Transparent governance and professional management are essential elements of well-run wildlife management areas (WMAs) and similar community-based conservation bodies. Recognizing this, Honeyguide dedicates significant time and effort to building effective management and governance teams in the WMAs in which we work.

In partnership with the Nature Conservancy and with funding from USAID, Honeyguide held a three-day workshop with Randilen’s leaders about sustainable management. The workshop covered the three pillars of sustainability—ecological, economic, and social—and worked on developing a long-term vision for the WMA. Such measures help ensure the WMA can operate itself (i.e. without donors) once Honeyguide leaves, in line with our exit strategy.

Honeyguide has also worked with Snowball and Maliasili, a pair of leadership training organizations, to coach our own trainers for their work in Randilen and Makame. This proved invaluable when Honeyguide held a two-day workshop in Randilen using the Site-level Assessment of Governance and Equity (SAGE) tool. Honeyguide’s use of SAGE is part of a pilot project being conducted by the International Institute for Environmental Development.

As part of this pilot project, Sam Shaba, our program manager, attended a conference at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK. Sam gave a presentation on Honeyguide’s experience working with SAGE, in order to help inform later stages of the project. Honeyguide will continue to work with other teams of leadership trainers, hailing from countries such as Cambodia and Greece, as they work towards refining what is an already-promising tool in SAGE.

To learn more about our use of SAGE in Randilen, click here to watch the video>