Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...
Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...
Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Chapter 4: Improv<strong>in</strong>g Forest Quality and Livelihoods <strong>in</strong> Indonesia • 121<br />
‘objectivist’ learn<strong>in</strong>g strategy, aimed at the transfer <strong>of</strong> knowledge developed<br />
elsewhere, and hence were not conducive to local learn<strong>in</strong>g (e.g., van der<br />
Veen 2000). Even promises <strong>of</strong> future material ga<strong>in</strong>s 11 did not encourage<br />
actors to learn new ways <strong>of</strong> valu<strong>in</strong>g and act<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
The core feature <strong>of</strong> an ACM <strong>in</strong>tervention is its deliberate learn<strong>in</strong>g. In<br />
our experience, the extent to which ACM was able to facilitate learn<strong>in</strong>g<br />
depended on two conditions:<br />
• local actors’ motivation to learn to cope with and adapt to social<br />
and natural dynamics; and<br />
• the degree <strong>of</strong> complexity <strong>of</strong> the phenomena that actors must learn<br />
about.<br />
Several aspects <strong>of</strong> ACM motivated learn<strong>in</strong>g among local stakeholders: the<br />
substance <strong>of</strong> the learn<strong>in</strong>g, the structure <strong>of</strong> learn<strong>in</strong>g, and the promotion <strong>of</strong> a<br />
particular mode <strong>of</strong> learn<strong>in</strong>g. S<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>in</strong> ACM the learn<strong>in</strong>g substance was the<br />
local needs identified by the stakeholders themselves, it encouraged learn<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and behavioural changes. Further, ACM motivated actors’ learn<strong>in</strong>g by the<br />
way the learn<strong>in</strong>g was structured, phased and iterated: complex phenomena<br />
were broken down <strong>in</strong>to simpler pieces, allow<strong>in</strong>g actors to work through<br />
the paradoxes and contradictory values while gradually giv<strong>in</strong>g mean<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to them. Lastly, actors were motivated to learn by the mode <strong>of</strong> learn<strong>in</strong>g:<br />
through communication. In complex and dynamic sett<strong>in</strong>gs, learn<strong>in</strong>g<br />
consists <strong>of</strong> communication amongst <strong>in</strong>dividuals with different perspectives<br />
who construct a collective understand<strong>in</strong>g about phenomena (van der Veen<br />
2000). In ACM, facilitated group processes were essential <strong>in</strong> stimulat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
communication for jo<strong>in</strong>t learn<strong>in</strong>g and construction <strong>of</strong> collective <strong>in</strong>sights.<br />
The relationship between complexity and learn<strong>in</strong>g, however, is not very<br />
clear (van der Veen 2000). Although some learn<strong>in</strong>g theorists suggest<br />
that learn<strong>in</strong>g can only happen if complex phenomena are reduced to<br />
simpler parts by structur<strong>in</strong>g the content <strong>of</strong> learn<strong>in</strong>g 12 , others believe<br />
that the more complex a situation, the better the chance that people<br />
can generate <strong>in</strong>sights 13 . It is therefore <strong>of</strong>ten suggested that facilitators <strong>of</strong><br />
learn<strong>in</strong>g should design learn<strong>in</strong>g such that the content is complex enough<br />
to create ‘rich pictures’ to learners. In our case, the <strong>in</strong>itial response <strong>of</strong><br />
stakeholders <strong>in</strong>dicated that they perceived their situation as too complex<br />
to beg<strong>in</strong> learn<strong>in</strong>g on their own. Apparently, the complex environment did<br />
not function as a learn<strong>in</strong>g trigger. Social and ecological dynamics were<br />
overwhelm<strong>in</strong>g, and people found it extremely difficult to f<strong>in</strong>d alternatives<br />
to current practices. Learned helplessness occurred because people were