Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...

116 • Trikurnianti Kusumanto
Emerging Processes of Change
Throughout the ACM intervention, facilitated interaction among
stakeholders became a source of learning that in turn fostered processes
of change. The processes we observed were predominantly social in nature
and were precisely those that Buck et al. (2001) refer to as the dimensions of
social learning: collective construction of knowledge within a given group,
sharing of knowledge and information among different actors, building of
communication and relationship between stakeholders and learning related
to political processes.
Although all four social processes emerged in the three ACM stages—
diagnosis, planning, and implementation—certain processes were more
evident in some phases. Apparently, varying conditions shaped by the
different intervention stages led to differing learning and consequent
behaviours.
During problem diagnosis, the dominant processes were the building of
knowledge within groups and the sharing of information and knowledge
amongst stakeholders. Communication in this phase helped create a basis
for building trust and a sense of interdependence amongst the actors.
In the planning phase, which gave the actors some hope for a better or
desired future, the obvious processes were enhanced relationships and
communication between different stakeholders. Planning was also seen
by the actors as a vehicle to influence future directions. Political learning
came to the fore, and processes emerged that revolved around the building
of strategic capacity of individual stakeholders. Learning related to power
processes was prevalent during this planning phase.
The iterative implementation phase saw the building of communication
and relationship amongst actors, in particular as result of the joint
investigations. This process evolved as actors learned to more systematically
and consciously build relationships with others. Political learning also
unfolded as stakeholders learned to manage their interactions. Whereas
in the diagnostic and planning phases there was some agreement on
common values, during implementation these values were sustained and
monitored; effective communication and good relationships were critical.
Another important process observed in the implementation stage was the
building of knowledge of individual actors, generated in particular during