EEEGL

Themes of Work

The program is designed around four major themes, each of which comprises two to four sub-themes:

1. Enterprise:
   1. Non-ecotourism-based enterprise: support for communities in increasing market access for their agricultural and natural resource-based products, targeting regional as well as local and national markets, and enhancing productivity and value added through processing.
   2. Microfinance: support for the creation of village savings and loan associations. This activity will specifically target women and will also contribute to women’s empowerment.
   3. Ecotourism-based enterprise: support for community-based enterprises linked to tourism and private sector-led ecotourism initiatives that will generate substantial community benefits.
2. Participatory natural resource management:
   1. Collaborative and community-based natural resources management: support for the development and strengthening of community participation in protected area (national park) management (collaborative management), community-based management of natural resources outside protected areas, and associated opportunities for sustainable utilization of natural resources.
   2. Tourism revenue sharing: support for mechanisms for sharing tourism revenues with local communities that are effective in strengthening conservation and equitable in delivering benefits to those most affected by the costs of conservation.
3. Community empowerment:
   1. Organization strengthening: strengthening grassroots civil society organizations in terms of their ability to promote good governance both in government and within their own organizations, emphasizing the interests and rights of women and other marginalized and vulnerable groups.
   2. Influencing policy: building the capacity of grassroots civil society organizations to influence policy development and decision-making on natural resource management and other key concerns, emphasizing the interests and rights of marginalized and vulnerable groups.
4. Trans-boundary collaboration and learning:

1. Transboundary collaboration: support for trans-boundary collaboration within and outside the protected areas that promotes sharing of information and experience, coordination, and joint action with respect to protected area management, ecotourism, participatory/community-based natural resource management, and conflictmanagement.
2. Action learning: effective monitoring and evaluation of project activities together with specific events to review experience on key themes, supporting an adaptive management approach that enables project strategy to be guided by learning plus wider dissemination of learning.