Environmental Conservation 32 (4): 349–355 © 2006 Foundation for Environmental Conservation doi:10.1017/S0376892905002523 Protected area managers’ perceptions of community conservation training in West and Central Africa PAUL SCHOLTE 1,2 ∗ , WOUTER T. DE GROOT 2 , ZACHARIE MAYNA 1 AND TALLA 1 1 Ecole pour la Formation des Sp´ ecialistes de la Faune, PO Box 271, Garoua, Cameroon, and 2 Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, PO Box 9518, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands Date submitted: 3 August 2005 Date accepted: 6 December 2005 SUMMARY Training needs assessments have revealed the need for people-oriented training to increase the job performance of African protected area (PA) managers. The Garoua regional wildlife college for francophone Africa (Cameroon) developed the first long (diploma and certificate) and refresher courses in community conservation for mid-career PA managers and guards from West and Central Africa. Through lectures, case studies and participatory rural appraisal exercises, the courses emphasized the development of skills for tuning principles of people participation to the conservation objectives of PAs. The present study reviews the trainees’ evaluations of these courses, to appreciate their relevance and support their further development. Diploma students judged the course as highly relevant because of the acquired analytical skills, whereas certificate students considered them only of medium relevance. The response to short refresher courses varied as a function of the use of cases from either the trainees’ professional experience or from the fieldwork location. The reactions of trainees to this learning opportunity show that PA personnel are not ‘attitude-limited’ as often suggested. Their constraints to develop a more people-oriented work style lie largely in the areas of knowledge and skills. These findings point to the need for increased efforts to implement training of PA personnel in community conservation, preferably early in their careers. Keywords: Africa, community conservation, evaluation, protected area, training INTRODUCTION Community conservation, namely the notion that conserva- tion cannot and should not be pursued against the interests and wishes of local people, has received increasing attention from researchers, authorities, development and conservation agencies and local community organizations (Hulme & Murphree 1999; Adams & Hulme 2001). Bruner et al. (2001) and Vanclay (2001) showed the importance of the ∗ Correspondence: Dr Paul Scholte, Nieuwe Teertuinen 12C, 1013 LV Amsterdam, the Netherlands e-mail: ScholKerst@cs.com number of protected area (PA) guards and their awareness- building activities in local communities for the effectiveness of protected areas. PA personnel, including wardens and guards, have seldom been involved in the development of community conservation, however, in spite of its substantial international funding (El-Ashry 2001). Training needs assessments for Eastern and Southern Africa (ULG Consultants Ltd 1998) and the African continent (Pitkin 1995) have highlighted the need to train PA managers in human-related subjects (see also Western 2003). In India and the USA, the need to include a human dimension in conservation education has also been stressed (Saberwal & Kothari 1996; Jacobson & McDuff 1998). Unfortunately, the African training needs assessments have remained without further specification; for example stressing a need for all aspects of Community Based Natural Resource Management training (ULG Consultants Ltd 1998). Some publications have emphasized that changes in attitudes of PA personnel are required (for example IIED [International Institute for Environment and Development] 1994). Existing training courses in participatory natural resource management (Borrini-Feyerabend et al. 2000; Nguinguiri 2001) are based on insights from participatory rural deve- lopment (Pretty et al. 1995), which do not take frictions between conservation and short-term development objectives into account (Oates 1999; Scholte 2003a). For example, PA personnel also have a policing role, rendering their position towards local communities sometimes ambiguous, which requires special skills and attitudes. Another difference with participatory rural development is that PA personnel are evaluated on overall conservation results. From their perspective therefore, community conservation tends to be seen as a means rather than a goal. Garoua Wildlife College (‘Garoua’) is one of the three regional African wildlife colleges that train most of the con- tinent’s mid-career PA managers (Scholte 2003b). Founded in 1970, Garoua draws its students from 20 francophone, mainly West and Central African countries. Garoua provides two-year courses at both Certificate and Diploma level, with entry requirements of BEPC (similar to English GCSE) and BAC (similar to English A-levels), respectively. On average, Garoua students will possess more than 10 years professional experience (Scholte 2003b). Such professional experience has been argued to be the most important variable influencing learning results (Dochy et al. 1997), although this is conditioned by active student participation in the courses.