Evaluation of Capacity-building of Staff for Effective Management in Old Oyo and Okomu National Parks, Nigeria

Abstrakt

Among the numerous issues relating to conservation in protected areas, the proficiency and effectiveness of
staff in charge of the natural resourcesdemand greater emphasis, especially in the developing countries where
conservation activity is respected by few.This study evaluated the capacity-building programmes in Old
OyoNational Park (OONP)and Okomu National Park (OOP) in Nigeria and the training needs of the staff using
210 respondents to semi-structured questionnaire and focus group discussions. The data were analyzed using
descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages, means and standard deviations and hypothesis
testing with Pearson’s correlations and T-test. The results show that capacity-building programmes: seminars
and workshops, further study in higher institutions of learning and other professional pursuits exist in the
parks;68.8 and 68.1% of staff in OONP and ONP had participated in different trainings respectively. The
training needsidentified for OONP include ecotourism development, human resource management and
patrolling with mean values at 1.71, 1.71 and 1.70; and patrol techniques, environmental education and
international and national conservation strategies with mean values at 1.86, 1.83, and 1.81 for ONP
respectively. OONP and ONP had common interest in intensive training (long term) at 74.6 and 59.7% for
durationsthat should last for months at 44.9 and 66.7% respectively. The trainings provided to staff between
the two parkswere not significantly (T-test p>0.05) different butthere wassignificant relationshipbetween the
job disposition of staff and training provided (p<0.05) in OONP and ONP.Therefore,the training needs of all
categories of staff should begiven adequate consideration in planning the development of protected areas to
ensure the effectiveness of conservation strategies.