Evolution of models to support community and policy action with science: Balancing pastoral livelihoods and wildlife conservation in savannas of East Africa.
We developed a "continual engagement" model to better integrate knowledge from policy makers, communities, and researchers with the goal of promoting more effective action to balance poverty alleviation and wildlife conservation in 4 pastoral ecosystems of East Africa. The model involved the creation of a core boundary-spanning team, including community facilitators, a policy facilitator, and transdisciplinary researchers, responsible for linking with a wide range of actors from local to global scales. Collaborative researcher-facilitator community teams integrated local and scientific knowledge to help communities and policy makers improve herd quality and health, expand biodiversity payment schemes, develop land-use plans, and fully engage together in pastoral and wildlife policy development. This model focused on the creation of hybrid scientific-local knowledge highly relevant to community and policy maker needs. The facilitation team learned to be more effective by focusing on noncontroversial livelihood issues before addressing more difficult wildlife issues, using strategic and periodic engagement with most partners instead of continual engagement, and reducing costs by providing new scientific information only when deemed essential. We conclude by examining the role of facilitation in redressing asymmetries in power in researcher-community-policy maker teams, the role of individual values and character in establishing trust, and how to sustain knowledge-action links when project funding ends.
Reid
R S
RS
International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya; Center for Collaborative Conservation and Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523; Reto-o-Reto Foundation, P.O. Box 553, Athi-River, Kenya; robin.reid@colostate.edu.
Nkedianye
D
D
International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya; Reto-o-Reto Foundation, P.O. Box 553, Athi-River, Kenya; Centre for the Study of Environmental Change and Sustainability, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JN, Scotland, United Kingdom;
Said
M Y
MY
International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya; Reto-o-Reto Foundation, P.O. Box 553, Athi-River, Kenya;
Kaelo
D
D
International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya; Reto-o-Reto Foundation, P.O. Box 553, Athi-River, Kenya;
Neselle
M
M
International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya; Reto-o-Reto Foundation, P.O. Box 553, Athi-River, Kenya;
Makui
O
O
International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya; Reto-o-Reto Foundation, P.O. Box 553, Athi-River, Kenya; African Wildlife Foundation, P.O. Box 48177, Nairobi, Kenya;
Onetu
L
L
International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya; Reto-o-Reto Foundation, P.O. Box 553, Athi-River, Kenya;
Kiruswa
S
S
Reto-o-Reto Foundation, P.O. Box 553, Athi-River, Kenya; African Wildlife Foundation, P.O. Box 2658, Arusha, Tanzania;
Kamuaro
N Ole
NO
International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya;
Kristjanson
P
P
International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya;
Ogutu
J
J
International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya;
BurnSilver
S B
SB
School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK 99775;
Goldman
M J
MJ
Department of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309;
Boone
R B
RB
Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523;
Galvin
K A
KA
Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523;
Dickson
N M
NM
Sustainability Science Program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Clark
W C
WC
Sustainability Science Program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
D000351:Africa, Eastern; D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D065948:Grassland; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011050:Policy Making; D012108:Research Personnel; D012111:Residence Characteristics