For Community-based Conservation (CBC) projects to be effective in the long-term, they need to receive the support of the communities involved. Assessing whether CBC governance systems are working effectively is challenging, and it is important to evaluate both the characteristics of these governance systems, and the perceptions of community members. It is also important to understand how factors other than the governance features of individual CBC organizations may affect feelings of satisfaction. Using existing data collected by a local NGO in northern Kenya from 2014 to 2017, we investigated whether characteristics indicative of good governance have increased over time in 28 community-owned natural resource management & conservation organizations ("conservancies"). We also assessed whether the presence of good governance characteristics, and other factors (whether community members feel safe, conservancy population size, and age of conservancy) predict the degree to which community members reported feeling satisfied with their conservancy. We adapted an existing monitoring dataset that captured governance, management, and administration practices. We created a modified index that focussed on concepts that have been identified in wider literature as being important aspects of the governance of socio-ecological systems. Our analyses produced the following main findings: Characteristics of good governance significantly increased in conservancies over the study period. Self-reported satisfaction with a conservancy was most strongly predicted by self-reported feelings of safety and our measure of good governance. Livestock raiding and land/boundary conflicts appears to be the security issues most closely associated with community members reporting that they feel unsafe. Our adapted measure of governance and analyses provide a more robust assessment of the idea that governance characteristics of conservancies improved in meaningful ways during the study period. However, these analyses also point to the ways in which the monitoring of governance of CBC projects could be improved by incorporating or strengthening assessments of concepts that are known to be of importance in governing the use of natural resources. Our analyses of community members' satisfaction with their conservancies point to the need for CBC projects to consider interactions with other groups in the wider landscape, and to engage with issues of governance at different levels of organization.Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Kwa ufanisi ya miradi ya uhifadhi ya kijamii (CBC) kwa muda mrefu inahitaji ipokee msaada kwa jumuiya husika. Kutathmini kama mifumo ya utawala wa CBC inafanya kazi kwa ufanisi una changamoto, na ni muhimu kupima sifa zote za mifumo hizi za utawala, na pia mitazamo ya wanajamii. Ni muhimu pia kuelewa sababu kuliko vipengele vya utawala wa shirika la CBC kibinafsi ambaye yanaweza kuathiri hisia ya kuridhisha. Kutumia data zilizopo zilizokusanywa na mashirika ya karibu yasiyo ya kiserikali katika kaskazini ya Kenya kutoka 2014 hadi 2017, tulichunguza kama sifa yanayoonyesha utawala bora yameongezeka kwa muda kwa usimamizi bora ya rasilimali za asili na mashirika ya uhifadhi ya kijamii ishirini na nane(28). Pia tulitathmini kama uwepo wa sifa za utawala bora, na mambo mengine (kama wanajamii wanahisi kuwa salama, ukubwa wa idadi ya watu wa uhifadhi, na umri wa uhifadhi) hutabiri kiwango ambacho wanajamii waliripoti kuridhika na uhifadhi wao. Tumezingatia ufuatiliaji za takwimu zilizopo ambazo zina angazia mazoea ya uongozi, usimamizi na utawala.Tumetengeneza kielezo ubadili kwa dhana ambazo zimetambuliwa kwa fasihi pana kama kuwa kipengele muhimu ya uongozi ya mfumo wa kijamii na mazingara. Utafiti wetu ulizaa matokeo makuu yafuatayo: Sifa ya utawala bora ziliongezeka kwa kiasi kikubwa katika uhifadhi kwa muda wa masomo. Kuridhika kwa wanajamii na uhifadhi yao ulitabiriwa kwa uzito na maelezo na hisia ya kipekee na kipimo yetu ya utawala bora. Wizi wa mifugo na migogoro ya ardhi/mipaka inaonekana kuwa masuala ya usalama yanayohusishwa kwa karibu zaidi na wanajamii kuripoti kwamba wanahisi hawako salama. Kwa kuzingatia vipimo vyetu vya utawala na uchambuzi hutoa tathmini thabiti ya wazo kuwa sifa za utawala za uhifadhi umeboreshwa kwa njia yenye maana kwa kipindi cha masomo.Hata hivyo, pia huu uchambuzi huelekeza njia ya utawala ya miradi ya CBC vile unawezwa kuboreshwa kwa kujumuisha au kuimarisha tathmini ya dhana inayojulikana kuwa ya umuhimu kwa utawala ya rasilimali asili. Utafiti wetu kwa uridhisho wa wanajamii na maifadhi yao huonyesha umuhimu ya miradi ya CBC kuzingatia maathiriano na makundi mengine ya mazingira kwa upana, na kushiriki na mambo ya utawala bora kwa viwango tofauti ya shirika. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
