Best Practices - Partnerships & Community Empowerment
The GFCR supports interventions that: build on diverse and effective partnerships among coral reef stakeholders; strengthen local capacity; link traditional knowledge and science; and promote long-term community stewardship of coral reef ecosystems, marine natural capital, and associated sustainable resilient livelihoods.
Coral reefs are embedded in complex social, economic and ecological systems and require meaningful engagement by a diverse range of stakeholders to understand and develop long-term effective and equitable solutions for their survival. This principle emphasizes some ways partnerships are essential for solutions and especially those that empower individuals and groups in associated communities to actively participate in the identification, planning and implementation of key solutions.
The principle statement identifies four main approaches as a starting point for this issue:
- Build on diverse and effective partnerships among coral reef stakeholders
- Strengthen local capacity
- Link traditional knowledge and science
- Promote long-term community stewardship
These approaches are not meant to be complete or comprehensive and are provided as examples of the principle.
1. Build on diverse and effective partnerships among coral reef stakeholders
It is important to identify and engage with existing partnerships and underlying decision structures including traditional governance arrangements and collective structures. Although it is tempting to create new institutional structures to address challenges, existing structures are more likely to be resilient and incorporate the current political economy. The two main points here are to identify and support a diversity of partnerships and seek to identify and support those that are effective.
Some criteria could include if those partnerships include key stakeholders for reef conservation, main actors in potential driver reduction, and in some cases main actors causing reef degradation – to begin engagement on how to reduce those drivers. Using a systems or portfolio approach (see Principle 1) supporting a number of partnerships and collaborations will diversify risks and increase innovation – thus, leading to a greater chance of positive outcomes.
For example, community-based organizations can have great impact, usually have small operating budgets, and often include key local stakeholders – making their support low cost and potentially high impact. Some organizations may prove more effective than others due to a range of variables, many of which are not possible to identify initially – thus, supporting a range of groups – is likely to increase chance of innovation and success.
Partnerships that involve a combination of public, private, and civil society sectors are especially interesting for coral reefs and associated communities. This is because coral reefs are almost always shared resources where their well-being is dependent on a coordinated effort among these diverse actors. There are a growing number of examples of public-private partnerships that can achieve results that would not have been possible without this collaboration. These include the collaborative agreements that Blue finance uses for the marine protected area work as well as the long-term contracts and arrangements that are required for waste management and wastewater management at municipal levels, among many other examples.
Some guidance on effective PPPs:
- A Guide to Public-Private Partnerships1 (PPPs): What Public Procurement Specialists Need To Know
and
- A smarter way to think about public–private partnerships
In any partnership, especially collaborations across sectors, it is essential to consider the balance of power in design, decision-making, and implementation. In most cases, reef-associated communities that are dependent on reef resources for livelihoods – such as fisheries, tourism, coastal protection – are often on the “upstream” side of supply chains and have weak negotiating power. If this imbalance of power is not recognized nor tools established to assure a stronger position for the upstream participants, the resulting PPP could be exploitative and ultimately ineffective. One way to avoid such an outcome is to openly engage stakeholders in effective dialogue and assure key representation on management bodies.
2. Strengthen local capacity
In order for reef-associated communities to effectively participate in a range of potentially beneficial partnerships and other forms of engagement, local capacity must be strong. Specifically, communities will need the capacity for institutional, economic, and financial success to support their existing social capacities. One initial step is to determine the specific key capacity needs for effective coral reef management and community development. Secondly, source capacity development partners and other resources to support the community. GFCR implementing partners can develop capacity support programs in collaboration with community organizations and other GFCR partners to build local capacity in the target areas. Finally, it will be essential to monitor progress and adapt the program to the changing circumstances
3. Link traditional knowledge and science
Traditional knowledge and understanding are effective and valuable tools for conservation and management of nature resources including reefs and coastal ecosystems. Not only are traditional management systems often effective, but also they reflect a rights-based approach to resource access and management that is respectful of historical and traditional stewardship. Supporting traditional knowledge systems with modern scientific approaches has the potential for enhancing the effectiveness of traditional systems, benefitting from existing local knowledge and engagement, and supporting currently effective stewardship structures. For example, if traditional no-take areas or seasons are being used by communities, combining fish biomass measurements with existing knowledge can reinforce the desire of the community to continue or expand certain management practices.
4. Promote long-term community stewardship
Partnerships and community empowerment should be directed towards the establishment or reinforcement of long-term community stewardship of coral reef ecosystems, marine natural capital, and associated sustainable resilient livelihoods. Regardless of the status of coastal areas in terms of protection, ownership, access, etc. practically all coastal areas with reefs unless extremely remote, involve some associated communities. Often these communities are either highly dependent on the reef systems or a potential source of reef degradation and often both.
Engagement and empowerment of effective stewardship structures are essential for long-term coral reef management. As noted above, traditional systems linked with scientific monitoring can be combined through strengthened institutions to achieve collaborative management goals. A good starting point is to understand and respect historical relations and governance systems – formalizing traditional governance structures where they are informal but effective.
Identify opportunities for assuring community groups and individuals can build long-term equity in any enterprises being developed – which could require access to capital, financial services, as well as innovative approaches to shared ownership in commercial enterprises.
One key element to consider in planning is to assure that the community stewardship structures remain vibrant and financially supported following the closure of any GFCR supported projects. Developing sustainability plans for key stewardship structures and institutions will be helpful for achieving this goal. Similarly, consideration of the ultimate outcomes for reef stewardship following an “exit” event from the GFCR’s Equity Fund is key in case the change in company ownership results in strategic changes for the company. There may be ways of increasing the chance that sustainability and community empowerment accomplishment can be retained such as structuring the company as a “B” Corporation (a benefit corporation) or very long-term contracts.
You can access more GFCR Investment Principles' best practices here.
The full document covering all the best practice series can be downloaded from here: GFCR Best Practice General Principles 2022.pdf.
