Strengthening Empowerment

6. Civil Society Engagement
Promoting civil society awareness and participation in coastal decision-making

The tsunami greatly increased the understanding of the role of coastal ecosystems in both shoreline protection and in the provision of other valuable goods and services. There has also been a sharp upswing in public interest in coastal management, and reconstruction processes. The post-tsunami reconstruction efforts spurred an intensive period of engagement with the civil sector in dealing with the impacts of the tsunami, and increased efforts to raise public awareness on topics relating to coastal ecosystems and their important role.

As the post-tsunami reconstruction efforts have come to an end, and things have returned to “normal”, there is a danger that the heightened awareness and involvement of civil society in coastal ecosystem management will diminish. Yet integrated and equitable approaches to coastal management both require and demand the full participation and support of civil society, if they are to succeed and be sustained in the future. Broad stakeholder participation is a prerequisite for transparent and accountable decision-making and good governance in coastal development. The tsunami aftermath has also highlighted that particular attention needs to be given to the participation constraints faced by indigenous people and other marginalised groups in the region.

The role of women, both in post-tsunami recovery, and in achieving sustainable development more generally has been recognised. However, progress in empowering women in tsunami affected areas was already slow before Dec 2004 as evidenced by the 2009 UN report The Tsunami Legacy; Innovation, breakthroughs and change under the Global Lessons learned project. Link to Tsunami legacy Report

Many government agencies and NGOs, from both conservation and development sectors, have set in place programmes of work that directly involve local communities and civil society to raise public awareness. These involve a wide scope of target audiences, who have very different interests, needs and priorities and a widely varying awareness of coastal ecosystem and livelihood issues.

This programme of work is tied intimately to the actions carried out under the other MFF programme of work, which aims to link this improved awareness with concrete on-the-ground actions in coastal ecosystem management and support to sustainable livelihoods.

This programme of work-carries out actions to generate the following outputs:

• Targeted awareness programmes on the role and importance of coastal ecosystems for development and livelihoods, for stakeholders such as women, school children, resource users, protected area buffer communities, urban dwellers, local government administration and national development decision-makers.
  
  
• Translation of key documents and information materials into local language, and adaptation to local conditions and circumstances.
  
  
• Development of primary and secondary school curricula on coastal ecosystem topics.
  
  
• Support to multi-stakeholder forums for coastal zone management, at the local level and within the context of national ICM programmes.
  
  
• Work with the mass media to build the capacity of journalists and writers to report on ecosystem concerns in radio, TV and newspapers, with a special focus on local language presentation.
  
  
• Support for women’s fora to discuss and elaborate ideas and tools for the restoration work.

The actions carried out under this programme of work will contribute towards the following MFF results:

• More effective policy, legal and institutional mechanisms for inter-sectoral coordination in environmental aspects of coastal management.

• Strengthened alliances and procedures to improve environmental law enforcement and compliance.
  
  
• More aware, engaged and empowered civil society supporting coastal ecosystem conservation.
  
  
• Improved participation in, support for, and benefit from, ecosystem conservation among coastal dwellers, especially women.