The local village council, citizens group and students union have been actively involved in this initiative.
Mr. Tsuseki and Mr. Limthure, master educators and project leaders of Sanctuary Nature Foundation’s Mud on Boots project are residents of Fakim Village who formed the Bhutan Glory Eco Club in 2013. They have spent this time documenting biodiversity in their community forest and Fakim WLS (including birds, mammals, butterflies, moths and reptiles), conducting workshops, and nature education seminars to transform community sentiments towards conservation. They have mobilized the youth, along with married men and women in Fakim to engage in community mapping and wildlife documenting. They also collaborate with and guide researchers and students pursuing biodiversity related studies in Fakim.
Mr. T. Alemba Yimkhiung is a Game Watcher with the Nagaland Forest Department. Starting off as a camp guide at the age of 17, he has now been with the department for over 35 years. He has been a key contributor to demarcating the WLS boundary, has collaborated with and guided many researchers and students and been vital to changing Fakim villagers’ perceptions on conservation. He currently heads an anti-poaching squad which patrols the forests of Fakim along with adjoining forests of Thanamir and Vongtsuwong. The Fakim Anti-Poaching Squad recently won the Sanctuary Wildlife Service Award in 2021.
Together, Mr. Alemba, Mr. Tsuseki and Mr. Limthure, among other residents, have motivated the village council to create the CCA in Fakim. Currently, the CCA does not receive any support from the government. Community members themselves participate in managing the CCA and creating boundaries.
Recently in 2021, an NGO called NEIDA (North East Initiative Development Agency) has supported the building of a fencing to keep the mithun from entering the village and field premises.
The Fakim Village Council and Fakim Citizens group are among the apex decision making bodies regarding all village level matters, including community forest related governance. The council is made up of gaon burrahs (village elders) and their elected council members, led by the elected council chairman. Historically, women have been excluded from decision making and hold no place in the village council in most Naga societies. Customary laws have precedence in Nagaland and may differ among different tribes and even different villages at times.
Further, the Fakim Village Students' Union also takes active part in decision making and governance regarding forest/natural resource conservation.
While regular/ monthly meetings take place among the council and citizens group, most important decisions and resolutions are discussed, contested and instituted during the annual general sessions that take place in the last week of December each year.
The Yimkhiung Akherü Arihako (YAA) is the apex Yimkhiung students union. In 2006 and 2007 they instituted two acts to ban the hunting of rare and endangered species to be enacted in all Yimkhiung occupied villages and jurisdictions.