Conservancies empower women
Women representation in Namibia's communal conservancies is becoming more commonplace than a few years ago with 39% of management committee members being female.
Furthermore, 14% of conservancies' chairpersons are female, while 41% of females are treasurers or financial managers, and 29% of women are staff members. According to the 2016 State of Communal Conservation in Namibia report, considerable management responsibilities are carried out over huge and often inaccessible areas, despite the fact that most conservancies are understaffed and underfinanced. However, the report says although women's representation on committees is strong, the views of women are often not taken as seriously as those of men during meetings. The report states there were a total of 245 women out of the 853 staff members working at conservancies, while 370 females represented on the conservancy committees out of 950 members. It added that while there are more committee representatives (950 in 2016) than staff members, the number of staff grew from 716 from 2015 to 853 in 2016. Of those, 584 were community game guards and resource monitors.
“That leaves an average of three staff members to manage the business interests and overall operations of each conservancy. While this rightfully prioritises field-based wildlife management, the overall management of a conservancy's operations and business affairs require a degree of know-how and business acumen that is not always present,” the report notes. It adds that conservancy governance should ideally shift to well-trained managers, including financial managers, with conservancy representatives functioning primarily in an oversight role.
A total of 71% of the reporting conservancies held annual general meetings during 2016, up from 63% in 2012.
“However, all conservancies should be holding AGMs as well as submitting annual financial reports to the ministry. Clearly, conservancy governance is still in need of support.”
At the end of 2016 there were 52 management plans in place and 15 sustainable business and financial plans in place. A total of 5 252 annual financial reports had been presented and 55 annual general meetings had been held. At the end of 2016 there were 62 conservancies out of the 83 registered conservancies, which included the Kyaramacan Association, which generated returns.
The biggest challenges according to the report were meeting the governance training needs of the large number of conservancies and community forests and increasing the distribution of equitable financial benefits to members.
There are also large differences in the degrees of conservancy development, based on when a conservancy was registered, the level of commitment of the people involved, the availability of transport, electricity and water infrastructure, and the amount of technical support available.
ELLANIE SMIT
Furthermore, 14% of conservancies' chairpersons are female, while 41% of females are treasurers or financial managers, and 29% of women are staff members. According to the 2016 State of Communal Conservation in Namibia report, considerable management responsibilities are carried out over huge and often inaccessible areas, despite the fact that most conservancies are understaffed and underfinanced. However, the report says although women's representation on committees is strong, the views of women are often not taken as seriously as those of men during meetings. The report states there were a total of 245 women out of the 853 staff members working at conservancies, while 370 females represented on the conservancy committees out of 950 members. It added that while there are more committee representatives (950 in 2016) than staff members, the number of staff grew from 716 from 2015 to 853 in 2016. Of those, 584 were community game guards and resource monitors.
“That leaves an average of three staff members to manage the business interests and overall operations of each conservancy. While this rightfully prioritises field-based wildlife management, the overall management of a conservancy's operations and business affairs require a degree of know-how and business acumen that is not always present,” the report notes. It adds that conservancy governance should ideally shift to well-trained managers, including financial managers, with conservancy representatives functioning primarily in an oversight role.
A total of 71% of the reporting conservancies held annual general meetings during 2016, up from 63% in 2012.
“However, all conservancies should be holding AGMs as well as submitting annual financial reports to the ministry. Clearly, conservancy governance is still in need of support.”
At the end of 2016 there were 52 management plans in place and 15 sustainable business and financial plans in place. A total of 5 252 annual financial reports had been presented and 55 annual general meetings had been held. At the end of 2016 there were 62 conservancies out of the 83 registered conservancies, which included the Kyaramacan Association, which generated returns.
The biggest challenges according to the report were meeting the governance training needs of the large number of conservancies and community forests and increasing the distribution of equitable financial benefits to members.
There are also large differences in the degrees of conservancy development, based on when a conservancy was registered, the level of commitment of the people involved, the availability of transport, electricity and water infrastructure, and the amount of technical support available.
ELLANIE SMIT
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