Helping to self-help? External interventions to stimulate local collective action in Joint Forest Management, Maharashtra, India

Barnes, Clare; Laerhoven, Frank van

doi:10.1505/146554813805927246

Cited by 26 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…On the other hand, 'group awareness of the rules of the institution' could be a factor that NGOs can potentially target (see Appendix 1 for the full list of critical enabling conditions from which we selected those which are manipulable by NGOs). Barnes and Van Laerhoven (2013) study the effect of external-agent involvement on the expected durability of Joint Forest Management committees in Maharashtra, India. The distinction made here between specific indicators for functioning and for durable collective action complements Agrawal's (2001) review.…”

Section: 3mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…participatory appraisal techniques) aimed at crafting customised training modules to empower local communities. Barnes and Van Laerhoven (2013). c Indicator mentioned in both Agrawal (2001) and Barnes and Van Laerhoven (2013).…”

Section: Objective Institutional Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Barnes and Van Laerhoven (2013). c Indicator mentioned in both Agrawal (2001) and Barnes and Van Laerhoven (2013). …”

Section: Objective Institutional Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Making it last? Analysing the role of NGO interventions in the development of institutions for durable collective action in Indian community forestry

Barnes

Laerhoven

2015

Environmental Science & Policy

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Institutional design India a b s t r a c tCommons scholarship seems preoccupied with self-governance. It focuses on showing that common pool resource (CPR) appropriators do not always need outsider-assistance in order to stay clear of the tragedy of the commons. However, at the same time we observe the presence of a large number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that consider community organisation -i.e. the organisation of collective action in community institutions -their core business. In this research we firstly develop and apply a framework to analyse the activities of 20 NGOs in India and compare these to indicators for collective action in a community-led CPR governance context, derived from the commons literature. Secondly, we assess variation in NGOs' approaches to institutional change, by developing and applying a typology that distinguishes between (i) perspectives that see institutional change as predominantly determined by structure (institutional design) or agency (institutional crafting), respectively, and between (ii) perspectives that perceive institutions as either subjective or objective to the institutional change agent, respectively. Our results show that NGOs do not get involved in activities aimed at influencing functioning collective action such as crafting or designing rules. They do involve themselves in activities aimed at strengthening durable collective action such as forest management trainings. Furthermore, all NGOs show a predominantly subjective approach to institutional change. Their long-term focus puts the communities themselves firmly in the institutional change agent position. The results along the design-crafting dimension show more diversity and dynamicity. Eight NGOs in our sample take a strong institutional crafting approach to their work, whereas only three focus predominantly on institutional design and nine show elements of both crafting and designing. The majority of the NGOs highlighted how their approach can change depending on the stage in the intervention. Our results highlight the dynamic and diverse institutional settings the NGOs operate in which both moderates their approach to institutional change and determines their choice of specific activities.

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Section: 3mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Objective Institutional Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Making it last? Analysing the role of NGO interventions in the development of institutions for durable collective action in Indian community forestry

Barnes

Laerhoven

2015

Environmental Science & Policy

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“…We argue that experiences from the management of common-pool resources (CPR) (Ostrom 2007(Ostrom , 2015 and environmental conflict resolution (O'Leary and Bingham 2003) can inform researchers and practitioners engaged with PGS, help identify solutions and suggest new action strategies. To interpret the results, reference is made to studies on community-based management of protected forests (Idrissou et al 2011) and marine areas (Gurney et al 2016), community forest governance (Barnes and Van Laerhoven 2013;Black and Watson 2006;Ravikumar et al 2013;Van Laerhoven and Andersson 2013), reforestation of communal land (d 'Adda 2011), joint water management (Black and Watson 2006) and common property grazing resources (Vedeld 2000;Vollan 2008), in addition to the concept of social cohesion applied as a theoretical framework in some of these studies (Kawachi and Berkman 2014;Kearns and Forrest 2000). Although not perfectly comparable, following Nelson et al (2016, p. 375), who argue that "the integrity of Mexico's local organic markets can be considered a common-pool resource", it was found that some analogical conclusions could be expanded to the PGS context.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been argued that it can also support the trustworthiness and reliability of the process (Nelson et al 2016). External (institutional) actors (e.g., NGOs, government agencies) are often important for conflict management and resolution in CPR management (Barnes and Van Laerhoven 2013;Black and Watson 2006). They may act similarly in PGS and, by assuming the role of brokers, reduce the potential for conflict among producers and mitigate the negative effects on PGS implementation.…”

Section: The Potential Of Multi-stakeholder Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) in Mexico: a theoretic ideal or everyday practice?

Kaufmann

Vogl

2017

Agric Hum Values

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Third-party certification (TPC), the most common organic certification system, has faced growing criticism in recent years. This has led to the development of alternative certification systems, most of which can be classed as Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS). PGS have been promoted as a more suitable, cheaper and less bureaucratic alternative to TPC for local markets and are associated with additional benefits such as empowering smallholder farmers, facilitating farmer-to-farmer learning and enhancing food security and sovereignty. PGS have spread rapidly in the past few years, but studies suggest that they are facing numerous challenges that, if not addressed, may jeopardise these benefits. Using the example of three Mexican PGS initiatives, this paper explores the main challenges faced by PGS, specifically those predominantly found in producer-run PGS initiatives. Based on producer and consumer surveys, semi-structured and informal interviews, and participant and non-participant observation, the key challenges that emerged were continuous implementation of the certification process, time constraints, personal conflicts and conflict avoidance. The paper further argues that the requirements for PGS recognition under the Mexican Law for Organic Products may also threaten the continued existence of PGS and suggests that mechanisms for managing conflicts, incentivising PGS participation and mitigating opportunity costs are key if PGS are to continue to develop.

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Understanding India’s forest bureaucracy: a review

Fleischman

2015

Reg Environ Change

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Forest administrators play a crucial role in translating conservation and development policies into action, yet policy reformers and scholars rarely examine how these administrators make decisions about the implementation of conservation and development policy in India. In this paper, I address this gap. I begin by developing a framework that draws on Western policy implementation studies and Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development framework and then apply this framework to a review of published studies that examine the role of forest officials in implementing public policies in India. The framework differentiates between formal and informal institutions and between institutions which are developed within an agency and those that are directed from outside the agency. I find that forester behavior varies significantly across space and time and has an important influence on the outcome of forestry programs. Innovations and excellent program implementation appear related to foresters' desire to demonstrate professional efficacy. On the other hand, many failings can be traced either to external direction or to foresters developing internal institutions that are poorly suited to the problems they are tasked with solving. Existing research is limited in its geographic and temporal scope and leaves many questions unanswered, and thus, the review concludes with a brief outline of future research needs.

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Helping to self-help? External interventions to stimulate local collective action in Joint Forest Management, Maharashtra, India

Cited by 26 publications

References 46 publications

Making it last? Analysing the role of NGO interventions in the development of institutions for durable collective action in Indian community forestry

Making it last? Analysing the role of NGO interventions in the development of institutions for durable collective action in Indian community forestry

Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) in Mexico: a theoretic ideal or everyday practice?

Understanding India’s forest bureaucracy: a review

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