Natural Justice Kenya Trains Local Zanzibar NGO on Community Protocols

Community members plan a storyboard.

Photo: Mwambao Network

The community protocols (CP) process is a potentially powerful tool for communities facing threats to their cultural identity, livelihoods and resources. Vulnerable to these threats, some coastal communities in Zanzibar may be able to use the process to build their capacity, thereby enhancing their ability to deal with issues as they arise.

The Mwambao Coastal Community Network (Mwambao), a Tanzanian network formed to promote sustainable community-based management of coastal resources, invited Natural Justice Kenya to its headquarters in Zanzibar to discuss how the CP process might be used by the communities it serves.

Natural Justice Lawyer Gino Cocchiaro, accompanied by International Legal Fellow Jennifer Ingram, conducted a training for the Mwambao team on March 30-31, 2015 in Zanzibar. Explaining the CP process, activities and discussions focused on whether CPs are a viable option for empowering the communities Mwambao serves.

The training was part of the consultancy work Natural Justice offers those seeking to learn from its experiences in community legal empowerment for social and environmental justice. For more information on Natural Justice Kenya's work, contact gino(at)naturaljustice.org.