The basic assumption is that the systems being used for pilot implementation and the plan/ guideline documents being used are under development, so it is expected that the process of implementation will be met with challenges including errors, breakdown of process, missing links/ resources to carry out specific measures etc. Since the core purpose of the pilot implementation process is learning, all such ‘failures’ are acceptable and are used to improve the system and the documents.

Feedback on the Draft Guidelines will include the following two broad elements:

A- What capacities and institutional mechanisms are required at the State and local levels to effectively implement the final guidelines?

• Identification of measures required to integrate and align the guidelines into/with the existing structures, processes and protocols at the State and division levels (adjustments required in the existing mechanisms)
• Identification of additional resources such as tools, formats, operating procedures to be developed to facilitate easy application of guidelines in the field
• Identification of funds and infrastructure requirements for effective implementation of the guidelines
• An assessment of the capacity needs to effectively implement the guidelines, including:
  • Capacity-development needs of the system, organizations and individuals
  • Communication and awareness need of the key stakeholders
  • Networking and knowledge-management requirements
  • Coordination requirements between key agencies and departments,
• identification of any inhibitions in implementing the guidelines due to policies and protocols / mandates of other sectors/ institutions/ departments/ agencies

B- What needs to be modified in the Draft Guideline document itself, to enhance its applicability to the field and its overall effectiveness

• Identification of measures required to integrate and align the guidelines into/with the existing structures, processes and protocols at the State and division levels (adjustments required in the guidelines)
• An assessment of the field applicability of specific advisories in the guidelines.
• Specific measures recommended in the guidelines deemed not feasible
• Information on innovative and novel methods being practiced in the field, which can be integrated in the guidelines
• Any other alterations required based on the experience of all piloting divisions
• Need for site-specific flexibility to be incorporated in specific sections of the guidelines

As part of the Indo-German cooperation three landscapes in three States (Haridwar-Rajaji in UK, Gorumara in WB, Kodagu in KA) are selected for the pilot testing of the guidelines. Apart from these landscapes, additional divisions are also planned to be selected, depending on Confirmation to participate in the pilot implementation of guidelines from the States.

What is the benefit for the piloting divisions?

• The officers from piloting States and divisions will have the opportunity to provide concrete feedback and inputs relevant to special situations in their area, to ensure that the guidelines address state-specific and division-specific needs
• Pilot implementation of the guidelines will further improve the operational and implementation efficiency of the divisions, as the toolkits are useful for not only HWC Mitigation but other topics and issues in the divisions as well
• It provides opportunity to the piloting divisions to receive technical support from a wide array of experts on key species, on HWC mitigation measures, in the form of consultation meetings and inputs
• It provides the opportunity of peer-learning to the piloting divisions to exchange their experiences and ideas on HWC mitigation measures, via a dedicated online web-platform that will be established for the purpose
• The pilot implementation helps the participating states and visions in assessing and subsequently addressing the capacity needs for effective implementation of the final guidelines. Therefore, the SFDs may see this process as a capacity development process, and a mutually beneficial exercise for Ministry, states, and others involved
• The piloting divisions and officers will be facilitated in developing a national good practices document, with their individual learnings.
• Pilot implementation of guidelines will also serve as the preparatory phase for further development of State HWC Strategy and Action Plans, by providing insights into the HWC situation and mitigation needs of the State.

What are the responsibilities of the piloting divisions and respective Circles and States?

States will confirm to the following process and approach:

• Identification of divisions, where the guidelines can be implemented, preferably in a landscape
• Identification of a division-level nodal officer and a deputy-nodal officer for each implementing division.
• Identification of a state level officer, for overall coordination and to oversee the pilot implementation process in the State, to ensure that feedback coming from different divisions is aligned and streamlined.
• Facilitate the experts and consultants engaged by GIZ and WII, with regard to required information, personnel and facilitates for pilot implementation.
• Participation of Nodal / Deputy-nodal officers, along with other key relevant officers and members of the response teams, in fortnightly meetings and other consultation meetings to discuss the feedback

How would the day-to-day pilot implementation will take place?

