Marine Stewardship Council Training Notes - September 2008

Training for Gathering Data in Data Decient Situations Designed and Delivered b y Susan Guy Scottish Particip atory Initiatives London 2008 For The Marine Stewardship C ouncil

Background
C ertication b odies, who have b een accredited to carry out MSC sheries assessments, have p rimarily b een involved in assessing sheries on stocks and sp ecies which have b een well researched and whose affects have b een, and continue to b e, well documented in p ap ers, rep orts, etc. Typ ically, what hap p ens during an assessment, after the C B writes an assessment tree b ased on the MSC Princip les and C riteria for sustainab le shing, is that they conduct a site visit during which they collect all the necessary data to score the shery against the tree. This usually involves meeting with the client shery and any stakeholders who then hand over stock assessment rep orts, rep orts ab out C PUE, b y catch, quotas, b iological reference p oints, gear interactions, the sheries management p lan, etc. The site visit typ ically takes one or two days, after which the C B assessment team goes away with the material and scores the shery. Some sheries may have limited data and the information the C Bs use to assess sheries just isn!t availab le in data-decient sheries, mostly b ecause a lot of that documentation doesn!t exist. However, this doesn!t mean that the sher couldn!t qualify for certication, and MSC feels that sheries shouldn!t b e excluded from the MSC p rogram b ecause they don!t have a standard system of record keep ing.

The Reason for this Training Workshop:

MSC wanted to p rovide the C Bs with an op p ortunity to learn how to gain and interp ret qualitative or semi-quantitative information on a shery from meetings with local stakeholders and others who may have knowledge of the shery. The typ e of information they need is that which will enab le them to make a judgement on what the imp act that shing activities (e.g. shing, b ait collection, gear loss, etc.) are having on the stock (geograp hic range, p op ulation size, rep roductive cap acity, etc.), hab itat, b ycatch (or retained non target sp ecies), b iological community, etc. Also, there!s a need to understand the management system for the shery in whatever shap e or form it may take. This is a p articular p rob lem for the C B!s at p resent b ecause they are used to just going to the authorities and asking what the management p lan is, how well is it working, etc. and this may not b e ap p rop riate with these sheries. The aim of this training workshop was to !start" the process of: p roviding C B rep resentatives with tools/skills necessary to collect and understand non conventional typ es of information/data/knowledge in order to carry out sheries assessments of data-decient or small scale sheries, p rimarily in develop ing countries.

Training Workshop Objectives

The Training was designed to !start" the process of: Building up on C B!s own exp eriences skills of facilitating effective consultation with stakeholders; Trying out some of the tools which may help them facilitate effective semi-structured interviews; Discussing ways to b reak through b arriers for effective consultation; Discuss and try to demonstrate ways to effectively facilitate interviews/ meetings of any size.

Timeline for this workshop: 1:45 2:00 Intro and into group s Designing Stakeholder C onsultation and trying tools such as Map p ing, Pie Diagrams, Post-it Notes, Seasonal C alendar, Timelines Break Building up on data and analysis generated in the rst half of workshop trying out how to use H-Diagrams, Postit notes, Pair W ise Ranking C harts,Imp rovement Plan Tab les Questions and discussion C lose

3:15 3:45

4:45 5:00

How to Design Stakeholder Consultation Process

Set realistic and achievable consultation objectives - What do you need to achieve, or know, or get data/ information about? Design a process to achieve these objectives how are you going to achieve your consultation objectives? Design and or modify facilitation tools to help facilitate the consultation process; and Understanding the need to monitor and evaluate how well your consultation objectives are being achieved.

If the objectives are not being achieved you must ask what isnt working? Is it that your objectives are over ambitious? Is it that your consultation process was not designed to achieve the objectives? Are the facilitators/ researchers aware and clear of the consultation objectives? Are they skilled facilitators and able to use the facilitation/ data gathering tools effectively?

Principles for effective consultation

There are some general p rincip les of running effective, democratic and enjoyab le meetings and one to one interviews: Make sure you are clear ab out the ob jectives for the consultation avoid ice b reakers/ cringe making games do not set up meeting environments that look like this p icture large meetings are more p roductive when working in smaller working group s (5 - 6 p eop le at a tab le), Use p ost-its, b ig p ap er, b ig p ens, diagrams (hforms, timelines, map s) and use "time! as a tool. These things are designed to help facilitate (i.e. make it easier for) p eop le to have equal say in a way which is recordab le. Some of the ways to deal with difcult situations in meetings and interviews are: to start with realistic ob jectives; b e clear ab out what you are trying to do; trust in facilitation tools to help make consultation easier and keep everyone focused and on track (including yourself!).

