Browsing by Author "Medard, Twinamatsiko"

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Can Governance in Revenue Sharing Be a Pathway for a Win-win Situation between People’s Livelihood Improvement and Conservation?
(Peer Review Research Publishing System, 2015-05) Medard, Twinamatsiko; Grace, Kagoro Rugunda,; Benon, Basheka; Tom, De Herdt
This paper establishes the importance of good governance in improving local livelihoods and support for conservation. The study uses empirical realities from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, an afromontane Gorilla sanctuary that was recognized by UNESCO in 2005 as a world heritage due to its rich biodiversity. Governance is an important procedural dimension of equity that entails decision making processes and how local people are involved in matters that most affect them. The paper uses a Policy Arrangements Approach to illustrate the procedural dimension of the Justice and Equity Framework. A mixed method approach was used to generate results in this paper. Household surveys, key informant interviews and Focus Group Discussions were employed for data collection. Linear and Multinomial Logistic Regressions were used to determine the level of significance and relationships that exist between governance, people’s livelihoods and conservation support. Polychoric Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to generate indices of livelihood improvement and conservation support. Results revealed that meaningful involvement, leadership composition on committees, local capacity, information flow and awareness and accountability significantly influence people’s livelihoods and conservation of Bwindi. Local people are not only concerned about distributive equity in benefit sharing but also the procedural dimension. This entails being part of revenue sharing projects from the design phase to the evaluation phase. The study recommends the use of equity framework in revenue sharing in order to increase greater involvement of local people in decision making processes.
Can Recognition and Respect of Forest Resource Rights save Echuya Central Forest Reserve? A Precursor for Appropriate Collaborative Forest Management
(Journal of Biodiversity Management & Forestry, 2022-07) Stephen, G Bugabo; Robert, Bitariho; Medard, Twinamatsiko
Recognition and respect for tenure and forest resource rights has for long been considered essential for policy makers to promote forest conservation. Several initiatives have indeed been undertaken to promote recognition and respect for such rights. One such initiative was the introduction of Collaborative Forest Management (CFM) in Echuya Central Forest Reserve (ECFR) in Southwestern Uganda in 2007. The objective of this paper is to assess the role of recognition and respect for tenure rights in CFM for conservation of Echuya. This study used cross sectional and explanatory designs. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select respondents from local community members, District and local council leaders, National forestry authority officials and conservation organisations. These provided data which was collected using household surveys, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Results showed that recognition and respect for tenure and forest resource rights significantly influence forest conservation (P-value ≤ 0.05). However, poverty compels local community members to violate CFM agreements and forest policy restrictions and stealthy harvest forest resources to meet their household demands. It is therefore concluded that livelihood support among forest adjacent communities is critical in fostering recognition and respect for forest and tenure rights for conservation of Echuya. At the same time, it is essential to enforce stringent punitive measures on community members and government officials who degrade the forest reserve.
Lessons learnt from 20 years of revenue sharing at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda
(International Institute for Environment and Development, 2017-11) Medard, Twinamatsiko
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is one of the prime protected areas in Uganda, famous for its mountain gorilla families that have been habituated to allow gorillatracking safaris. A revenue sharing (RS) scheme was established in 1995 through which 20 per cent of the park’s revenue was shared with park-adjacent communities. The objective of revenue sharing is to provide local communities with an incentive to support conservation, particularly when they might be adversely impacted for example through having their crops raided by wild animals. Revenue tends to be distributed as grants for projects. Uganda Wildlife Authority has national revenue-sharing guidelines applicable to all its parks and, building on these guidelines, is currently developing a formal revenuesharing regulation. During 2016 a learning evaluation based on 20 years of revenue sharing was carried out among communities surrounding Bwindi, with a view to strengthening the implementation of the revenue sharing and enabling it to become more effective and more equitable. The findings would also help inform the ongoing process of developing a national revenuesharing regulation. In addition, it was intended for the research to have global value, influencing conservation-related revenue-sharing policy and practice at other sites of great ape conservation within Africa and beyond. Although protected areas across the world are now far more likely to consider social and economic conditions in their surrounding communities alongside their biodiversity targets, many issues of equity and effectiveness in revenue sharing are still a long way from being resolved. As this study