MOZAMBIQUE DEDICATED GRANT MECHANISM FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES Community Participation and Decision-Making in Natural Resource Management POLICY BRIEF December, 2017 Andre Aquino, Arnela Mausse, Robert Mwehe and Celine Lim • Despite a favorable legal environment for the implementation of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in Mozambique, inadequacies at various levels impact its full actualization. • MozDGM aims to increase the involvement of communities in decision-making and strengthen institutional capacity in natural resource management at different levels (national, provincial, local). • Community participation in decision-making at different levels can strengthen the performance of CBNRM and its contribution to rural development. Community Participation and Decision-Making in Natural Resource Management community are identified and registered. This process involves the participatory preparation of local land use plans and Community Development Action Plans (CDAP)3 as well as measures to strengthen local community capacity. To promote rural development through management of natural resources, the Community Participation in Natural Resource CDAPs guide investments within delimited community Management Decision-Making: Key institutions, land without constraining future community land policies and challenges uses. ‘Community consultations’ are mandatory when investors want land, as investors are required to Mozambique has progressive legislation for negotiate with local people and share the profits and participatory planning and management of land, benefits resulting from this investment4. Community forests and wildlife. The 1997 Policy and Strategy for land delimitation therefore aims to ensure the the Development of Forests and Wildlife stipulates devolution of land and natural resources management the devolution of resources to local communities functions to local communities, and foster sustainable on the assumption that clarity about the rights over use of natural resources. Even though the forest, the use of natural resources would stimulate their wildlife and land laws create channels through which sustainable management and create opportunities local communities can participate in natural resources for income generation. The 1999 Law on Forests and management (NRM), governance arrangements to Wildlife, and reinforced by the 2014 Conservation promote CBNRM are deficient. Law, consolidates the principle that the State should share revenues derived from the use of resources At the national level, devolution of authority over in community or adjacent areas through taxes and management of natural resources to communities has fees with the respective communities. The process not been fully implemented. Though strengthening for channeling these resources was established communities’ rights to land and natural resources is three years later, mandating local communities be a key element to promoting rural development and represented by a “management committee”, known sustainable use of natural resources, only 11% of as the Natural Resources Management Committee the country’s land has been delimited and certified (Comité de Gestão de Recursos Naturais – CGRN). to communities5 ; there is no strategy that identifies The CGRNs have progressively taken on more and aligns delimitation exercises with opportunities expanded mandates related to the management of for income-generating activities, including through land and natural resources at the community level. partnerships with potential investors; there is also a lack of clarity as to the legal nature of a transfer of Mozambique’s land law also holds several features a portion of community land to an investor and lack that provide the basic framework for a participatory of information regarding investment opportunities in and inclusive model of rural development1. It builds delimited communities for potential investors6. Further, on the concept of a “Local Community”2 and the State institutions often adjudicate user rights to certain formal recognition of land rights acquired through natural resources (such as forests and mining) to third customary land management systems and through parties without proper consent of local communities. continual residence (good faith occupation) of ten 3  Also known as Agenda Comunitárias, these action plans express the years or more. By law, community land delimitation dreams and aspirations of communities (including different social groups) is a process whereby the boundaries of a local about the development they would like to achieve in a predefined period of time and prioritizes the various possible initiatives the community believes are possible within their delimited area. It is on this basis that a community 1  Decree no. 12 sets aside 20 percent to the extent of which the State negotiates its interests or intentions/plans with the different actors, e.g. revenues from fees related to the access and use forest and wildlife NGOs and investors resources, as well as to the undertaking of contemplative tourism in parks 4  The principle of partnerships between local communities and the and national reserves, should be reverted in favour of communities. private sector is part of the guiding