Negotiated Learning: Collaborative Monitoring for Forest Resource Management

The first book to critically examine how monitoring can be an effective tool in participatory resource management, Negotiated Learning draws on the first-hand experiences of researchers and development professionals in eleven countries in Africa, Asia, and South America. Collective monitoring shifts the emphasis of development and conservation professionals from externally defined programs to a locally relevant process. It focuses on community participation in the selection of the indicators to be monitored as well as community participation in the learning and application of knowledge from the data that is collected. As with other aspects of collaborative management, collaborative monitoring emphasizes building local capacity so that communities can gradually assume full responsibility for the management of their resources. The cases in Negotiated Learning highlight best practices, but stress that collaborative monitoring is a relatively new area of theory and practice. The cases focus on four themes: the challenge of data-driven monitoring in forest systems that supply multiple products and serve diverse functions and stakeholders; the importance of building upon existing dialogue and learning systems; the need to better understand social and political differences among local users and other stakeholders; and the need to ensure the continuing adaptiveness of monitoring systems.

Table of Contents:
1. Strengthening Learning in Adaptive Collaborative Management: The Potential of Monitoring Part I: Critical Reflections on Using Criteria and Indicators 2. Community Level Work with C&I: Assessing Limits and Opportunities 3. Constructing Collaborative Monitoring with a Rubber Tappers Forestry Initiative in Acre, Brazil Part II: Building on Existing Monitoring Systems 4. Imposing Indicators or Co-Creating Meanings Through Joint Reflection? Lessons from Community Forestry in Nepal 5. Helping Village Level Stakeholders Monitor Forest Benefits 6. Forest User Initiatives towards Collaborative Monitoring: The Case of Broom Grass Part III: Dealing with Difference 7. Towards Collaborative Monitoring in Palawan: Challenges and Lessons Learnt 8. Monitoring as Leverage for Accessing Opportunities: A Story from Bamdibhir Community Forest User Group, Nepal 9. Issue-appropriate Collaborative Monitoring: Examples from Forest Management in Cameroon Part IV: Adaptiveness in Setting up Monitoring Processes 10. Improving Forest-Based Beekeeping through Monitoring In Chimaliro, Malawi 11. Initiating Collaborative Monitoring in Mafungautsi State Forest, Zimbabwe: Lessons and Experiences 12. Beyond Power Barriers: Collective Monitoring for Political Learning in Jambi, Indonesia 13. Expanding Views about Collaborative Monitoring

About the Author :
Irene Guijt is an independent researcher and facilitator, with a background in land and water use engineering, particularly in participatory processes related to planning. She specializes in learning processes and systems in rural development and natural resource management that focus on collective action.

Review :
'A welcome shift from monitoring as mere data collection that fixates on standard indicators! This in-depth yet accessible analysis will inspire many practitioners throughout the world.' Michel Pimbert, International Institute for Environment and Development 'An extremely insightful book for managers who struggle to design institutional monitoring systems that serve both learning and accountability. All too often ... the voices of users are lost in the bureaucratic shuffle of data and the interpretation of experts. Guijt skillfully illustrates how, under certain circumstances, monitoring can be an empowering process... A real contribution to organizations that strive to make science a truly collaborative effort.' Nancy MacPherson, IUCN - The World Conservation Union