1 | Dakatcha Woodland – Conservation For Sustainable Living Program

Mid-Term Review Report – July 2011

Nature Kenya – East Africa Natural History Society

CONSERVATION FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING PROGRAM

INVESTING IN CAPACITY BUILDING, NATURE-BASED ENTERPRISES AND BUSINESS SUPPORT TO CONSERVE THE DAKATCHA WOODLAND BY AND FOR LOCAL

COMMUNITIES

MID TERM REVIEW

FINAL REPORT

Carried out by:

ANYONA S. GICHURU RURAL FINANCE AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT COMMUNITY AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE P.O. BOX 41670 – 00100 NAIROBI, KENYA E-MAIL: office@codit.org

2 | Dakatcha Woodland – Conservation For Sustainable Living Program

Mid-Term Review Report – July 2011

Nature Kenya – East Africa Natural History Society

Table of Contents:

ABBREVIATIONS: .............................................................................................................................................. 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: .................................................................................................................................... 4

1.INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND:………………………………………………………………………. 7

1.1 Introduction and background of the Dakatcha area: ................................................................................... 7

1.2 The CFSL program: .................................................................................................................................. 7

1.3 Background, Approach and Methodology of the Mid Term Review: ......................................................... 8

1.3.1 Background of the MTR: ...................................................................................................................... 8

1.3.2 Approach and methodology: ................................................................................................................. 8

2. MID TERM REVIEW FINDINGS: ..................................................................................................................... 9

2.1 Analysis of the CBO’s (The Capacities, Weaknesses and Opportunities): ................................................... 9

2.2 Capacity of the SSG to advocate for conservation: ................................................................................... 11

2.3 Extent to which SSG & CBOs are able to engage stakeholders: ................................................................ 12

2.4 Capacity building on biodiversity monitoring and potential opportunities: ................................................ 13

2.5 Beekeeping and Ecotourism NBE’s Status and Trends: ............................................................................ 15

2.6 Mapping of the Dakatcha Woodland in relation to conservation: .............................................................. 17

2.7 Measures taken to have the conservation status of Dakatcha increased: ..................................................... 18

2.8 What needs to be done to secure sustainability of program activities? ....................................................... 20

2.9 Risks with potential to jeopardize conservation action: ............................................................................. 23

3. EMERGING ISSUES, LESSONS LEARNED AND CONCLUSION: ...................................................................... 24

3.1 Emerging issues: ..................................................................................................................................... 24

3.2 Lessons learnt: ........................................................................................................................................ 24

3.3 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 26

4. ANNEXES: .................................................................................................................................................... 27

4.1 Dakatcha Woodland Site poster .................................................................................................................. 27

4.2 Dakatcha Woodland GIS Maps: ................................................................................................................. 28

4.2.1 Dakatcha land cover map ............................................................................................................... 28

4.2.2 Dakatcha woodland land cover context map: ................................................................................. 28

4.3 The Dakatcha Woodland site poster: ............................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

3 | Dakatcha Woodland – Conservation For Sustainable Living Program

Mid-Term Review Report – July 2011

Nature Kenya – East Africa Natural History Society

Abbreviations:

CBD - Convention for Biodiversity

CBO - Community Based Organization

CDTF - Community Development Trust Fund

CEF - Community Environment Facility

CFA - Community Forest Association

CFSL - Conservation for Sustainable Living Program

CODIT - Community and Organizational Development Institute

DEWA - Division of Early Warning Assessment

DW - Dakatcha Woodland

DWCDF - Dakatcha Woodland Conservation and Development Forum

DWCG - Dakatcha Woodland Conservation Group

EIA - Environmental Impact Assessment

EMCA - Environment Management and Control Act

IBA - Important Bird Area

IGA - Income Generating Activity

IUCN - International Union for the Conservation of Nature

KFS - Kenya Forest Service

KJEL - Kenya Jatropha Energy Limited

KSH - Kenya Shilling

KWS - Kenya Wildlife Services

NBE - Nature based Enterprises

NEMA - National Environment Management Authority

NGO - Non-Governmental Organization

NK - Nature Kenya

NMK - National Museums of Kenya

OCA - Organizational Control Assessment

PIC - Project Implementation Committee

PFM - Participatory Forest Management

PFRA - Participatory Forest Resource Assessment

SSG - Site Support Group

UNEP - United Nations Environment Program

4 | Dakatcha Woodland – Conservation For Sustainable Living Program

Mid-Term Review Report – July 2011

Nature Kenya – East Africa Natural History Society

Executive summary:

