Seeking success : where and how to look for success factors in USAID/NGO natural resource management projects in Africa

This report, part of a year-long appraisal of USAID"s effectiveness in working with NGOs in NRM projects in Africa, summarizes findings from an August 1993 conference on the topic and from a desk study which reviewed six USAID/NGO projects involving NRM. The report finds that it is not easy to find information on NGOs" NRM projects: they defy easy categorization, and much is not reported, or even investigated. Moreover, evaluations are not looking deeply to identify the needs of, and project impacts on, one major stakeholder group -- the resource users themselves. However, the following general success factors, some of them universal lessons, were identified: (1) participation of stakeholders in design and planning; (2) vocabulary and conceptual frameworks that value the development of competent autonomous resource user groups; (3) adequate resources for capacity building, from community to national levels; (4) clear roles and responsibilities; (5) respect for accountability, while striving to reduce regulatory rigidities; and (6) objective, learning-oriented evaluations, in which resource users take an integral part. A list of projects reviewed and a vision for NGOs and USAID in Africa by the year 1999 are appended.