LIFE Plus Programme
The LIFE Plus Project is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other sources of matching contributions. Programme activities are implemented by MET, local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), conservancies, and other involved Namibian institutions. Through a Cooperative Agreement (CA) with USAID, WWF coordinates with a consortium of CA partners (i.e., Namibia Nature Foundation, Cooperative League of the United States of America, and International Resources Group, Inc.) to assist Namibian CBNRM support organisations with the implementation of their National CBNRM Programme. The Consortium works under the guidance of the MET and the Namibia Association of CBNRM Support Organisations (NACSO). NACSO is composed of representatives from 12 member NGOs and the University of Namibia who cooperatively work, together with the MET, to represent and coordinate the key CBNRM services provided to conservancies in Namibia.
The LIFE Plus CA commenced on September 1, 2004 and will operate through August 31, 2009, thereby building upon 11 previous years of USAID support to Namibia's CBNRM Programme.
Phase I, which commenced in May, 1993, was characterised as a foundation-building period for the National CBNRM Programme. Phase II, which commenced in August, 1999, built further upon the solid foundation laid by Phase I, but focused on a number of emerging aspects of the evolving National CBNRM Programme. In particular, emphasis was placed on assisting conservancies to become more effective and self-sustaining managers of their natural resources; thus assisting conservancies to develop the ability, skills and enforcement capacity to manage and regulate their own natural resources.
The LIFE Plus Project will continue to build upon the earlier efforts of LIFE I and II, but will expand its scope to assist the Namibia CBNRM Program to transcend to second generation CBNRM. This can be described as conservancies being: democratically directed, from the bottom-up, by an active and well-informed membership; business driven, with income-generating enterprises reflecting diversification beyond wildlife and tourism; and multiple-resource oriented, with conservancies being given the legal authority to manage and benefit from an expanded number of natural resources in an integrated manner. This successful transition will lead to: strengthened conservancies as rural, democratic institutions; livelihood enhancement of conservancy members through increased tangible (cash, meat, employment, etc.) and in-kind (improved environment, improved skills, empowerment, etc.) benefits; and expansion the range of natural resources that conservancies may manage in an integrated fashion.
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