Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...
Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...
Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...
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150 • Eva Wollenberg, Ramses Iwan, Godw<strong>in</strong> Limberg, Moira Moeliono, Steve Rhee and Made Sudana<br />
We found that small but <strong>in</strong>crementally significant achievements <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
occurred because <strong>of</strong> fortuitous circumstances, such as a chance meet<strong>in</strong>g<br />
with an <strong>in</strong>fluential person, a co<strong>in</strong>cidence <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>terests among key actors, an<br />
unexpected event provid<strong>in</strong>g an opportunity for <strong>in</strong>fluence. These co<strong>in</strong>cidences<br />
became as important to achiev<strong>in</strong>g our objectives as our purposeful activities.<br />
We learned to <strong>in</strong>crease the possibility for these opportunities by becom<strong>in</strong>g<br />
more aware <strong>of</strong> and monitor<strong>in</strong>g changes <strong>in</strong> the follow<strong>in</strong>g factors that were<br />
the key determ<strong>in</strong>ants <strong>of</strong> spontaneous cooperation <strong>in</strong> Mal<strong>in</strong>au:<br />
• the ‘gatekeepers’ (the people with authority, <strong>in</strong>fluence and control)<br />
and the ‘movers and shakers’ (those who could short-cut the<br />
bureaucracy and get th<strong>in</strong>gs done, such as the district leader, agency<br />
heads and village leaders);<br />
• the tim<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> rout<strong>in</strong>e and ad hoc gather<strong>in</strong>gs and events; and<br />
• the <strong>in</strong>terests that motivated different groups to participate <strong>in</strong><br />
different events.<br />
In addition, we learned to work with this spontaneous cooperation <strong>in</strong> three<br />
ways.<br />
Be<strong>in</strong>g physically present and <strong>in</strong>teractive. Just by be<strong>in</strong>g around we<br />
<strong>in</strong>creased the opportunities for (1) <strong>in</strong>formal meet<strong>in</strong>gs with gatekeepers,<br />
which tended to be more effective than structured formal meet<strong>in</strong>gs; (2)<br />
relationship build<strong>in</strong>g with a wide network <strong>of</strong> people, especially the support<br />
network <strong>of</strong> the gatekeepers (see below) to ga<strong>in</strong> knowledge <strong>in</strong>formally and<br />
build mutual trust; and (3) other people to come to us with <strong>in</strong>formation<br />
they thought we needed to know, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>vitations to events, news<br />
<strong>of</strong> sudden schedule changes, their understand<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> hidden motives or an<br />
alternative <strong>in</strong>terpretation <strong>of</strong> an issue.<br />
Work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>formally with the support network <strong>of</strong> the gatekeepers. The<br />
gatekeepers themselves were <strong>of</strong>ten too busy to <strong>in</strong>teract with us very much,<br />
but their support network—the people whom advised or <strong>in</strong>fluenced the<br />
gatekeepers—knew and organised schedules and had the latest <strong>in</strong>side<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation about decisions.<br />
Ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g hyperflexibility <strong>in</strong> our schedule and resources. We learned to be<br />
ready to reschedule our own events and reallocate staff at the last m<strong>in</strong>ute to<br />
attend events, as well as rout<strong>in</strong>ely adjust our strategy. An important way <strong>in</strong><br />
which ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed flexibility was to reduce our dependence on gatekeepers.<br />
Although this flexibility led to some significant ga<strong>in</strong>s, ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g it was<br />
the most difficult, costly and frustrat<strong>in</strong>g aspect <strong>of</strong> facilitation. It required