Key MessagesNational Riparian Lands

Research & Development Program

Assessing Community Capacity for Riparian

Restoration

Overview of Presentation

• Overview of the Research Project

• What is ‘capacity’• Rethinking capacity• What capacity means in

practice• Overview of a ‘capacity

assessment tool’

The Research Project

Aim: to identify the critical success and failure issues affecting community participation in riparian restoration.

Qualitative research based on the experiences of 5 regions involved in ‘demonstration & evaluation projects’

May 2002 - June 2003

Method

• 5 case-studies visited around Australia

• On-site discussions with landholders, managers,etc..

• Focus groups• Feedback from a national

‘capacity’ workshop • Feedback on a ‘draft capacity

assessment tool'

What is ‘capacity’?Norms and values • Shared values, norms, attitudes

• Shared vision• Trust, reciprocity• Identification with a social group

Knowledge • Knowledge and skills• Knowledge about access to resources

Skills in working together

• Leadership• Self-efficacy• Decision-making & problem solving• Conflict resolution, negotiation

Interactional infrastructure

• Networks• Social brokers • Events• Procedures

Source: Cocklin et al 2001:106

“An ability to act towards a shared vision”

A linear approach…

1. Set a target or goal

2. Assume others share this goal

3. Identify ‘barriers’ to getting there

4. Educate or train people and/or provide assistance, to overcome ‘barriers’ (‘Capacity Building’)

5. Hope for broader adoption

By this time the target has often shifted because the context has

changed…

Different frequencies and intensities of PROCESSES:- social and human capital - drought, flood- boom-bust economic cycles

Positive Outcomes

Negative Outcomes

TIME

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apaci

tyA process-oriented approach to ‘capacity’

Rethinking capacity

• Social, economic and biophysical components

• Complex, time and space dependent

A ‘new’ definition of capacity

• the capability of individuals, groups and institutions to understand and respond to the enabling and constraining elements, dimensions and issues that drive the process of capital accumulation and decline (in all its forms) to produce desirable outcomes.

A ‘new’ definition of capacity• Key principles that underpin

this definition:– Participation & engagement– Adaptive management

• learn, • understand, • respond appropriately

– Acknowledge existing capacity:• “Capacity enhancement”

What does capacity mean in practice?

Results of our research

• 35 ‘dimensions’ of capacity identified– at individual, community and

institutional levels

• Each dimension can have a positive (enabling) and negative (constraining) influence

• The dimensions remained similar across Australia– but each region responded differently

• Responses are time- and place-dependent

Johnstone River Catchment

Mary River Catchment

                                      

Goulburn-Broken Catchment

                                        

 

Blackwood Catchment

Far South Coast

Key dimensions of capacity• Context

– Economic conditions

– Community support

– Awareness of water quality/quantity issues

– Climatic events– Community

networks– Community

negotiation structures

– Cost of works

• Values and Perceptions– Values– Shared vision– ‘Extension’ skills– Awareness– Open

mindedness– Perceptions of

solutions– Ownership of

problems and solutions

Key dimensions of capacity• Communications

and empowerment– Data availability– Communications –

targeting– Communications –

mechanisms– Consistency of

communications– Cooperation– Empowerment– Inclusiveness

• Program design– Roles and

responsibilities,– Financial security– Program

consistency– Institutional

consistency– Flexibility– Forward planning– Transparency

Key dimensions of capacity• Program

delivery– Decision-making– Consistency of

key people– Personality of

key people– Skills and

experience of key people

– Community ‘champions’

– Monitoring and evaluation

– Institutional capacity

Results of our research…

• Limitations on one dimension are overcome by investing in that dimension, or making compensatory investments in other dimensions– This is not often done explicitly

• We need a better understanding of how the underlying processes interact to produce different outcomes

Implications• Due to the diversity within and

between regions, there is no single approach to ‘capacity building’

• In designing policies and programs, we need to understand:– the ‘most important’ dimensions of

‘capacity’ in the region, at the moment– How the dimensions/processes interact– How the processes can be influenced

to achieve desired outcomes

A ‘Capacity Assessment Tool’

Helping people think through and monitor ‘capacity’

A ‘Capacity Assessment Tool’

• Background – to enable various analyses, over time,

place, stakeholders

• Assessment– 5 themes, 7 dimensions

• Importance weighting (for region)• Project life-stage importance

weighting• Priority setting (optional)• Results• Implications report

Background

Navigation

Assessment

Summary Results

Full Results

Implications Report

Weighting - Importance, Life-stage,

Priority Setting

Using the tool

Assessment tool not a measurement tool

It is the process of working through the tool that is important, the results or outputs of the tool should really only be seen as record of the process

How can it be used

• Checklist of issues in relation to capacity

• Reporting change over time• Diagnostic tool (strengths and

weaknesses)• Participatory research and decision

making

Further Information:•RipRap Edition 24 – Building capacity for river and riparian restoration

hard copy or www.rivers.gov.au

•Assessing community capacity to undertake riparian restoration: tool & discussion paper www.rivers.gov.au/