illustrates, there may be a number of different pathways through which a revenue-sharing scheme might deliver national/global conservation impact and local social impacts, but none of these can be taken for granted. An equity framework based on the three dimensions of recognition, procedure and distribution provides an opportunity for identifying improvements in revenue-sharing policy and practice. To explore revenue-sharing lessons in detail, the Bwindi study established nine learning questions that covered: funding flows; beneficiary targeting/boundary issues; monitoring and reporting; governance structures; project type; project selection processes; understanding of equity; the trade-offs between equity and effectiveness; and the pathways to conservation impact. The research used quantitative and qualitative methods, sampling 520 respondents in 27 park-adjacent parishes and 30 key informants from government and non-government agencies. Focus group discussions and a stakeholder workshop provided additional valuable insights. A theory of change has been developed which proposes six different pathways by which a revenue-sharing scheme,
Lessons learnt from 20 years of revenue sharing at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda
(International Institute for Environment and Development, 2017-11) Medard, Twinamatsiko; Phil, Franks
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is one of the prime protected areas in Uganda, famous for its mountain gorilla families that have been habituated to allow gorillatracking safaris. A revenue sharing (RS) scheme was established in 1995 through which 20 per cent of the park’s revenue was shared with park-adjacent communities. The objective of revenue sharing is to provide local communities with an incentive to support conservation, particularly when they might be adversely impacted for example through having their crops raided by wild animals. Revenue tends to be distributed as grants for projects. Uganda Wildlife Authority has national revenue-sharing guidelines applicable to all its parks and, building on these guidelines, is currently developing a formal revenuesharing regulation. During 2016 a learning evaluation based on 20 years of revenue sharing was carried out among communities surrounding Bwindi, with a view to strengthening the implementation of the revenue sharing and enabling it to become more effective and more equitable. The findings would also help inform the ongoing process of developing a national revenuesharing regulation. In addition, it was intended for the research to have global value, influencing conservation-related revenue-sharing policy and practice at other sites of great ape conservation within Africa and beyond.
Pan African Feminist Perspectives Promoting Matriarchy. Women’s Pre-Colonial Linguistic Power Perspectives, Power Loss and the Contemporary State of Affairs in Ankole Sub-Region
(Pan African Feminist Perspectives Promoting Matriarchy., 2021-11-15) Donath, Asiimire; Medard, Twinamatsiko
This paper studies the linguistic approach used to describe wise, healer and powerful women in the Ankole Sub-region during the pre-colonial times. Discussed in the study are the names, words and proverbs that describe a general perspective of women and illustrate how women were powerful be fore colonialism. The paper also presents how women were later oppressed and lost power during the colonial period. Finally, the paper puts forwards ways of reclaiming women’s power in the Ankole Sub-region.
Profiling unauthorized natural resource users for better targeting of conservation interventions
(Conservation Biology, 2015-04-15) Medard, Twinamatsiko; Mariel, Harrison; Julia, Baker; E.J., Milner-Gulland
Unauthorized use of natural resources is a key threat to many protected areas. Approaches to reducing this threat include law enforcement and integrated conservation and development (ICD) projects, but for such ICDs to be targeted effectively, it is important to understand who is illegally using which natural resources and why. The nature of unauthorized behavior makes it difficult to ascertain this information through direct questioning. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, has many ICD projects, including authorizing some local people to use certain non timber forest resources from the park. However, despite over 25 years of ICD, unauthorized resource use continues. We used household surveys, indirect questioning (unmatched count technique), and focus group discussions to generate profiles of authorized and unauthorized resource users and to explore motivations for unauthorized activity. Overall, unauthorized resource use was most common among people from poor households who lived closest to the park boundary and farthest from roads and trading centers. Other motivations for unauthorized resource use included crop raiding by wild animals,inequity of revenue sharing, and lack of employment, factors that created resentment among the poorest communities. In some communities, benefits obtained from ICD were reported to be the greatest deterrents against unauthorized activity, although law enforcement ranked highest overall. Despite the sensitive nature of exploring unauthorized resource use, management-relevant insights into the profiles and motivations of unauthorized resource users can be gained from a combination of survey techniques, as adopted here. To reduce unauthorized activity at Bwindi, we suggest ICD benefit the poorest people living in remote areas and near the park boundary by providing affordable alternative sources of forest products and addressing crop raiding. To prevent resentment from driving further unauthorized activity, ICDs should be managed transparently and equitably.