principles in the 2014 Conservation 2  By law [Article 1(1) of the Mozambican Land Law], a local community Policy. is defined as: “A grouping of families and individuals, living in a 5  World Bank, Community Land Rights, Delimitation and circumscribed territorial area at the level of a locality or below, which Community-Based Natural Resources Management in Mozambique: has as its objective the safeguarding of common interests through the Recommendations for an Integrated Agenda, (2017) protection of areas of habitation, agricultural areas, whether cultivated or in fallow, forests, sites of socio-cultural importance, grazing lands, water 6  World Bank, Community Based Natural Resource Management: sources and areas for expansion”. Strengthening current approaches in Mozambique, (2016) 2 of 5 Community Participation and Decision-Making in Natural Resource Management As such, there is disparity between legislation, At the district level, community participation in NRM rhetoric and practice7. decision-making should be through the District Secondly, at the national level, the State has been Consultative Councils (DCCs) 10. Yet, community focusing on distribution of the “twenty percent participation in DCCs remains limited due to lack of (20%)”8 share from natural resource revenues technical knowledge and skills of local community to communities rather than a larger approach to members, lack of incentives for members travelling CBNRM. The distribution of the 20% share is based from afar11, limited integration of community-based solely on a community’s presence within or around organizations (CBOs), political posturing and elite natural resource exploitation areas (such as forest capture12. This restricts potential integration of concessions and protected areas), rather than on CBNRM in district-level development strategies and in their performance in managing natural resources9. establishing monitoring and technical support systems Although the original idea of 20% revenue distribution to ensure sustainability of initiatives and alignment was to incentivise community participation in natural with district development priorities. Coordination resource management, it functions more as a among key district government departments is also compensation for potential community loss from lacking, resulting in fragmented interventions and high logging. This has resulted in the lack of community transactional costs for rural initiatives. accountability over use and management of natural At the community level, multiple factors limit the resources, such as forests and wildlife. The lack potential role of CBNRM in rural development as of relation between the distribution of the 20% envisioned in the various legal frameworks on land, and community performance in natural resource forests and wildlife. Community Consultative Councils management does not stimulate community members (CCCs)13, forums in which local community leaders to get organized and work collectively for the deliberate on local developmental priorities and guide protection of natural resources within their areas. district level planning, are limited in their identification This results in deficient community engagement in of prioritized local needs. This is mainly due to the sustainable natural resource management. lack of sectoral representation from interest groups Finally, despite legislations that offer a basic like the youth and NRM CBOs, including CGRNs. framework for participatory and inclusive rural Other limitations include: lack of cohesion among development, communities lack representation in CCC members and their inability to perform their decision-making at the national level, particularly functions due to limited capacities (weaknesses in in influencing policy changes required to fulfil the human and social capital and, financial literacy14). envisioned role of communities in NRM. The lack CCCs have limited interactions with community of national representation means that local-level members as the latter are unaware of the roles and NRM decisions are mostly not considered in national functions of the CCCs in rural development15. Further, decision-making, undermining local NRM decision- the CDAPs, intended to reflect actual community making and CBNRM implementation. 10  Law No. 08/2003 on State and Local Organs introduced Local Councils at the District, Administrative Posts, Locality and Community 7  “Non-Lending Technical Assistance on Land and Community-Based levels as citizen consultation bodies for local administration authorities in Natural Resources Management” delivered to the WB in 2016. Other district planning and development processes contributors included Christopher Tanner, CTConsulting Ltd., Wales, UK, with contributions from Simon Norfolk, Isilda Nhamtumbo, Aanabela 11  Dias et. al., Avaliação da adequação e implementação do Guião Fernandez and Raúl Varela. sobre a organização e o funcionamento dos Conselhos Locais: Casos dos Distritos de Namaacha e Marracuene, 2012. 