Policy-relevant assessment of community-level coastal management projects in Sri Lanka

Community-level coastal management programs are being introduced in some countries as a practical strategy to respond to conditions of poverty and unsustainable resource use practices. Two recently developed Special Area Management (SAM) programs developed in Sri Lanka are part of this international trend. These two SAM programs were assessed to identify planning and early management issues that may be relevant to future projects. This paper examines general issues in assessing community-level projects. The particular focus is on a few issues of general relevance: community participation in the planning process; the adequacy of the boundary; quality of the technical analysis; adequacy of resource management activities; transparency of management decisions; community acceptance of the program; and sustainability of resource management activities.