Background and introduction: Dakatcha woodland is the only site outside Arabuko-Sokoke where the globally endangered bird, Clarke’s Weaver,

is known to occur in the world. Other plants and animals of global conservation importance are also found there.

The Dakatcha woodland holds substantial populations of globally-threatened birds such as Sokoke Pipit and

Clarke’s Weaver. Both these species possibly breed here (the breeding grounds of Clarke’s Weaver are

undiscovered). The woodland is important for the threatened Golden-rumped Elephant Shrew Rhynchocyon

chrysopygus and at least 11 nationally or regionally rare plants including Monadenium invenustum, Pavetta

linearifolia and Eulophia serrata. For all these reasons Dakatcha has been identified as an Important Bird Area

(IBA) and Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) using international criteria developed and applied by Birdlife

International and Nature Kenya. Dakatcha is also part of the Coastal Forests Global Hotspot defined by

Conservation International.

In effort to address the threats indicated above and others facing the woodland, Nature Kenya received funds from

the Finland Embassy through the Finish Local Cooperation Fund in 2008 to implement a project targeting

Dakatcha Woodland IBA. The project “Conservation for Sustainable Living: Investing in capacity building,

nature-based enterprises and business support to conserve the Dakacha Woodland by and for local communities”

is aimed at building the capacity of the people in natural resource management while developing sustainable

alternatives for livelihood improvement. The project has includes three implementation phases each composed of

one year. The first phase started in August 2008 and ended in December 2009 after a no cost extension period of

three months. The second phase started in March 2010 and ended in March 2011. Having completed the second

phase of implementation, the project commissioned this mid-term review to provide insight into the progress of

activities so far and where emphasis needs to be placed so far in the last phase to ensure that the initial program

goals are achieved and that the woodland is protected.

Overview of findings: The review identified that most activities had been carried out as per the program design. The communities had

formed a Site Support Group (SSG) comprised of 20 Self Help Groups (SHGs) through which funds were to be

channeled. At the time of the review the SSG had received 327 hives directly from the CFSL project and an

additional 300 hives from the Community Development Trust Fund, Community Environment Facility (CDTF-

CEF) project. These hives were shared out between the participating SHGs that form the SSG and currently most

of them are productive. Two (2) campsites (Marafa Hell’s Kitchen and the Mekatilili wa Menza site) have

received assistance in the form of essential tools and facilities to support the eco-tourism enterprises while all

participating SHGs have received all inclusive trainings that covered among other areas financial management,

governance structures, fundraising and resource mobilization, conflict management and advocacy.

The enterprises (beekeeping and ecotourism) are performing relatively well although beekeeping was adversely

affected by a prevailing long drought that ravaged the area for the greater part of 2011. As a result the hive

colonization rate had dropped from more than 70% in 2010 to less than 35% by May 2011. Community members

have been receiving income from beekeeping albeit on a small scale since the production function is not yet strong

enough to support large scale production of honey to facilitate bulking and centralized marketing. This may need a

lot of emphasis in the remaining phase to ensure that the function is strengthened and production is enhanced to

guarantee beekeeping sufficient incomes. Ecotourism has gradually picked up over the last two years where as a

result of intensified and more effective marketing approaches, tourist numbers had increased from 1,081 in 2009 to

1910 in 2010 and by April 2011 the number was already at 1,300 indicating a positive trend for the year. Average

income has increased from less than Ksh14,000 per month to more than Ksh42,000 per month in the peak periods .

The Mekatilili wa Menza site is yet to pick up in terms of attracting larger tourist numbers because the SHG have

not formulated a diversity of services and facilities that can attract and retain tourists at the sites. This is however

underway and may be fully addressed in the last phase of implementation. For the ecotourism enterprises including