8  Relates to the transfer of 20% of the value of fees related to the access and use forest and wildlife resources, as well as to the undertaking 12  Weimer, B., (2012a), “Decentralization in Mozambique: Trajectory, of contemplative tourism in parks and national reserves in favour of Outcomes, Challenges”. communities. In spite of its importance, this transfer has come to be 13  CCCs are the lowest level of governance within the framing of wrongfully equated by many, including in the Government, to CBRNM. Law No. 08/2003 on State and Local Organs. They are composed of a While mechanisms for the more effective implementation of the Diploma State appointed community leader and other representatives of various should be developed, CBNRM and the devolution of rights over the economic, social and cultural interest groups, as well as civil society management of natural resources to communities in Mozambique offer represented in the community. Their membership should include 30% possibilities that go well beyond this particular income transfer. women. 9  “Non-Lending Technical Assistance on Land and Community-Based 14  World Bank, Estudo Comparativo das Iniciativas de Maneio Natural Resources Management” delivered to the WB in 2016. Other Comunitário dos Recursos Naturais: O caso da Concessão de Muzo no contributors included Christopher Tanner, CTConsulting Ltd., Wales, Distrito de Mocubela – Província da Zambézia, (2016) UK, with contributions from Simon Norfolk, Isilda Nhamtumbo, Aanabela Fernandez and Raúl Varela. 15  JustaPaz 2012, Conselhos Consultivos 3 of 5 Community Participation and Decision-Making in Natural Resource Management development priorities, are rarely integrated into Management Project [Sustenta], and the Mozambique district planning agendas. Forest Investment Project [MozFIP]). These projects Community rights over natural resources are often are being implemented in an integrated manner, on conveyed without sustained efforts to strengthen a national scale and within two priority geographical local communities’ capacity to sustainably use these landscapes (Zambezia and Cabo Delgado). resources as rural development avenues. Local The projects in the portfolio share many synergies resource management institutions, such as the and complement MozDGM activities. In particular, CGRNs, have low capacity and often suffer from poor MozDGM builds on lessons and experiences from governance – elite capture, rent seeking behaviour small-scale community conservation projects in and lack of transparency in decision-making, MozBio, complements land tenure activities, and particularly on the use and management of financial landscape interventions such as agroforestry resources16. The implementation of CBNRM activities systems, sustainable charcoal production and is limited by lack of partnerships with the private woodlots establishment under MozFIP and Sustenta. sector, which could inject the needed capital and The main objective of MozDGM is to strengthen the technical assistance to enhance the potential impact capacity of communities and CBOs to participate in of CBNRM on improving rural livelihoods. integrated landscape management. This includes The disconnect between communities’ expected role increasing their ability to influence decisions on NRM in natural resource management and the intended that affect them, as well as the capacity to effectively spirit of the forest, wildlife and land laws limits the and sustainably conserve their natural resources. potential economic benefits that would incentivize To achieve this, the governance structure of MozDGM continued community engagement in sustainable empowers local communities and CBOs to make NRM. Tackling this challenge at various levels could and influence decisions on project design and help increase local communities’ influence on the implementation. A National Steering Committee (NSC) policies that govern CBNRM. was instrumental in project design, and will oversee MozDGM implementation. The NSC is composed of local community representatives and CBOs from the target landscapes of Zambézia and Cabo Delgado The Mozambique Dedicated Grant Mechanism for (where the project will be implemented) with academia Local Communities and Government officials as observers. The NSC To address some of the aforementioned constraints, provides an avenue for the continued engagement of NRM stakeholders in Mozambique - civil society community representatives in national and provincial/ members and the government, with technical landscape-level decision-making and policy setting. and financial support from the World Bank - have In addition to overseeing project implementation over designed the Mozambique Dedicated Grant a five-year period (2018-2022), the NSC will make Mechanism for Local Communities (MozDGM)17. funding decisions on MozDGM subprojects and MozDGM is part of the Bank’s “Integrated Forests and seek feedback from local communities on MozDGM Landscape Management Portfolio”, which promotes implementation. rural development and sustainable management of Another main task of the NSC was the competitive natural resources, in line with Mozambique’s National selection of the National Executing Agency (NEA) Sustainable Development Program. The portfolio is to implement MozDGM. In August 2017, WWF made up of several projects (Conservation Areas Mozambique was selected as the NEA after an for Biodiversity and Development Project [MozBio], evaluation process led by an NSC sub-committee. the Agriculture and Natural Resources Landscape The NEA is responsible for execution of the MozDGM project and the NSC will oversee their activities. 