Continuity and change - MLi strategic planning

Since November 2013, at the initiative of Ted Wolfe, Murrumbidgee Landcare Inc (MLi) Chair, the Association has entered a period of review. There are numerous sensible reasons for this, not least that MLi has now been in operation for 18 years and it is always healthy to review what we are doing, why we are doing it and who we are doing it for.

It is also the case that significant changes, both internal to the community Landcare movement and external to it, have taken place. These changes impact upon the Association and we need to reflect on what this means for us.

As a representative community organisation, it is the Landcare community which determines our role, structure and goals. To this end, a group of 21 community Landcare members from across the catchment met in Wagga Wagga on 14th February 2014 to consider some fundamental questions:

• Do we still need an independent organisation representing community Landcare?
• If yes, what should be the membership of MLi if it is to represent community Landcare?
• What structure will make MLi most effective in 2014 and beyond?

Workshop participants represented a broad spectrum of our groups and networks including Hay Trees on Plains, Narrandera Urban, Harden-Murrumburrah, Kyeamba Valley,  Tarcutta Valley,  Binalong , Riverina Highlands , Wagga Wagga Urban, Southern ACT Catchment Group, Humula. We also had written input from some unable to attend the workshop including from Molonglo Catchment Group, Upper Murrumbigdee and the Junee Area  Network.

The workshop response to the question of whether we still need an independent organisation to  represent community Landcare was a resounding (unanimous) YES. And now we need to look at the fine print. Following a morning of discussions resulting in broad agreement about  future directions, the workshop charged a small working group with the task of considering the details. The working group will consider questions such as how MLi's membership and boundaries should be defined and will report back to the community for futher deliberation.

Some of the background provided for workshop participants...

What's changed?
Arguably the Landcare ethos has not changed. At its core, Landcare is about the community working together to improve knowledge and action to restore, maintain and preserve our natural resources. It is the case that environmental priorities have changed over time, due to natural changes, human intervention and the level of our skills and knowledge in dealing with problems. But the Landcare approach has remained fairly constant: communities working together to address problems.

But there has been significant change.

In the early 2000s, there was a much stronger Network/group structure with 15 active Landcare Networks (12 in NSW and 3 in the ACT) representing multiple Landcare groups actively working in their districts. At this time, MLi had a grant from the Natural Heritage Trust valued at nearly $1m and was responsible for employing 9 community based Landcare coordinators who worked for the Networks.

The introduction of the regional model, supported by both state and federal governments, saw radical change in both policy and funding for community Landcare. This has had a significant impact on the support and funding directly available to enable community Landcare organisations, including MLi, to function. MLi could no longer access funding to support the Landcare coordinator positions which were diverted to the CMA. In some areas, the CMA officer is able to function effectively to support local Networks but this does not apply across the catchment.

Some changes (by no means exhaustive):

• 4 of the 15 Landcare Networks have folded or are inactive (Cootamundra, Eastern Riverina, Central Riverina, Lower Murrumbidgee.)
• Many Landcare groups right across the catchment have folded or are inactive.
• MLi and Landcare Networks are unable to access funding to directly support their organisations or for administering their organisations.
• In 2009 a small welcome change with community Landcare once again able to access funding independently through the Australian Government's Caring for Our Country program. Other funding programs including NSW government programs appear now more inclined to fund Landcare projects independently. However, only project funding is available. Neither MLi nor Networks can access funding for administration or group (as distinct to project) support.
• Policy shift within NSW government in 2013 resulting in transformation to Local Land Services from January 2014.
• In 2014 bureaucratic boundaries change and the catchment is now managed by two Local Land Services; Riverina (mid-lower catchment) and South East (upper catchment).

Over the past 6 years the challenges faced by community Landcare has galvanised the movement and lead to the founding of Landcare NSW and the National Landcare Network. Just as MLi aims to give voice to community Landcare at a regional level, these two organisations aim to give voice to community Landcare at a state and national level respectively. These new bodies have been actively lobbying state and federal politicians to make them aware of the importance of community Landcare and its need for support. MLi has a representative on the committee of both of these organisations

Priorities
Since 2006, MLi has had three key goals:

• Network support
• Strategic alliances
• Promotion of Landcare and educating the next generation

Lack of administrative funding to support MLi or the Networks has made it almost impossible for MLi to directly support community Landcare Networks and groups in the manner it would like. In particular, MLi has not had funding to employ staff to work directly with groups and Networks. Fortunately, since 2010, the reinstatement of the Regional Landcare Facilitator position, hosted by MLi, has been able to make some progress here.

Where MLi has had success is in building strategic alliances with other organisations. MLi has been able to broker partnerships and significant funding (Caring for Our Country, Biodiversity Fund, Community Landcare, NSW Environmental Trust) to coordinate and administer projects to enable various groups to undertake on-ground works and education programs.

Next steps

Landcare members, groups and networks will be invited to review the proposals and recommendations from the strategic planning working group. We will need to look at whether changes we make might require changes to our constitution. This review is also looking at communications within the movement and distributing the working group's proposals will be a good test of our attempts to establish more effective communicaton channels through the community networks.

Landcare members are invited to get in contact with the MLi office to provide further input to the review process or to ensure we have their full contact details so we can include them in future planning and discussions.

Marion Benjamin
MLi Program Manager.