The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Marine Conservation

Abstract

Non-governmental organization (NGO) engagement in marine conservation can be understood by analyzing the roles that such organizations play. Document and website analysis and semi-structured interviews were used to identify five NGO roles: advocate, expert, manager, watchdog and enabler. Semi-structured interviews were also used to explore the nuances of the enabler role, an approach that works with and through stakeholders to define and reach conservation goals. Drivers of the enabler role were found to be organizational mission, conservation context, and funding needs. Benefits of the enabler role were better coordination and inclusivity, better long term conservation outcomes, targeting capacity and resource needs, better access to some contexts, and extended organizational capacity and resources. Challenges of the enabler role centered on resources needs, defining success and walking away, engaging with stakeholders, and tensions between roles. Facilitating factors included organizational trust, a commonly understood problem, and aligned interests. Strategies for enabling were cultivating trust, working collaboratively, clear communications, and shared responsibilities. The typology and improved delineation of the enabler role presented here may aid NGOs in explicitly identifying the approach(es) necessary to achieve their goals. It may also help observers of the non-profit sector better frame discussion of how roles interact. It is hoped that the systems understanding cultivated here provides organizations, funders and scholars with a new lens into NGO engagement in marine conservation.