An effective monitoring framework for community based natural resource management : a case study of the ADMADE program in Zambia

Monitoring provides the basis for adaptive management, ecological and social impact studies, and ensuring accountability. This study presents the Effective Monitoring Framework, a conceptual model which describes the various components of effective monitoring in terms of design, implementation, application, and sustainability. The framework is based upon an iterative action research model and emphasizes the importance of internal feedback loops to integrate monitoring results back into the design and implementation of a monitoring program. The framework provides a template which can be used to help describe, evaluate, and plan resource monitoring systems in the context of CBNRM. The ADMADE conservation program in Zambia has ten years of experience in working with rural communities to monitor wildlife and provides an excellent case study to test the Effective Monitoring Framework. The framework provided an organized structure to describe comprehensively ADMADE"s large and multi-tiered monitoring program, as well as analyze its strengths and weaknesses. Using the Effective Monitoring Framework as a analytical guide, this study helped identify the major bottlenecks in ADMADE"s monitoring program and address system weaknesses through two interventions: an upgrade of the master monitoring database and a new course for village scouts on advanced data collection skills and analysis. More case studies of CBNRM monitoring are needed to further test and refine the Effective Monitoring Framework so that it may be applied to a greater diversity of programs using different natural resource strategies and administrative structures. (Author abstract)