Behavior Profile: Traditional leaders promote the protection and sustainable use of natural resources
Goal has not been set
Traditional leaders promote the protection and sustainable use of natural resources

Behavior Analysis

Strategy

BEHAVIOR AND STEPS

What steps are needed to practice this behavior?

Traditional leaders promote the protection and sustainable use of natural resources

  1. Learn about their role as outlined in Traditional Leaders Act
  2. Hold consultative meetings with community members, including women and youth, on environmental management practices and protection, and desired operational norms and standards
  3. Based on these community consultations, develop localized NRM bylaws working with community members, including women and youth
  4. Learn about the NRM bylaws and their power to enact them
  5. Together with communities, determine penalties to be levied to environmental offenders
  6. Disseminate the types of offences and associated penalties (those that have been agreed upon by community members) to all community members
  7. Celebrate and appreciate communities for sustainable NRM practices
  8. Carry out wide and intensive awareness programs to all community members on best environmental management practices
  9. Work together with communities to monitor resource usage and adherence

FACTORS

What factors may prevent or support practice of this behavior?
Structural
Accessibility: [LIMITED UNDERSTANDING OF ROLE] Traditional leaders do not promote protection and use of natural resources because they do not fully understand their role as custodians of the land, water and natural environment and as having authority and control over communal land and over the persons within those communal lands
Accessibility: [LACK ACCOUNTABILITY] Traditional leaders do not promote protection and use of natural resources because they are not accountable to the communities they serve and may be constrained by traditional norms in which chiefs cannot be questioned
Accessibility: [LACK OF CLEAR COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE AND LEADERSHIP] Traditional leaders do not promote protection and use of natural resources because there are no consistent community governance structures for National Resource Management (NRM). Roles and responsibilities are unclear between traditional leaders and regional development committees (RDCs), village assembly under the village head is responsible for enforcement; many do not have capacity to carry out their role; some are viewed as corrupt
Accessibility: [LACK OF LOCALIZED NRM BY-LAWS] Traditional leaders do not promote protection and use of natural resources because few communities have localized NRM by-laws (for sustainable forest mgmt, grazing land mgmt, wild fruit harvesting, etc.) to use as a foundation for this role. They are also not many examples or experiences in the community about how to properly enforce penalties for those people who do not follow agreed-upon by-laws
Social
Gender: [TRADITIONAL GENDER NORMS] Traditional leaders do not engage women in NRM because of the patriarchal nature of community governance processes
Norms: [LACK OF YOUTH ROLE IN COMMUNITY] Traditional leaders do not engage youth in NRM because it is assumed that youth lack maturity and interest in natural resources and community matters
Internal
Knowledge: [LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ON NRM BEST PRACTICES] Traditional leaders do not promote protection and use of natural resources because they do not know about NRM best practices and examples of what has worked in similar contexts
Skills: [LACK OF SKILLS TO DEVELOP, ENACT, ENFORCE NRM BY-LAWS] Traditional leaders do not promote protection and use of natural resources because they do not have skills, experience or model examples to develop, enact and enforce NRM by-laws, working with the community. Even when NRM by-laws exist, they do not have the capacity to enforce penalties for those who violate them in a way that does not put them at odds with the community; they understand many community members are just trying to survive and satisfy basic family needs

SUPPORTING ACTORS AND ACTIONS

Who must support the practice of this behavior, and what actions must they take?
Institutional
Rural District Councils (RDCs): Mentor traditional leaders on inclusive community engagement and actively supports their role to protect natural resources. If traditional leaders clearly understand their roles and responsibilities under the law and possess knowledge and skills in community resources management they will be more likely to perform their roles impartially and resolve conflicts peacefully in the community. Providing this information to village heads and other community members simultaneously would create an expectation that traditional leaders put into practice the information learned and produce a degree of accountability.
Environment Law Association (ELA): Support development of localized NRM by-laws
Community
Women, youth and marginalized groups: Actively participate in community consultations, sharing their ideas and concerns around their priority activities.
Environment/NRM Monitors: Play an active role in NRM by-law community governance structure, working closely with traditional leaders, especially for monitoring
Household
Community members: Actively participate in community consultations about protection and sustainable use of natural resources, sharing their concerns with traditional leaders and regularly provide feedback on issues affecting them. Community members, especially those leading Committees, openly invite women, youth and other marginalized groups to participate in consultations.

POSSIBLE PROGRAM STRATEGIES

What strategies will best focus our efforts based on this analysis?

Strategy requires Communication Support

Enabling Environment
Institutional Capacity Building: Coach traditional leaders throughout the development, enactment and enforcement of localized NRM by-laws. Provide examples of localized NRM by-laws and NRM best practices in similar contexts. Facilitate exchanges with traditional leaders to share NRM experiences and best practices, as well as the process itself and what worked well and what could be improved.
Institutional Capacity Building: Train traditional leaders on their role as custodians of natural resources in the community and as neutral, inclusive leaders per the Traditional Leaders Act. Demonstrate how to bring language about gender equality and inclusivity and youth as members of the community into community consultations and provide examples of how the community structures are including the voices of women and youth. Ensure traditional leaders have the leadership and communication skills to unify the community around common values, bringing in cultural traditions and indigenous knowledge, and offer a strong message about community cohesion and inclusion as a key to successful balance between livelihood and nature. Use this opportunity to demonstrate interconnectedness of livelihoods, health and nutrition to water availability, water and soil quality and natural resource management. Provide examples of how taking care of the watershed, eliminating open defecation, managing grazing land, forestry, and other natural resources will add to long term livelihood, health and nutrition of households and the community as a whole.
Community Governance: Conduct dialogue sessions with traditional leaders on their NRM mandate as stated in the Traditional Leaders Act, how best to structure NRM governance in the community (roles for RDC, Environment/NRM monitors, Village Heads), on NRM topics including sustainable forest management (integrating indigenous knowledge with modern practices, as appropriate), and strategies for enforcing NRM by-laws based on their experiences in the community. Identify ways to enforce by-laws working together with community leaders and NRM monitors, and emphasizing with community members the connection between livelihood and NRM to achieve balance in the ecosystem; message of community cohesion and unity. Include specific sessions about the importance of joint decision making and the role of women in NRM and bring in community examples where this is working well. Discuss opportunities to integrate youth in NRM activities, and co-develop plans with traditional leaders to implement one or two of these opportunities. Provide tools to support traditional leaders.
Community By-laws: Partner with RDC, EMA, and ELA to support traditional leaders to develop and enact localized NRM by-laws to include sustainable forest management and grazing land management and other topics as determined by community consultations. Discuss enforcement options and roles, decide how enforcement will work in the community; ensure by-laws and enforcement plans are clearly stated and disseminated in the community. 
Demand and Use
Advocacy: With traditional leader facilitation, support communities to showcase the community's progress on NRM practices during Fair Days and other community events. Encourage traditional leaders to coordinate with local government representatives and community groups through these events to promote unity of purpose and preservation of indigenous knowledge and practices. Allow leaders and community members to celebrate and voice appreciation for the progress made and share future plans. Recognize specific groups for their involvement, including youth, female youth, and Environment/NRM monitors. Use this opportunity to demonstrate interconnectedness of livelihoods, health and nutrition to water availability, water and soil quality and natural resource management. Provide examples of how taking care of the watershed, eliminating open defecation, managing grazing land, forestry, and other natural resources will add to long term livelihood, health and nutrition of households and the community as a whole.