Village cluster The six villages were part of the same village cluster, or kumban pattana (Fig. 1; Table 1). The kumban has been a priority for the Lao administration since 2004. As an institutional link between the district and village levels, it

is: A formal administrative grouping of villages Aurora Kinase inhibitor within a district defined for the purpose of extending government policies and development programmes (MAF and NLMA 2010) Their focus is on agricultural PRT062607 ic50 extension, LUP, reporting to the district, and implementing and monitoring land management (Foppes 2008; Prime Minister 2008). A key institution within the kumban, TSC is in charge of the agricultural and forestry extension and management. Its roles are: To extend and transfer production techniques, lead farmers to produce and provide information (MAF 2008) We used the kumban as a knowledge platform. Because the TSC acts as a disseminator

for the district, the kumban is an ideal space to promote stakeholder participation in monitoring. Methods Methods used for selecting the resources to be monitored, choosing indicators, developing the monitoring tools, and building local capacity to use them, were partially adapted from multidisciplinary approaches. The latter were developed BTSA1 to understand and assess local perceptions PAK6 of land features and natural resources (more in Sheil et al. 2002). Community meetings Community meetings, with an average of 30 attendants in each village, were held through regular and repetitive village visits. In the meetings we presented

our research purpose, assessed local interest, and asked for villagers’ participation, then later validated our findings (e.g. for the selected NTFPs to monitor, the monitoring tools to be used with villagers and how to report). Community meetings were used for interactive explanation of monitoring concepts and goals. Short dramatic performances were used to explain the concepts (DeNeve and Heppner 1997). These plays featured three members of our team simulating situations, in which natural resource management, market(s), and negotiations with the authorities benefit from monitoring (Boucard et al. 2010). During the community meetings, we tried to keep a gender balance, so that women, who play a major role in NTFP harvesting and trade, could express their concerns and wishes. To do so, we used the “talking stick” method (Colfer 2007). The speakers passed a small bamboo stick to each other to use like a microphone. We had men or women assisting in the meetings, especially with the people who where usually quiet. Attendance for these meetings varied among villages and according to the season and villagers’ free time.