Community-Based Natural Resource Management Network (CBNRM Net): Members, Case studies, Cases studies background

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The Community-Based Natural Resource Management Network

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Case studies, Background

Overview

Together with direct communication between CBNRM practitioners, the availability of documentation and analysis of CBNRM practices is extremely important. Case studies are of crucial importance for the CBNRM community of practice for two main reasons: (1) as a learning and capacity building tool for CBNRM practitioners, and (2) in order to advance the overall CBNRM agenda.

Broadly speaking, there are two main categories of documentation about CBNRM: (1) general and analytical (see Categories Literature and Documents), and (2) case studies. The latter are the focus of this Category.

Case studies of actual CBNRM practices and experiences are always interesting and useful. They represent an enormous wealth of experiences and they are a valuable source of learning for us all. Good case studies are indispensable. A good case study manages to convey the essence of a concrete situation in a way that we can all learn and benefit from. What is a good case study? It addresses a broad spectrum of data and knowledge about a CBNRM case, including its history, context, problems, goals, means, incentives and constraints. It presents a project or activity in all its breadth, covering everything that is important while leaving out what is unimportant, and draws causal connections between important variables and factors. A good case study is independent of whether the outcome of the concrete activity or practice was successful or not. To summarize: A good case study should cover the following: Background, history, key problems, means and goals. To inquire about preparing material for, to submit material to this Category, or to inquire about or comment upon available material write to us.

CBNRM case studies are, to a large extent, grey literature. It is often difficult, if not impossible, for outsiders to learn about and acquire them. CBNRM Net aims to solve this problem by providing an interface between CBNRM practitioners that have written about their experiences, and CBNRM practitioners that look for learning experiences.

The case studies and case study proposals prepared in connection with the international workshop on CBNRM (Washington DC, USA, May 1998) constituted the starting point for the case studies archive (see below).

Relationships with other CBNRM knowledge products

The knowledge produced at the local level, that is, case studies, is closely related to knowledge produced at the other parts and levels of the website, namely country overviews (see Group Countries) and regional overviews (see Group Regions). The case studies are structured in a way that facilitate comparison and mutual transfer of knowledge with these other two knowledge products (see Category CBNRM Net). More specifically, regional overviews and, in turn, country overviews, provide important background to and function as structuring frameworks for country-specific case studies. Vice versa, country-specific case studies provide background to and give input into country overviews and, in turn, to regional overviews. This knowledge product benefits also from knowledge available elsewhere on CBNRM Net, including Groups Ecosystems, Issues and Sectors (see Category Topics).

The May 1998 international CBNRM workshop

The International Workshop on CBNRM (Washington DC, USA, May 1998) provided an opportunity for many CBNRM practitioners around the world to prepare case studies. More than 350 proposals for case studies were submitted, of which 20 were selected to be written up and presented at the workshop. This body of case studies, which includes both finished case studies and drafts and outlines, constitutes a huge amount of stories and experiences, lessons and training, that promises to guide CBNRM practitioners in the years to come. The body of case studies and case study proposals that were prepared in connection with this CBNRM workshop constitutes the starting point for the database of case studies on CBNRM Net.

This body of case studies and case study proposals can be divided in four partly overlapping categories:

Twenty proposals were selected for presentation at the workshop, and they were written up and revised based on the submitted proposal
Five of the selected twenty proposals, that addressed aspects of conflict management, were prepared under the aegis of the International Development Research Centre. These cases, as well as a few of the twenty workshop case studies, were later revised and published in an edited collection of papers on conflict management, under the title "Cultivating Peace. Conflict and Collaboration in Natural Resource Management" (for citation and further details, go to Category Literature, topic "Conflict management")
Many of the proposals that existed in electronic form, including the twenty case studies mentioned above, were subsequently made available on the (Sustainable Rural Development Information System (SRDIS) website, created jointly by CIESIN and the World Bank (several proposals that were available only on paper are not included). CBNRM Net's Category Case studies includes all these cases, organized by region, country and topic, with hyperlinks to the SRDIS site to facilitate downloading and printing
A large number of case study proposals were submitted in hard copy or as faxes, and do not exist in electronic form. Many of these cases will be made available here

Preparing and submitting case studies

Guidance on how to prepare, format and submit CBNRM case studies is available (see Category Guidance, also available in PDF format).

Group Case studies

This Group contains CBNRM case studies organized after areas, that is, first, regions and, second, sub-regions and/or countries (for details on how regions are defined, see Category Regions). The regions are: (1) Africa (i.e., Sub-Saharan Africa), (2) East Asia and the Pacific, (3) Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, (4) Latin America and the Caribbean, (5) South Asia, and (6) Other regions. An entry may be listed more than one place. All cases are in PDF format.

Cases submitted to and/or presented at the 1998 International CBNRM workshop are also available on the SRDIS/CIESIN website (HTML format only). Cases submitted as proposals do not contain citation information.