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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Chapter 5: Muddl<strong>in</strong>g Towards Cooperation <strong>in</strong> Mal<strong>in</strong>au • 157<br />
village conditions with PMD <strong>of</strong>ficials without battl<strong>in</strong>g the resistance <strong>of</strong><br />
particular government <strong>of</strong>ficials. Officials are less likely to coopt the agenda.<br />
Social relationships are more embedded and facilitators can deal with each<br />
group more flexibly, strategically and <strong>in</strong>dependently. Incremental ga<strong>in</strong>s can<br />
be made.<br />
The weakness <strong>of</strong> this approach is that it entails risks and <strong>in</strong>efficiencies.<br />
The frustrations and constant reallocation <strong>of</strong> resources associated with<br />
hyperflexibility can impose severe costs. The approach requires a facilitation<br />
team that can be tolerant <strong>of</strong> such demands and have the forbearance to<br />
susta<strong>in</strong> their own motivation despite severe challenges. The team also<br />
requires capacities that are not readily available or tra<strong>in</strong>able. It is easier<br />
to tra<strong>in</strong> a team <strong>in</strong> structured methods like participatory mapp<strong>in</strong>g than to<br />
teach them how to be adaptable. When work<strong>in</strong>g more <strong>in</strong>formally, it can<br />
be hard to have the same level <strong>of</strong> transparency and credibility acquired<br />
through more formal cooperation. Special efforts need to be made to<br />
get the endorsements <strong>of</strong> gatekeepers and share <strong>in</strong>formation. From a<br />
research perspective, it is more difficult to collect <strong>in</strong>formation consistently<br />
enough to make mean<strong>in</strong>gful comparisons. The effort requires a long-term<br />
<strong>in</strong>vestment.<br />
Despite those weaknesses however, the muddl<strong>in</strong>g approach may be the<br />
facilitator’s best option for deal<strong>in</strong>g with the chaos and <strong>in</strong>justice <strong>of</strong> local<br />
circumstances. The facilitator needs to judge whether enough <strong>in</strong>cremental<br />
ga<strong>in</strong>s are be<strong>in</strong>g made <strong>in</strong> a given time period to warrant the effort, especially<br />
compared with potential ga<strong>in</strong>s to be elsewhere.<br />
Although we were required to work with spontaneous cooperation because<br />
<strong>of</strong> the conditions <strong>in</strong> Mal<strong>in</strong>au, we suggest that the concept <strong>of</strong> spontaneous<br />
cooperation and many <strong>of</strong> the methods outl<strong>in</strong>ed above may have relevance<br />
even <strong>in</strong> contexts with more stable governance conditions. These concepts<br />
and methods should, for example, be helpful <strong>in</strong> identify<strong>in</strong>g exist<strong>in</strong>g forces<br />
for cooperation and work<strong>in</strong>g more sensitively with them. They should also<br />
help <strong>in</strong>tegrate facilitation with exist<strong>in</strong>g processes for change and policy<br />
mak<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
The selection <strong>of</strong> facilitation strategies and methods <strong>in</strong> any site is itself<br />
an iterative and adaptive muddl<strong>in</strong>g process. We do not suggest that the<br />
approach we took <strong>in</strong> Mal<strong>in</strong>au is necessarily the best to take elsewhere.<br />
These decisions are highly dependent on the resources available to the<br />
facilitators, their own capacities and the environment <strong>in</strong> which they