• GIZ/WII will facilitate in steering the overall process; however, to ensure useful results from pilot implementation process, it is expected that the participating states take full ownership of the process, in terms of- making available all the required information, personnel and facilitates to GIZ and WII and experts engaged by them, during the pilot implementation phase.
• Dedicated experts will be placed at each piloting State/ cluster of divisions by the Indo-German Project, to coordinate the documentation process of baseline and fortnightly reflection process (during the year 2021). These experts would work closely with the nodal officers.
• All documentation and development of reports will be coordinated by GIZ/WII and experts engaged by them.
• GIZ/WII will be able to support the technical process of pilot implementation including and up to, provision of tool kit, virtual consultation meetings and virtual support in documentation. No other form of support will be possible for establishing and/or maintaining the mitigation measures as recommended in the guidelines; all these measures would need to be funded and organized by the SFDs itself. No additional funds will be provided to State/ Division by the Project.
• For the Project Partner States under the Indo-German Project (Uttarakhand, Karnataka and West Bengal), GIZ will support face-to-face consultation meetings, and will coordinate all the documentation work.

STEP 1: States share their confirmation to participate in the pilot implementation of guidelines, while identifying species, issues and respective piloting divisions in their States, preferably adjoining divisions in a landscape [By January 30, 2021]

STEP 2: Officers from identified divisions are brought together in an online workshop on Pilot Implementation process and methods, to share the toolkit- guidelines and the piloting protocol and formats (December 21, 2020; February 5, February 8th, 2021))

STEP 3: Feedback from the piloting states and divisions is received by GIZ on the first draft of the toolkit, along with identification of key sectors and stakeholders for each piloting division using Tool 1 (Feb 8, 2021)

STEP 4: Institutional framework and coordination mechanism will be set-up (e.g a WhatsApp group, web-based forum) for the group of piloting divisions [by February 8, 2021].

STEP 5: GIZ/ WII and experts facilitate the process of baseline development for each division, using Tool 2 coordinated by the nodal Officers, facilitated and supported by GIZ / WII / authors (By March 31, 2021).

STEP 6: Regular fortnightly feedback on the guidelines will be collected [April 1 - September 30, 2021] in following ways:

• Feedback from the field officers via
  • Interviews with DFOs, PA managers and field teams- every fortnight using Tool 3
  • Consolidated feedback from CWW office, via State nodal officer at regular intervals
• Feedback from senior decision-makers via
  • Consultations with CWW and CCFs of SFDs, preferably in a joint forum of neighbouring states
• Feedback from other sectors and stakeholders* via
  • Multi-stakeholder consultations at State level (Combined with meetings on State HWC Strategy and Action plans in KA, UK and WB)
  • Multi-stakeholder consultations at landscape/ division level to discuss policy relevant as well as operational issues (*consultations in KA, UK and WB will be supported directly by GIZ/WII)
    
  • Joint trainings / simulation drills of forest department personnel with the personnel of the key relevant departments and sectors on HWC mitigation measures, including responding to emergency response situation
• Information from the existing case studies and good practices from forest, veterinary, disaster management and other sectors, to ensure that all existing learnings and experiences from all divisions of India are compiled at one place, and can inform the guidelines

Mid-term consultation to reflect on the process
and outcomes [July first week, 2021]

STEP 7: Use of the learnings from the pilot implementation of guidelines will be integrated into the draft guidelines: feedback from different divisions/ teams/ stakeholders will be compiled together and consolidated, to be used for updating the guidelines, national and state plans and divisions plans at the end of 2021, or interim revision, if required [Oct 1- Dec 30, 2021]

This toolkit intends to facilitate pilot implementation and evaluation of the guidelines in the field.

The toolkit provides:

• Conceptual and methodological clarity, for all those involved in the piloting exercise, on the purpose and process of piloting the species-specific and issue-species guidelines,
• A strategic direction to test and update the guidelines based on the learnings and experiences from the field,
• A set of required methodology and formats for collecting information from the field
• Tools on consultation to enable the States in aligning their state and division level strategies and actions plans, with the provisions in the guidelines.
• Tools for the officers and field practitioners to document their experiences and learnings from the field, to be developed as a common repository of shared experiences and understanding on HWC mitigation in India
• In general, a bouquet of tools to implement the different species-specific and issue-specific guidelines in a coordinated manner.

For the Piloting divisions, the toolkit is accompanied with:

• A set of advanced zero-drafts of the species-specific and issue-specific guidelines and associated toolkits
• A copy of the zero draft of the National HWC Mitigation Strategy and Action Plan and its supplementary frameworks