Evolution of Models to Support Community and Policy Action with Science: Balancing Pastoral Livelihoods and Wildlife Conservation in Savannas of East Africa

We developed a “continual engagement” model to better integrate knowledge from policy makers, communities, and researchers with the goal of promoting more effective action to balance poverty alleviation and wildlife conservation in 4 pastoral ecosystems of East Africa. The model involved the creation of a core boundary-spanning team, including community facilitators, a policy facilitator, and transdisciplinary researchers, responsible for linking with a wide range of actors from local to global scales. Collaborative researcher–facilitator community teams integrated local and scientific knowledge to help communities and policy makers improve herd quality and health, expand biodiversity payment schemes, develop land-use plans, and fully engage together in pastoral and wildlife policy development. This model focused on the creation of hybrid scientific–local knowledge highly relevant to community and policy maker needs. The facilitation team learned to be more effective by focusing on noncontroversial livelihood issues before addressing more difficult wildlife issues, using strategic and periodic engagement with most partners instead of continual engagement, and reducing costs by providing new scientific information only when deemed essential. We conclude by examining the role of facilitation in redressing asymmetries in power in researcher–community–policy maker teams, the role of individual values and character in establishing trust, and how to sustain knowledge-action links when project funding ends

Exploring local knowledge and perceptions on zoonoses among pastoralists in northern and eastern Tanzania

Background: Zoonoses account for the most commonly reported emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, there is limited knowledge on how pastoral communities perceive zoonoses in relation to their livelihoods, culture and their wider ecology. This study was carried out to explore local knowledge and perceptions on zoonoses among pastoralists in Tanzania. Methodology and principal findings: This study involved pastoralists in Ngorongoro district in northern Tanzania and Kibaha and Bagamoyo districts in eastern Tanzania. Qualitative methods of focus group discussions, participatory epidemiology and interviews were used. A total of 223 people were involved in the study. Among the pastoralists, there was no specific term in their local language that describes zoonosis. Pastoralists from northern Tanzania possessed a higher understanding on the existence of a number of zoonoses than their eastern districts' counterparts. Understanding of zoonoses could be categorized into two broad groups: a local syndromic framework, whereby specific symptoms of a particular illness in humans concurred with symptoms in animals, and the biomedical framework, where a case definition is supported by diagnostic tests. Some pastoralists understand the possibility of some infections that could cross over to humans from animals but harm from these are generally tolerated and are not considered as threats. A number of social and cultural practices aimed at maintaining specific cultural functions including social cohesion and rites of passage involve animal products, which present zoonotic risk. Conclusions: These findings show how zoonoses are locally understood, and how epidemiology and biomedicine are shaping pastoralists perceptions to zoonoses. Evidence is needed to understand better the true burden and impact of zoonoses in these communities. More studies are needed that seek to clarify the common understanding of zoonoses that could be used to guide effective and locally relevant interventions. Such studies should consider in their approaches the pastoralists' wider social, cultural and economic set up

Drivers and impacts of land-use change in the Maasai Steppe of Northern Tanzania: An ecological-social-political analysis

In this article, we discuss the drivers, causes, and impacts of land-use change in the Maasai Steppe of northern Tanzania. Remote sensing data were used to analyze land-use change, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) was used to link-up with wildlife population dynamics and livestock distribution data derived from aerial censuses. Agriculture increased five fold between 1984 and 2000, while human population increased exponentially from 3.3% p.a. in 1988 to 3.4% p.a. in the same period. Wildlife migratory routes declined from nine in 1964 to five in 2000, out of which three were seriously threatened with blockage by the extensive cultivation. Recurrent droughts and diseases have contributed to the declining livestock economy over the years due to livestock loss and the unpredictable and erratic rainfall has limited their recovery. To reverse the on-going trends in land use, proper land-use plans should be instituted in parallel with community-based wildlife ventures to maintain long-term ecosystem viability

Linking Knowledge with Action Using Community Facilitators to Span Boundaries: Lessons from East Africa

Advances of science may take much longer to translate into helpful societal actions without deliberate linkages among policy makers, practitioners, and scientists and an integration of their knowledge systems. Successful projects in sustainable knowledge-based action are not only multi-disciplinary and holistic in their approach, they also engage consistently with the consumers of the knowledge being generated. We present a model for integrating scientific and indigenous knowledge and strongly linking that knowledge with community and policy action to balance poverty alleviation and wildlife conservation in Maasai pastoral systems of East Africa. This model uses ‘community facilitators’ who act as ‘boundary-spanning’ individuals, linking pastoralist communities, scientists, and policy makers. Our experience indicates that there can be accelerated progress if the project deliberately creates and places a boundary-spanning person or organization at the community-science-policy interfaces to facilitate and promote linking knowledge with action. We found it was critical that the facilitation process ensures that scientists focus on answering important questions from community and policy viewpoints. Key lessons include the need for frequent and strategic community engagement, careful choice of appropriate local boundary spanning persons, the central role of co-production of boundary objects, and the inclusion of incentives for the key stakeholders

Evolution of models to support community and policy action with science: Balancing pastoral livelihoods and wildlife conservation in savannas of East Africa

We developed a “continual engagement” model to better integrate knowledge from policy makers, communities, and researchers with the goal of promoting more effective action to balance poverty alleviation and wildlife conservation in 4 pastoral ecosystems of East Africa. The model involved the creation of a core boundary-spanning team, including community facilitators, a policy facilitator, and transdisciplinary researchers, responsible for linking with a wide range of actors from local to global scales. Collaborative researcher–facilitator community teams integrated local and scientific knowledge to help communities and policy makers improve herd quality and health, expand biodiversity payment schemes, develop land-use plans, and fully engage together in pastoral and wildlife policy development. This model focused on the creation of hybrid scientific–local knowledge highly relevant to community and policy maker needs. The facilitation team learned to be more effective by focusing on noncontroversial livelihood issues before addressing more difficult wildlife issues, using strategic and periodic engagement with most partners instead of continual engagement, and reducing costs by providing new scientific information only when deemed essential. We conclude by examining the role of facilitation in redressing asymmetries in power in researcher–community–policy maker teams, the role of individual values and character in establishing trust, and how to sustain knowledge-action links when project funding ends