16  World Bank, Community Land Rights Delimitation and Community-Based Natural Resources Management in Mozambique: Recommendations for an Integrated Agenda, (2017). 17  DGM is a special global initiative under the Forest Investment Program (FIP) set up to provide grants that enhance the capacity and support specific initiatives of local communities in FIP pilot countries. 4 of 5 Community Participation and Decision-Making in Natural Resource Management Influencing decision-making structures at the district and local levels. These activities aim to increase the inclusion of other stakeholders in these MozDGM expects to increase community participation Councils and thus provide more diverse inputs that in decision-making structures, by strengthening local influence district level planning, and in particular, the communities’ ability to participate in these structures. integration of CDAPs into district planning agendas. At the national level, the NSC is expected to influence national policy decision-making by giving voice To enhance the sustainability of local community to local communities’ interests and needs in key decision-making, the Project will target local national policy platforms, such as the National Land community representatives as well as youth, women Consultative Forum and the National Forest Forum. and local schools. The channels for training include In order to strengthen the NSC’s capacity to influence environmental clubs, short- and medium-term decision-making at these forums, NSC members scholarships for selected participants20, model schools will undergo training on advocacy, communication for training and dissemination, and teacher training and technical areas on integrated landscape on integrated landscape management. Trainings on management and on Mozambique’s legal framework communication, leadership and negotiation will aim to governing NRM. NSC members will also participate build diverse local agency in rural development. in international and national knowledge exchange These activities at the national, landscape, district experiences. and local levels will strengthen existing channels of At the landscape/provincial level, MozDGM aims influence in NRM. With enhanced local community to strengthen local communities’ participation in participation, the flow of information, knowledge and existing decision-making avenues. In the target actions to improve community NRM is expected to landscapes of Zambézia and Cabo Delgado, Multi- increase, leading to more productive and effective Stakeholder Landscape Forums (MSLFs)18 currently CBNRM governance. have low community representation (34% and 27% respectively). MozDGM aims to not only increase the number of community representatives within On-the-ground activities: Learning by doing the MSLFs, but also the quality19 of participation. Community representatives at the landscape level will MozDGM will finance selected subprojects within therefore undergo similar technical and skills training, the target landscapes. The selected subprojects and join in national knowledge and experience are intended to lead to on-the-ground capacity sharing activities. MozDGM will also facilitate building of local communities and CBOs through the community participation in other forums such as the implementation of these subprojects. Additionally, Development Observatory, Economic and Social lessons from CBNRM implementation will be drawn Forums and Government public consultations. By out and inform CBNRM strategies best suited to the increasing the number and quality of local community Mozambican context. representation at the MSLFs and other provincial level platforms, it is expected that local communities MozDGM will finance 8-10 subprojects. The selected will be better positioned to influence landscape-level subprojects will be demand-driven and tailored to the decision-making and participate in the coordination of local context. The NEA, based on a selection criterion activities among the various stakeholders within the set by the NSC, will shortlist potential applicants respective landscapes. seeking subproject financing related to agriculture, forest-related value chains and restoration, nature- At the district and local levels, MozDGM will aim based tourism and fisheries-related value chains. to increase the influence of local communities in Selected applicants will receive not only the financing DCCs and CCCs. Similar activities and trainings needed to fully implement their desired subprojects, conducted at the provincial levels will be undertaken but also technical assistance to strengthen their 18  Forums that bring together stakeholders to discuss relevant issues managerial, financial and business development skills in the landscape, promote better coordination of projects and other for successful implementation of the subproject. The initiatives, and strengthen community participation in decision-making over natural resource management NEA will facilitate community-private partnerships 19  Considerate judgement, inclusivity and open and respectful debate. 