Browsing by Author "Amy Elizabeth, Bower"

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    A funding effectiveness evaluation framework : a novel tool for enhancing protected area management effectiveness
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Amy Elizabeth, Bower; Blignaut, James; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Widespread shortcomings in protected area (PA) management effectiveness are undermining the integrity of PAs as a multi-purpose conservation and sustainable development strategy. For without effective management, site objectives cannot be adequately fulfilled and so consequently, the anticipated benefits cannot be realised. Therefore, it is imperative that tangible efforts are made to promote greater management effectiveness in PA sites worldwide. And so, the aim of this research was to develop and test a novel mechanism that could be applied to help enhance PA management effectiveness. The developed framework is a funding effectiveness evaluation tool, which was designed to generate site-specific feedback regarding the on-site funding structure and resource distributions. A funding effectiveness evaluation was selected as the direction of development and research because there is a well-documented, strong positive correlation between funding and management effectiveness, and so improvements in on-site funding will likely yield improvements in overall management effectiveness. Moreover, on-site funding effectiveness has been previously overlooked by other management effectiveness assessment mechanisms, and so there is an opportunity to provide novel feedback and add an alternative mechanism to the available toolkit. To develop the funding effectiveness evaluation tool, methodologies from established PA management effectiveness evaluations as well as assessment tools from other fields of research were compiled and merged to generate a novel framework. Within this developed framework, there are two assessment phases: a PA risk assessment and a PA funding assessment. The PA risk assessment identifies the site-specific priority risks, which provide the contextual basis for the PA funding assessment. The PA funding assessment then evaluates how well the on-site funding structure and targeted resource distributions enable the reduction of site risk exposure. This assessment is conducted by measuring six quantitative indicators, from which rating scores and feedback regarding on-site funding effectiveness are produced. To test this developed framework, pilot applications were conducted at two PA sites within the United States of America, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. From these pilot studies, practical real-world examples of the evaluation feedback were produced and initial insights into the framework strengths and weaknesses were discerned to direct future adjustments. But most importantly, the pilot applications provided a positive indication that the site-specific novel feedback generated by this funding effectiveness evaluation framework does have the potential to help enhance PA management effectiveness. Thus, the preliminary framework for the funding effectiveness evaluation tool produced by this research could provide an alternative, supplemental approach to pursuing greater PA management effectiveness.