Nestor Amukwaya (left), Chairperson of the Uukolonkadhi Community Forest Trust and Andreas Nekwaya (right), a local herdsman, engage in a conversation during the shoot of the baseline participatory video.

The participatory video (PV) approach is considered as an effective tool to engage and mobilise groups or communities to take action to solve their own problems, or to communicate their needs and ideas to decision-makers. It is by this principle that the GEF-7 Sustainable Forest Management Impact Program on Dryland Sustainable Landscapes (SFM-DSL) endeavoured to integrate this dynamic and inclusive approach within its framework. 

The SFM-DSL program is comprised of 11 child projects (eight countries in east and southern Africa, one in West Africa and two in central Asia) and one global coordination project (GCP). The programme will build on existing networks and platforms to support progress towards Land Degradation Neutrality. In essence, the GCP objective is to avoid, reduce, and reverse further degradation, desertification, and deforestation of land and ecosystems in drylands through the sustainable management of production landscapes.  

To strengthen the leading role, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will leverage the convening power and deploy the policy setting of the Committee on Forestry (COFO) Working Group on Dryland Forests and Agrosivopastoral Systems in order to facilitate the SFM-DSL Program implementation, ensure overall coherence, and drive consistent Program-wide outcomes on the ground. 

Integration through the participatory approach 

The PV approach  encompasses the theory of change that entails better integration between the local community and decision makers in order to bring about tangible results on the ground. The theory asserts that shifting towards participatory systems that engage different stakeholders, including the local communities in the decision-making process, was found to be better than solving acute problems on the ground immediately without any stakeholder intervention. The project aims to fill that gap between stakeholders and document the change to allow better project up scaling in the future.

Namibia is one of the countries set to benefit from the SFM-DSL program and is so far one of the first five countries to have undertaken the filming of a baseline PV. The Namibian PV, shot within the Uukolonkadhi Community Forest situated in the Omusati region in the northern part of the country, along the Miombo-Mopane woodlands, demonstrates the important role that PVs play in helping to empower community members to freely express themselves and be at the forefront of guiding project implementation. 

The Namibia PV aimed to capture the voices of community members by providing a relaxed and engaging platform for them to air their thoughts, ideas and experiences. The community members that participated in the video highlighted various successes and challenges that they face, and spotlighted the existing best practices adopted under the umbrella of the community-based forestry management (CFM) approach. The CFM programme is guided by the principles of sustainable management, and mainly focuses on the management of natural vegetation by community members themselves. 

The PV not only displayed how forest resources play an integral role in sustaining communities in developing countries such as Namibia where rural communities continue to reap an array of economic and environmental benefits but also highlighted the potential of enhancing the CFM programme in Namibia and improving the overall management of forest resources. Through the community’s direct participation in this interactive initiative, a better understanding of the capacities on the ground was also formed. 

Bridging the knowledge sharing gap 

The PV approach integrated within the project hopes to not only effectively capture the thoughts, experiences and opinions of community members, but also strives to bridge the gap between the project's envisaged interventions and the different community groups set to benefit from them. In addition, it is hoped that through this knowledge sharing approach other communities will be inspired to learn and adopt best practises highlighted by the PV.  

In Namibia, the SFM-DSL program is aimed at addressing the main drivers/causes of land degradation which relate to, amongst others: unsustainable soil and crop management, over-exploitation and removal of vegetation, infrastructural development and natural causes such as low rainfall, poor soil conditions and limited availability of water, leading to wild fires and bush encroachment. It is hoped that during and after the implementation of the project, and as part of the broader rangeland management, sustainable land management practises such as sustainable bush thinning/harvesting e.g., charcoal production, beekeeping, sustainable thatch grass harvesting and other practises such as promotion of selected value chains e.g. poultry rearing and marula oil and juice production, will be adopted as alternatives to destructive land and forest use practices.

Over the course of the 5 years that the program will be implemented, many more videos will be made in an effort to track progress made and promote knowledge sharing on sustainable land management practises. Furthermore, participants will make use of a closed Facebook group as an additional tool to create dialogue between project partners and community members, especially in times where travel is not permitted.  

Making every voice count 

The baseline PV forms part of the “Making every voice count for adaptive management” initiative, which is a joint collaboration between the Forestry Division (NFO) and the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Division (PST). This initiative seeks to, amongst other objectives, promote participatory planning through partnership between governments, communities and Civil Society Organizations and stimulate knowledge sharing. The baseline video is the first of many participatory videos that will serve as a means to track changes before, during and after the project implementation phase. 

In late January of this year, in the context of the “Making every voice for adaptative management, FAO's Dryland Forestry team and the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Division launched the webinar series entitled Navigating the Participatory Approach. The webinars are tailored towards providing a common place for all countries and stakeholder involved in the initiative to exchange their views, lessons learned and experiences related to the learning-by-doing approach. The webinars will also allow for an opportunity for those involved to highlight the progress made and the results achieved.