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The purpose of my Masters project was to conduct a formative evaluation of the Mount
Kilimanjaro Roots & Shoots Community-based Conservation Partnership Project (Conservation
Site) in Northeast Tanzania. After one year of operation in 2008, Roots and Shoots
staff sought to assess the Conservation Site’s initial progress in providing demonstration
workshops on tree nurseries, beekeeping, fuel-efficient stoves, and fish farming to
the students, teachers and members of the Mweka Village. A formative evaluation was
especially pertinent because Roots & Shoots made significant changes to the original
Community-based initiative for the Conservation Site. Due to a limitation in human
and financial resources, Roots & Shoots did not conduct a Community assessment before
the Conservation Site was established in 2007.
I implemented a participatory survey that focused on three research questions: Awareness/Adoption
of selected sustainable practices, Conservation Site Awareness/Participation and Conservation
Site Effectiveness/Recommendations. The 223 participants were selected using the snowball
method. I coded the responses to the questions in the NVivo8 qualitative data software
program and calculated the frequencies. Chi-square analyses were conducted to test
for significant associations between participant demographics and environmental behavior.
The results of this evaluation indicate the Conservation Site’s limited progress
in engaging the Community and promoting the adoption of the four activities. Beekeeping
and tree nurseries were more familiar and established, while a minority of the sample
was aware of and using the recently introduced activities, fish farming (42 %) and
fuel-efficient stoves (30 %). Only 40 percent of the sample was familiar with the
conservation site. The respondents’ main recommendations for the Conservation Site
were to improve Community participation, outreach and management. Education, property
size, years lived in village, age and gender were demographic variables that were
found to be significantly associated with environmental behavior. The results of this
formative evaluation are indicative of the lack of Community involvement during the
formulation and implementation stages of the Conservation Site. I encourage Roots
& Shoots to reintegrate participatory approaches at the Conservation Site through
training of trainer seminars, a Conservation Site board of Community stakeholders,
and a participatory rural appraisal.
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