A Survey of Hydrological Systems in the Great Virunga Landscape
(Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, 2015-08) Medard, Twinamatsiko; Sam, Ayebare; Daniel, Mabirizi; Aventino, Kasangaki; Dennis, Babaasa
The Greater Virunga Landscape (GVL) is an interconnected chain of eleven protected areas that straddle the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. The landscape is famous for its mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) and other endangered and endemic flora and fauna. Human threats in some of the Protected Areas (PAs) in the GVL include uncontrolled exploitation of forest resources as well as fires and the indirect pressures of demand for land. This is exacerbated by the insufficient water supply in communities that border with most of the PAs. Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and Echuya Central Forest Reserve are part of the GVL and were the focus for this study.
UTILISATION OF BIODEGRADABLE SOLID WASTE TO BOOST CROP PRODUCTION AMONG FARMERS IN MBARARA CITY, SOUTH WESTERN UGANDA
(American Journal of Agriculture, 2022) Wycliffe, Tumwesigye; Medard, Twinamatsiko; Naboth, Twesigye
Purpose: Determining the utilisation of biodegradable solid waste in boosting crop productivity among farmers in Mbarara City. Methodology: Mixed methods were used with simple random sampling and purposive sampling to obtain 111 and 31 respondents respectively - altogether constituting 142 respondents. Data was collected from the respondents using a questionnaire and an interview guide. The study adopted both descriptive and correlational data analysis. Findings: The study identified some practices that were used in managing biodegradable solid waste for application in boosting crop productivity among farmers in Mbarara city. These were communal collection, door-to-door collection, and others like roadside dumping and dustbins. The application of biodegradable solid waste in boosting crop productivity among farmers of Mbarara city was found to be relatively low, notwithstanding the fact that for those who applied the biodegradable solid waste in farming, it increased crops yields. The study further identified compositing of biodegradable solid waste as the main innovative strategy for proper utilization of solid wastes towards crop productivity. This was because the strategy is environmentally friendly at the same time it enriches the soil with both soil and crop growth support nutrients. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: A strong cooperation between the community and the city council authorities should be cultivated for purposes of enhancing community participation in the management of biodegradable solid waste hence enhancing food crop production in the area. There is also need to explore the opportunities of reducing, reusing, recycling and rethinking and composting in waste management among urban communities to minimize waste and increase economic benefits. Successfully adoption of sustainable methods of waste management by the communities can be done by making awareness programmes simple and accessible to change the mind-set of urban residents to perceive waste as resources rather a problem
Who wants what?
(International Institute for Environment and Development, 2017-02) Medard, Twinamatsiko; Dilys, Roe,; Peter, Nizette; Salvatrice, Musabyeyezu; Harold, Goodwin
‘Local economic development through pro-poor gorilla tourism in Uganda’ is a three year project funded by the UK government's Darwin Initiative. The aim of the project is to work with local people and established tour operators to develop and test new ‘pro-poor’ tourism products and services around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. This report discusses the findings of the first two stages of the project; scoping the demand for ‘pro-poor’ tourism initiatives and assessing local capacity for supply. From a combination of tourist and tour operator surveys, as well as a scoping visit to the main tourism zones, the project team identified a range of existing initiatives with the potential to add value to the typical two night gorilla tracking package, increase community revenue from tourism and consequently improve local attitudes towards the park.
Women‘s employment and the changing family pattern in Ankole Sub-region- Uganda
(International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 2021-12) Asiimire, Donath; Gertrude, Fester; Medard, Twinamatsiko; Benard, Nuwatuhaire
This study employed a case study design using phenomenological stances of qualitative research to collect data from three districts of Mbarara, Bushenyi and Kiruhura and the objective of the study was to find out how women’s entrance in formal employment has contributed to changes in marriage and gender roles. Drawing from 17 interviews (with women activists, community development officers, probation officers, grade II magistrates, Gender based organisation managers, political leaders, religious leaders, local leaders) and 5 FGDs (with household heads, women in formal and informal employment), findings revealed that, women’s employment leads to a shift in marriage. The findings further reveal that women’s employment increases women’s conflicting roles (the tripartite roles). The study concluded that, women’s employment is significantly related to marriage and gender roles, increasing numbers of women in formal and informal employment has led to delays in marriage, child birth and increases in conflicting roles for women. Thus the study recommended that gender-responsive social protection systems should be adopted by all places of work, encourage and support institutions and all places of work to put provisions for day care centres and increase on maternity leave days.