Mid-term evaluation of the CARE Development through Conservation (DTC) project

KEYWORD: Community-based Natural Forest Management, Africa. Africa, Uganda, community forestry, ecotourism, forest enterprises, incentives, income distribution, sustainable agriculture, buffer zone, conservation, protected areas, wildlife, co-management, extension, institutions, community participation, education, evaluation. SUMMARY:This evaluation took place in the third year of CARE DTC project implementation. The most important aspect of implementation was integration of park conservation with development at the community level. The project succeeded at improving park management plans for conservation purposes while also advocating community development that has enabled communities to realize significant benefits from the parks. The geographical setting of the project, diversity of farming systems, community heterogeneity, civil unrest, changing partnerships, management rearrangements, and complicated stakeholder interactions challenged this project. Park managers were advised to continue to focus on communities in order to demonstrate tangible benefits from multiple-use of forest products, tourism and trust revenues. Research, education and sharing benefits from the parks could be improved, but only in conjunction with improvements in park management and park relations. In particular, the inconsistent levels of protection of the parks, which have ranged from accessible to communities to complete alienation of the communities and gazettement of the parks, need to be addressed if community relations are to improve. This issue caused communities to strongly question DTC’s credibility. It is apparent that park management and partnerships with communities are essential in the promotion of development through conservation. Listed recommendations address this issue and generally state that development activities should be driven by the needs of the diverse communities, and the results need to be monitored. Also, interfaces with communities need to be strengthened and conflicts resolved constructively. It is urgent that projects focus on improvement of these relations. The potential is high for DTC to make these improvements, as well as the many detailed suggestions that are given. If improvements are made, it is recommended that the third phase of this project be developed.