–19.Google Scholar