Rebecca Djanivenda of the Organization Ecotouristique du lac Oguemoué, was trained in the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation through the MENTOR-Manatee Programme in Cameroon, funded by the USFWS. As soon as she went back home to Gabon, she started putting what she learned into practice. She was contacted by a government partner from the “Direction Provinciale des Eaux et foret (the Regional delegation of Water and Forest department) of Moyen-Ogooué”, Mr MENGOM’EBANG Rhandy, who is the chief of service on aquatic ecosystems. He asked Rebecca to help develop a project that would ensure SMART goals and objectives.
After Mr. Mengom had done a field visit, he realized that anthropocentric/economic activities had negatively affected the natural flow of the river Ogooué (a big river that runs through the region), which is also the main tributary to the Bas-Ogooué, the biggest Ramsar site of Gabon. In order to address this problem, he decided to write a project to “raise awareness and sensitize economic operators on the importance of conserving wetlands and the river Ogooué”.
Rebecca Djanivenda presenting the Bas-Ogooué Ramsar Site, Gabon, 2017
Rebecca then worked with him and his team to come up with a conceptual model and results chain to express what changes they expect as a result of their interventions, and in order to produce good goals and objectives. During the process the team also developed the right strategies and activities to ensure that they get to their objectives. The project was validated by the director of the Department of Water and Forest Moyen-Ogooué and is presently being funded by the economic operators. The first activity implemented was the sensitization of the Central Council office in a conference on Wetlands, in which Rebecca was invited and it was a big success since the mayors decided to take specific actions to contribute to better management.
