One of the main objectives of COMPASS Targeted Result 1 is to help establish efficient and effective coordination of CBNRM activities in Malawi.  In order to accomplish this ambitious goal, COMPASS helped with the formation of a CBNRM Working Group that reports directly to the National Council on the Environment. 

In July and August 1999, COMPASS undertook to help review the current arrangements for coordination of CBNRM programs and activities in Malawi and outline options for improving the institutional arrangements.  The preliminary recommendations were circulated to key partners and the Environmental Affairs Department (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs) expressed the strong desire and intent to promote broader discussion of the subject.  The Director proposed organizing a participatory forum at which all interested parties would have an opportunity to voice their views. COMPASS supported EAD by helping organize a meeting in Blantyre in November 1999 at which participants recommend the creation of a coordinating body.  In December, the National Council on the Environment endorsed the concept and recommended some changes to the recommended structures and reporting arrangements.

Following its creation in March 2000, the Working Group met three times during 2000 and endorsed the commissioning of a strategic planning study that will help shape the way CBNRM is supported and implemented in the country.  COMPASS was nominated and approved as a Technical Advisor to the Working Group at its June meeting.  The members of the Group requested that COMPASS support the strategic planning initiative through engaging a consultant who will prepare background materials and identify options that can be discussed at a broad forum of interested parties later this year.

The CBNRM Working Group comprises the following members:

• Department of Forestry

• Department of National Parks and Wildlife

• Department of Fisheries

• Department of Land Resources and Conservation

• Ministry of Water Development

• Department of Energy

• Ministry of Education

• Ministry of Local Government

• Ministry of Community Services

• One Traditional Leader

• CURE

• Centre for Social Research

• Malawi Environmental Endowment Trust

• Department of Environmental Affairs (as Secretariat)

The mandate of the Working Group is to focus on the coordination of the implementation and of policy issues relating to CBNRM activities in the country as stipulated in the terms of reference.

The following are the proposed Terms of Reference:

1 - The Working Group shall coordinate the formulation and implementation of policies and programs/projects relating to CBNRM in the country.

2 - It shall commission investigations and studies into the social and economic aspects of CBNRM as may be required by the Council.

3 - Specifically, the Working Group shall coordinate CBNRM activities by undertaking the following:

a - commission the development of a strategic plan for implementing CBNRM in Malawi;

b - develop tools and mechanisms to ensure that CBNRM guidelines are adhered to by all stakeholders including:

i  - ensuring that options for sustainable financing of CBNRM are fully explored; and

ii - providing guidance on public awareness campaigns for CBNRM

c - give guidance on the development and review of sectoral policies that impinge upon CBNRM activities in the country;

d - ensure the formulation of procedures for improved coordination of CBNRM activities in the country and ensure their implementation;

e - commission the development of a monitoring system for the CBNRM process in the country;

f - ensure the development of elaborate procedures for ensuring representation of local communities in the CBNRM process;

g - facilitate the development of guidelines to ensure that the costs and benefits of sustainable management of natural resources are distributed equitably; and

h - facilitate the annual assessment of CBNRM activities in Malawi.

The COMPASS team will be capable of serving as an interim CBNRM Secretariat to any coordinating unit until such time as other appropriate arrangements can be made.  The permanent Secretariat must have the capacity to fulfill its responsibilities and should strive to become an institution that can be sustained without the financial and technical support of donors.  The coordinating body and Secretariat must design and implement a national Monitoring and Evaluation System for CBNRM.  COMPASS will support these efforts by providing logistical support and technical assistance, as needed.

The COMPASS Team has initiated the process of creating a loose association of partners that will comprise promoters and practitioners of CBNRM in Malawi who seek opportunities to share information on best practices and otherwise collaborate on natural resource management initiatives that are community focused. Whereas the coordinating body will serve an important leadership function, members of the Partners Association are the implementers of the CBNRM Strategic Plan and policies.

The Association will include an unlimited number of the following stakeholders:

• Staff of the Department of Environmental Affairs (EAD), particularly the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, Education and Outreach Unit, and Policy and Planning Unit; Departments of Forestry, Fisheries (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs), Department of National Parks and Wildlife (Ministry of Tourism, National Parks and Wildlife) and the Department of Land Resources and Conservation (Ministry of Agriculture & Irrigation); and other Government line agencies;

• District and Local Government staff especially Environmental Districts Officers;

• Community-based organizations and professional associations;

•  Staff of community development and environmental NGOs (CURE  and Wildlife Society of Malawi among others);

• Staff of projects that support, or have the potential to support, community-based initiatives;

• Staff of donor agencies;

• Members of private sector corporations and associations (tourism groups, Tobacco Association of Malawi, Chamber of Commerce,);

• Staff of educational and research institutions (Chancellor and Bunda Colleges, Forestry Research Institute of Malawi, Agricultural Research Extension Trust, ICRAF); and

• Members of the media.

Currently, the COMPASS Directory of organizations involved in CBNRM comprises nearly 120 institutions and well over 250 individual contact people in Malawi and the region.

The Strategic Planning Process has brought together key stakeholders and achieved a consensus on a framework for integrating CBNRM considerations into Malawi’s environmental management and rural development strategies. Building on work completed under the NEAP and through subsequent initiatives, it has identified the main opportunities and constraints to CBNRM, provided a plan of action for removing systemic constraints, and helped establish ways to coordinate proposed CBNRM initiatives. As a one-stop source for current information on critical gaps in the CBNRM framework, we hope and expect that donors, NGOs, and Government agencies will use the Strategic Plan to identify critical investments in CBNRM.

We anticipate completion of the Strategic Plan for CBNRM in the first quarter to 2001 and hope that the Plan will be endorsed by the NCE by mid-2001.  A document outlining a framework for strategic planning appears in the list of COMPASS publications.