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Process Design for Consultation

Some of the p ractical methods to make meetings, interviews and consultation events enjoyab le, effective and democratic: to start with realistic ob jectives; b e clear ab out what you are trying to do; design a p rocess to achieve the consultation ob jectives; use and trust in facilitation tools to help make consultation easier and keep everyone focused and on track (including yourself!). Monitor and evaluate how well the ob jectives are b eing achieved to help keep everyone focused and on track (including yourself!). Rememb er that the majority of p eop le will not go to meetings or ll in questionnaires Get out and ab out to nd p eop le - go to them rather than rely on them coming to you.

Tools to help facilitate consultation with individuals and or groups

Use p ractical and relevant tools for facilitating effective meetings and one to one surveys. Some of these tools are: Map s p ost-its notes diagrams such as h-forms p ie charts Timelines Pair-wise ranking tab les action p lanning matrices.

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Please note that in my "b ook! - "Semi Structured Interviews! are not a tool! To conduct effective Semi- Structured Interviews you must use tools like these mentioned ab ove. Otherwise you risk wasting everyb ody's time.

A Tackle Box
Some of the tools to help you facilitate stakeholder consultation and data gathering in data decient situations

Mapping, Pie Diagrams, Post-it Notes, Seasonal Calendars, Timelines H-Diagrams, Pair Wise Ranking Charts, Improvement/Action Plan Tables

Mapping
Using Maps to get an understanding of the local situation and to help gather data and knowledge.

Mapping
Using Maps to get an understanding of the local situation and to help gather data and knowledge.
If you use only one tool ever - this is the one! You should never be without a map at anytime when gathering information about real issues. If the information is not !mapable" it probably isn"t real or useful! Mapping can: help p eop le record and analyse information which is otherwise difcult to do verb ally b e less reliant up on language, sp elling or other literacy skills give less condent p eop le a chance to have as equal a say as the more condent help to ensure that p eop le!s views are recorded and the geograp hical detail is retained An Example of How to do it: Get a good b ase map if you can or use whatever sort of map you can nd (even if it!s a tourist map ). If you can not nd a map then use a hand drawn one (hand drawn map can b e digitised into GIS, p hotograp hed and included in your rep orts etc). W orking in group s of 5 p eop le using large map s or A3 size map when interviewing one to one out and ab out. Everyone gets a p en/marker and ab le to record their knowledge and views directly on the map (or onto p osit notes stuck onto the map ). Ask p eop le to describ e the local situation b y drawing on map s to record the what is b eing caught? W here?, how and with what?, b y who?, when? etc. Make sure all discussion gets recorded and referenced to the map !

Pie Charts
A tool to enable the discussion, analysis and documentation about issues of proportion
Pie C harts can: help p eop le record and analyse information which is otherwise difcult to do verb ally b e less reliant up on language, sp elling or other literacy skills give less condent p eop le a chance to have as equal a say as the more condent help to ensure that p eop le!s views are recorded and issues ab out p rop ortion can b e visualized and therefore recorded. An Example of How to do it: In a meeting situation - working in group s of 5 p eop le using large p ap er (b ut even a p ap er nap kin will do) or A3 size map when interviewing one to one out and ab out. Everyone gets a p en/marker and ab le to record their knowledge and views directly onto the p ap er. Ask p eop le to describ e the local situation b y drawing a circle and together work out the p rop ortion of things like availab ility % e.g. what p rop ortion of the distrib ution of a sp ecies is b eing shed? Make sure all discussion gets recorded and referenced b ack to the map you would have used to start your interview!

Pie diagram showing % of the area being shed

Map showing species distribution

H-diagram
H-form diagram with p ost-it notes
Why not a score of 100? How sustainable is fishing in this area? Why not a score of 0?

What it can do:

help monitor and or evaluate and help to identify ob jectives help identify indicators to measure success Help give you a b ase line measurement

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Use Postit notes to record reasons

50

100

How to do it:

W orking in group s of 5 (b ut also effective to interview 1 p erson) Fold you!re A1 size p ap er (or A4 p ap er for 1 p erson) into four Op en up the p ap er and trace in the H Decide what your scale is e.g. 0= b ad and 10=excellent and mark in 0 at one side of the centre line and 10 at the other. Since you using 0-100 to measure most things when auditing then use this scale. Ask p eop le to (without discussion) give their score b y marking an x along the centre line Once everyone has done this ask each p erson (without discussion) to write onto p ost-it notes their reasons for their score (e.g why not a score of 0? And why not a score of 100?) Ask everyone to read out their p ost-its and to stick their reasons under the sad or smile headings Once everyone has b een heard you can ask the group to look at the scores on the line and come up with the group score (could b e average of all scores).

