By Nara Wisesa
WWF-Indonesia in collaboration with Nusa Cendana University (Undana) Kupang, State University of Papua (Unipa) Manokwari, and WWF-US, on August 25-29 held a Training Workshop on Socio-Economic Impact Monitoring Procedures, at Greenia Hotel, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. This activity was held as a prelude to the socio-economic impact monitoring of the establishment of the Alor and East Flores Regional Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Sunda Banda Seascape, which will be conducted by Undana with support from WWF-Indonesia from September to November. This monitoring will use the procedures previously applied by Unipa in monitoring the socio-economic impacts of marine conservation and protection areas in the Bird's Head Seascape in Papua.

By applying standardized procedures, it is expected that data collected in these two seascapes can be compared to determine the impacts of the establishment of marine protected areas. In the future, this information will be useful in measuring socioeconomic impacts and answering questions about the effectiveness of marine protected area establishment in Indonesia.

The training covered information collection procedures, namely key informant and community organization representative interviews, household surveys, and focus group discussions (FGDs), using a set of questionnaires prepared by WWF-Indonesia. After receiving training and sharing experiences with trainers from Unipa, the Undana Team then conducted field practice using the methodology in Tablolong Village, West Kupang District. After the field practice, the Undana Team also received training on entering data into the database (database) which was also developed by WWF. In addition, the Undana Team members, who mostly consisted of social science academics, also received a basic explanation of marine habitats and important species in the area to be surveyed.

After this week of intensive training, the Undana team will continue internal training before leaving for their respective data collection sites in early September. The 12-person Undana team will survey villages located within the Alor MPA and the East Flores MPA reserve area, as well as several control sites outside the MPA area located in several locations in East Flores, Solor, Adonara, and Lembata.