Case 1-2 Survey on the awareness of inhabitants through questionnaires: case of COGEPAS

Key words	Awareness survey, baseline survey, end-line survey, COGEPAS, needs assessment
Context	To plan and implement fisheries resource management activities, it is important to understand the current awareness of the target fisheries’ stakeholders regarding resource management to facilitate the coordination of interests and consensus building that will become necessary later on. This case study presents an example of how to proceed.
Contenu	In the COGEPAS project initiated in 2009, baseline and end-line surveys were conducted through a questionnaire to understand the changes in the target fishers’ knowledge, experience and initiative regarding fisheries resource management before and after the project. The questionnaire included the following questions: (1) How has the state of fisheries resources changed compared to 10 years ago? (2) How has the current catch changed compared to 10 years ago? (3) How has the distance to the current fishing grounds changed compared to 10 years ago? (4) Do you know the current Fisheries Law introduced in 1998? (5) Do you comply with the current Fisheries Law introduced in 1998? (6) Are you informed of any fisheries resource management activities undertaken in the target fishing villages or in other fishing villages in Senegal? (7) Which fish species require resource management in the target fishing villages? (8) What kind of fisheries resource management activities do you want to conduct in the target fishing villages in the future? In COGEPAS, this survey was conducted to understand how the awareness and behaviour of the target fishers changed before and after the project, and how the target fishers evaluated the project’s awareness-raising activities. In addition to changes after the completion of the project, it is useful to conduct such a survey during resource management activity planning to understand the awareness and needs of the target inhabitants in advance. Understanding fishers’ awareness of fisheries resource management in the planning stage also helps facilitate the coordination of interests and consensus building among fishers.
Lessons Learned	Conducting surveys is one way to understand the current awareness and needs of the target fisheries’ stakeholders regarding fisheries resource management, and to facilitate the coordination of interests and consensus building that will become necessary for resource management in the future.
Guideline chapter relevant to this case study	Chapter 1 Identifying the challenges of resource management activities and coordinating stakeholder interests 1.1 Identification of resource management challenges (3) Identify challenges 2. Survey method Surveys can be either document studies or field surveys. Field surveys are an opportunity to collect data and information that cannot be obtained without going to the field. Methods include group interviews, participatory rural appraisal/rapid rural appraisal (PRA/RRA), questionnaires, and field visit.
Situation to which this case study could refer	LThe survey shown in this case study is a tool to clarify residents’ views on potential issues that have not been clarified and problems that have already occurred. By doing so, the relevance of the plan of resource management activities can be examined, and planned activities can be smoothly conducted. This case can be used as a reference when conducting an awareness survey of residents.