20  The NSC will deliberate on the selection process 5 of 5 Community Participation and Decision-Making in Natural Resource Management in four of the subprojects. These complementary that can lead to effective CBNRM implementation. capacity building activities are intended to ensure This policy proposal will feed into national policies and that communities are fully supported in carrying their strategies linked to rural development, and will offer projects to fruition. practical solutions, options and strategies. The NSC, MozDGM subprojects will apply a “learning-by-doing” together with potential partnerships and coalitions with methodology. It is expected that communities will civil society, will present this policy proposal to the gain experience in CBNRM by going through the relevant ministry (MITADER)21. process of designing and implementing their own initiatives, supported by technical assistance along the way as needed. This approach values the use Conclusion of local knowledge and experience of beneficiaries in the search for effective, replicable and easily MozDGM is expected to give voice to local adopted models and technologies. Communities communities through cascading activities that are encouraged to make decisions based on their originate at the local and move up to the national experiences, contrary to what happens in the top- levels: an empowered local base able to implement down models. Therefore, this is a very important and deliberate on prevailing and emerging issues methodology for learning, consolidation of knowledge related to NRM and a national constituency able to and for scaling up the implementation of built influence CBNRM and NRM policies. technology and innovation, through adoption among community members. Table 1 outlines the key challenges in community NRM and governance and the measures MozDGM The Project acknowledges the varied realities local will take to address the challenge. communities confront, the challenges faced in participation in decision-making, and that there is no Though MozDGM cannot address all of the single blueprint for CBNRM implementation within the challenges highlighted, the Project aims to lead to an context of rural development. As such, the Project will empowered constituency that increases the diversity draw lessons from other portfolio projects, CBNRM of voices addressing NRM and CBNRM issues. experiences in the country more broadly, and from the Local agency will be important in creating a critical subprojects themselves to inform and refine viable mass that influences decision-making at the various CBNRM models. levels, leading to further local community engagement in NRM, as envisioned by the Land, Forest and Wildlife legislations. Quality participation will enable local communities to weigh the trade-offs associated MozDGM’s contribution to the broader rural with their decisions and have open and frank debates development agenda on issues affecting rural livelihoods within inclusive and diverse decision-making structures. This An important long-term objective of MozDGM is to participation will be crucial to influencing the trajectory create and sustain local community influence over of rural development in Mozambique. broader rural development priorities within the target landscapes and in Mozambique. It is expected this engagement will be through the NSC’s active participation in national-level forums. The NSC’s visibility at this level will also offer more opportunities to build partnerships and coalitions between civil society and the NSC to champion community interests and help strengthen the NSC’s capacity to advocate and influence policy. An outcome from MozDGM will be a CBNRM policy proposal that indicates the type of capacity building, financial investments and technical assistance models 21  Ministerio da Terra, Ambiente e Desenvolvimento Rural – Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development. 6 of 5 Community Participation and Decision-Making in Natural Resource Management Table 1: How MozDGM addresses challenges in community NRM governance Challenges in Community NRM and Governance How MozDGM Addresses the Challenge Disparity in policy and implementation (various Land, • Empowering a national constituency (the NSC) Forest and Wildlife legislations) to influence policy changes that address key challenges in the implementation of the NRM frameworks. Activities: Trainings on advocacy, communication and technical areas on integrated landscape management and on Mozambique’s legal framework governing NRM; international and national knowledge exchange and learning experiences Lack of local community representation and • Increasing the quality and quantity of local participation within NRM decision-making structures community representation and their participation at the national, landscape, district and local levels in NRM decision-making structures. • Improving the diversity of participants within NRM decision-making structures at various levels. Activities: Trainings across a broad range of skills; national knowledge exchange and learning experiences Lack of capacity to implement CBNRM initiatives • Financing 8-10 CBNRM sub-projects, including technical assistance and capacity building in the skills needed for successful implementation of the CBNRM initiatives. • Facilitating community-private partnerships to enhance sustainability of subprojects beyond MozDGM project cycle. 7 of 5