As the Community Partnership and Outreach
Programme describes, interactions between the MMNR
and
the communities living around it are likely to
intensify over the years ahead, and the importance of
establishing
and strengthening community support for the
MMNR’s conservation is now more important than
ever
before. The programme sets out an ambitious range
of objectives to be achieved and actions to be
implemented
to deliver the programme’s overall purpose
of fostering a sense of ownership and strong support
for
conservation efforts in the Greater Mara
Ecosystem. However, much of the programme focuses on
areas
that have not traditionally been a priority of
MMNR management, and necessitate an increase in
human
resources and knowledge of specific technical
areas. Although the programme does set out some of the
human
resource requirements that the programme’s
successful implementation will require (such as increases
in
the number of community scouts), there is an
additional need to designate or recruit an officer who
will
spearhead the programme’s implementation,
and form the vitally important link between MMNR
management
and the communities living around the area.
Therefore, under this action, MMNR management
will either recruit or designate a community
warden or officer, either jointly to cover the entire Reserve
or
separate officers for the CCN and CCTM sections,
who will be chiefly responsible for the programme’s
implementation.
