The lessons from NRM2 and Indonesia are that environment and democracy-governance objectives are inseparable. Improvements in environmental management are dependent upon larger systemic changes in governance. In addition, environmental projects can make significant contributions to the initiation and consolidation of democratic transitions, including building civil society capacity for advocacy, promoting governance reform and accountability, advancing indigenous/human rights, promoting the rule of law and providing civic/legal education to citizens.
ENV programs can play an important role in helping civil society organizations to re-think and re-balance environmental governance and develop checks on the powers of government institutions. This case study tells two stories and is loosely framed by the metaphor of "checks and balances". The Checks story explains how the NRM2 team shaped their strategies and arguments to convince USAID leadership to keep "checks" flowing to ENV programs. The Balances story helps the reader to understand two types of balancing: 1) how power was re-balanced between Indonesian civil society organizations and government as a result of NRM2 support, and 2) how civil society activities were structured across the activities of three NRM2 program partners. These stories are intended to help ENV program managers prepare for political transitions.
To maintain ENV program funds during political transitions, ENV program managers may want to consider:
Documenting how ENV programs can be vehicles for achieving DG and other mission objectives.
Make alliances beyond the environmental community, both within and outside your unit and agency.
Tailor your program funding justifications for different audiences (e.g., the DG and economic relevance of ENV programs).
Focus on early results because "spin" alone will not save your ENV program funding ("walk the walk and talk the talk").
To help plan for political transitions and re-balance the rules, roles and relationships associated with environmental governance, ENV program managers should consider structuring programs that:
Help CSO partners promote environmental governance checks and balances, particularly protecting citizen rights, monitoring environmental management and institutionalizing transparent decision-making by public and private enterprises.
Promote checks and balances at different scales and in different natural resource sectors by working with a diverse set of CSO partners that have some accountability to communities (rather than just the nature conservation NGOs).
Work with "best bet" NGOs with track records of leadership and accountability.
Prepare civil society partners for leadership and cooperative endeavors through programmatic grants, technical assistance and networking rather than just stand-alone grants and contracts. Technical assistance and networking should improve skills in advocacy, technical analysis and/or program administration.