1. Potential for Stakeholder Collaboration: An Evaluation of Community-based Conservancies in Maasai Group Ranches, Kenya Lily Maynard October 7, 2014

2. Supporting Community-based Conservation (CBC) Projects Over 150 CBC programs in Kenya 70% of wildlife in Kenya is found outside of national parks Conserving culture, resources, and diverse wildlife concurrently Need for Assessment: – Stakeholder perspectives and involvement – Examine projects over time – Identify problems to be addressed – Promote accountability – Prevent inefficiencies

3. Research Questions How do stakeholder perceptions differ between mature and newly created conservancies? How do stakeholder groups directly and indirectly involved in Kenyan CBC programs differ in their perceptions of the conservancy projects?

4. Opportunity to provide information back to the projects Support the implementation of management interventions and to improve the projects Project Purpose

5. Six Maasai Group Ranches

6. Framework for Comparisons: Group Maturity ( Pretty and Ward 2001 ) 3 mature communities 3 new communities SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

7. Opportunities Threats Strengths Weaknesses PresentFuture

8. Direct Stakeholders 1.Conservancy Committee 2.Game Scouts Indirect Stakeholders 1.Government Chiefs 2.Traditional Chiefs 3.Head Teacher 4.Church Pastor 5.Women’s Group Leader Methods: Focus Groups Key Informant Interviews  

9. Focus Groups Committees and Game Scouts Mixed methods: Nominal Group Process (NGP) to collect the SWOT data Facilitated for illiterate participants Culturally-appropriate Open-ended discussion 5-8 participants per focus group - total 55

10. Key Informant Interviews Semi-structured interviews Opinion leaders Same NGP / SWOT questions

11. Results: Focus Group results SWOT analysis Comparisons 1.Committees vs. Scouts 2.Mature vs. New Conservancies

12. Strengths Total: 97 strengths discussed

13. Weaknesses Total: 84 weaknesses discussed

14. Opportunities Total: 94 opportunities discussed

15. Threats Total: 88 threats discussed

16. Results: Focus Group results SWOT analysis Comparisons 1.Committees vs. Scouts 2.Mature vs. New Conservancies

17. Strengths

18. Weaknesses

19. Opportunities

20. Threats

21. Discussion Committees and Game Scouts differ in their SWOT assessment for the CBC programs. – Committee – more discussion of economic issues – Scouts – more discussion of political and social barriers Mature and New CBC programs differ on the most important issues to their SWOT Analysis. – Mature – more political topics – New – more economic topics – Both – perceived environmental threats

22. Next Steps Indirect stakeholder interviews comparisons Group Maturity Instrument across all stakeholders Potential for Collaboration Index

23. Take-away messages Successful mixed methods combining NGP with focus groups for assessing CBC – Culturally-appropriate – Illiterate participants People with different roles in the CBC projects differ in their perspectives of its successes and shortcomings. Projects on different time scales of development differ in their achievements and problems.

24. Thank you!