Timelines with post-it notes

What it can do: Enab les you to see quickly comp lex changes which may have occurred in an area regarding all asp ects of sheries. How to do it: Start b y identifying changes and or events which have occurred onto Post-it notes. These do not need to b e recalled in chronological order Once all that can b e recalled has b een recorded onto individual p os-its draw a line onto A1 p ap er which everyone can reach easily (e.g. don!t exp ect p eop le to get up out of the seats) or A4 when interviewing one to one One end of the line could b e p ast and the other now (or even future if you are looking to p lan ahead or p redict changes). Everyone has a p en and p ost-its to hand sort p ost-it notes along the line according to what hap p ened rst - then what etc.

Pair wise Ranking Table

What it can do: Enab les you to quickly p rioritise issues, ideas. Help s to reduce conict and tension in a group b y having a logical structure to work through to comp are each idea with each idea Help s to reduce b ias, b ulling etc. How to do it: Start b y identifying what needs to b e done onto Post-it notes (use the ideas generated through the H-form tool). These ideas/ issues should not b e sorted into chronological order Using a p iece of p ap er - draw a right angle Stick p ost-its down one side and give each a letter Rep eat the coding along the b ottom Start together as a group to work through what is more imp ortant - is it "a! or "e!? or what needs to b e done rst "a! or "e!? W ork through all the ideas comp aring all ideas with all ideas Stand b ack and have a look at what has come up most = the ideas in order of imp ortance etc. Note: if you have more than 8 ideas to prioritise you may be better off using a timeline to sort.

a b c d e

a a c d e b b c c e
e d c b a

= p riority or most imp ortant idea, issue etc.

Action Planning matrix

How you can develop action plans or plans for improvement with or for your client
Tool: Action Planning Matrix What it can do: develop detailed p lans for action How to do it: Moving from your p air wise ranking chart or (your timelines) start with the task which needs to b e done rst and work through the matrix. Once the rst task is discussed and recorded move onto the next task from the ranking chart (or timeline).
What Why? Where? needs to be done? how ? Who? Wi th w hat? By w hen?

What you can do to try to give all people a chance to have equal say regarding their knowledge, views and aspirations
Don!t just rely on p eop le coming to meetings and or lling out questionnaires Have a realistic agenda (what do you want out of the meeting and or the consultation) Design a p rocess for facilitating the meeting so that you address everything on the agenda Have agreed meeting rules or contract (e.g. how do you want meetings to b e and or not b e?) Break up and work in small working group s rather than one large group W ear name tags Everyone has p ens/markers and can reach the p ap er without standing up Use tools like diagrams to help structure, focus and record discussion Let p eop le do their own recording onto p ost-it notes Keep to time (have time keep ers)

Things to Remember for Effective Stakeholder Engagement and Consultation

Rememb er that the majority of stakeholder would like to b e more involved; Rememb er that the majority of p eop le will not come to meetings, b e p art of a group , ll in questionnaires - you need to go to them; Rememb er to make b etter use of local newsp ap ers, p ub lic notice b oards, local web sites to advertise stakeholder consultation; Rememb er to try to reach the silent majority - don!t rely just on p eop le lling out questionnaires or coming to meetings - get out to where ever/ how ever you can reach them; Rememb er to try and ensure that all p eop le have equal access to information, and events; Rememb er when running meetings: have clear and realistic ob jectives and timelines for the meeting, use facilitation tools e.g. b reaking into smaller working group s, p ost-its, b ig p ap er, b ig p ens, diagrams (h-forms, timelines, map s) and use "time! as a tool. These things are designed to help facilitate (i.e. make it easier for) p eop le to have equal say in a way which is recordab le. C onducting "semi structured interviews! without using visual diagrams and other facilitating and recording tools is not a effective or p roductive use of anyb ody!s time!

Susan Guy Director Scottish Participatory Susan Guy is recognised nationally and internationally for her pioneering work on community research, consultation, and evaluation. She has unrivalled expertise in participatory research design, training, management and facilitation. She has advised many governmental and public bodies on their approach to consultation and worked with communities across the UK to ensure that they have real say in the issues and services that affect them. She uses robust, innovative, and socially inclusive methods that work in a variety of situations. Rather than using any packaged or labelled approach, she adapts or invents techniques that aim to secure wide-ranging stakeholder participation. Susan Guy can be contacted about training in participatory approaches and tools for carrying out assessments by email: sueguy@compuserve.com and or telephone +44 1368 862 552