Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation of Joint Management Project

Checking and learning to improve partnership and management actions between Parks and Traditional Owners in the Northern Territory

What is the project about?

This checking and learning project is about helping Traditional Owners and the NT Parks and Wildlife Service (Parks) to improve joint management by working together. Parks and Traditional Owners assisted by the Northern and Central Land Councils and Charles Darwin University are discussing and deciding on a framework to monitor and evaluate joint management of four parks. The framework will identfy key questions (indicators) to find out how joint management activities in Parks are working, like caring for country, looking after visitors and decision-making processes.

Ths project runs for three years (2008-2011). Funds for the project have been provided by the Australian Research Council as well as Parks, Northern and Central Land Councils and Charles Darwin University.

Who are the project partners?

Parks and Wildlife Service and Traditional Owners are the main partners in Joint Management of each park. Visit the PWS Joint Management website.
Northern and Central Land Council staff act as facilitators, providing support and advice to Traditional Owners
Staff from the School for Environmental Research at Charles Darwin University facilitate, support and advise Traditional Owners and Parks on how to assess Joint Management

Why do this project?

Good management of parks and reserves requiresa strong partnership between Parks staff and the Traditional Owners. This partnership can be assisted by monitoring and evaluating current practices and helps partners to:

learn how jointmanagement of the park is working
communicate better
discuss, agree on and make better joint decisions
strengthen their working relationships
meet their individual and shared goals

This project will build partner skills to collect information to check, learn and improve joint management. The project will also make recommendations to partners about joint management policy in the NT.

What is monitoring and evaluation?

Monitoring is checking things you or someone else does over time. To monitor effectively, relevant information must be collected about key questions (indicators) to tell us how things are working. The results will help us to measure changes and show whether a set of activities or a plan are meeting their objectives.

What is joint management?

Joint management involves an equitable partnership in which the Northern Territory Government, represented by the Parks and Wildlife Service, works together with Aboriginal Traditional Owners to manage parks and reserves.

Some examples of joint management outcomes and indicators:

Outcome: Country being looked after properly
Indicators:

good management of fire, weeds, feral animals and native species
satisfaction with decision-making processes
effective communication between and amongst partners (Traditional Owners and Parks)

Outcome: Traditional Owner involvement and employment in park management
Indicators:

Traditional Owners (including women and young people) employed as: park rangers, contractors, casual workers
Traditional owners engaged in economic business (e.g. tour guides, cultural dancers, art sales, tour enterprises, etc).

For more information on the project, contact:

Arturo Izurieta
School for Environmental Research
Charles Darwin University
Arturo.izurieta@cdu.edu.au

Ph: 08 8946 6646

William Panton
NRETA/Parks and Wildlife Service (Northern Region)
William.panton@nt.gov.au
Ph: 08 8999 4477

Mac Moyses
NRETA/Parks and Wildlife Service
(Central Region)
Mac.moyses@nt.gov.au
Ph: 08 8951 8250

Paul Donohoe

Northern Land Council
DonohP@nlc.org.au
Ph: 08 8920 5100

Mark Burslem
Central Land Council
Mark.Burslem@clc.org.au
Ph: 08 8950 5003

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