Newsletter
Project updates from country teams and partners
REDD+
Grassroots
IndonesIa
The Grassroots Project in Indonesia finalized the action plans with its partner organizations; the plans predominantly focus on curriculum development and grassroots level consultations.
The project plans to organize a workshop to develop a REDD+ curriculum, in collaboration with the Centre for Forestry Education and Training (CFET), in an effort to mainstream REDD+ into CFET’s
training programs. In addition, the project will be organizing grassroots level consultations in South Sulawesi, East Java, Central Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua. Forum Komunikasi Kehutanan Masyarakat (FKKM) will lead these consultation events, as well as document key issues and concerns of grassroots stakeholders on climate change and REDD+. These key issues and concerns will then be shared at the national level with key stakeholders, particularly policy makers.
Training and Capacity Building of Forest Sector Grassroots Stakeholders for
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Asia
Issue 4: October 2014
Grassroots Capacity Building for Redd+
Lao PdR
In August, The Lao PDR team organized two trainings. The first, titled “Empowering women’s roles in promoting a better understanding on climate change and REDD+”, was organized in partnership with the Department of Forestry (DoF) and held in Vientiane. Over half of the participants of the training were members of the Lao Women’s Union of DoF.
The second training, titled “Social and environmental safeguards of REDD+, was a refresher training of trainers program (ToT), which was conducted in partnership with the Faculty of Forestry at the National University, and held in Vang Vieng. The ToT was attended
of Agricultural and Forestry and the Ministry of National Resources and Environment, as well as representatives of CSOs, consulting companies and the private sector participants. The three-day training provided an update on the progress of REDD+ development in Lao PDR, with a particular focus on environmental and social safeguards in REDD+, including the concept of Free, Prior and Informed Consent, and Gender Equity. A variety of training techniques were used to promote the learning process of participants, such as world café sharing, role play and games. The highlight of the training was on the last day, when the participants took part in a debate on REDD+ benefits and challenges.
The trainings covered basic knowledge of climate change and REDD+, the roles of men and women in addressing climate change and a participatory approach in promoting knowledge for grassroots stakeholders. At the end of the training programs participants developed action plans and identified activities to promote the importance of gender mainstreaming in REDD+ and among the grassroots stakeholders through participatory learning processes.
“I have gained a better understanding on the roles of women contributing in CC and REDD+ and learned techniques to engage women in a sharing and learning process. I have an intention to share this knowledge to other women members through the meeting of the Lao Women Union of Department of Forestry (DoF), if I have chance”. - Lomkham Seng Chanoudom, Head Office of Forestry and Forest Resource Development Fund, DoF.
MyanMaR
Friends of Wildlife (FoW), one of the Grassroots Project’s partner organizations in Myanmar, organized a four-day sub-national level ToT in June, held in the Oak Twin township of Taungoo district. Twenty Five participants representing various government departments, including the forest, agricultural, fisheries, mining and education departments of Yatashe and Oak Twin townships attended the training, and were joined by the field staff of FoW and representatives of local NGOs and CSOs.
The trainings’ focused on raising awareness on climate change and REDD+, and a key focus was on building the facilitation skills of participants, especially in promoting knowledge sharing on climate change and REDD+ at the grassroots level. Along with the opportunity to practice their newly learned facilitation skills, the participants received a variety of training products developed in Myanmar language, including manuals, flyers, posters and question and answer handbooks were.
In August, the Grassroots Project in Myanmar delivered a national level training program for a group of 15 journalists associated with print and electronic media. A second training program followed for forestry practitioners, focusing on gender mainstreaming in REDD+ and forestry.
“Women are customarily deemed to work indoors while men are supposed to toil outside. Accordingly, the capabilities of men and women differ depending on the information at hand and the opportunity they can access outside [the home]. We need start changing these customs, and start developing women and men’s capabilities equally.” - U Sein Day Li, Assistant Project Manager, WCS – one of the participants in the gender mainstreaming training program
Participants arrange the steps for gender mainstreaming in a project cycle. Participants take on various stakeholder roles as an exercise in understanding Free,
Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for REDD+ social safeguards.(
A debate between participants on the beneits and risks of REDD+ implementation.
nePaL
The focus of the Grassroots Project in Nepal has been on organizing new trainings and the assimilation of the experiences in REDD+ capacity development. Two trainings focused on linkages between REDD+ and sustainable forest management, and were organized by HIMAWANTI and FECOFUN respectively. The objective of the trainings was to promote knowledge exchange and sharing on experiences of grassroots forestry stakeholders to improve the understanding of the participants on social and environmental issues related to REDD+. A combination of interactive methods was used, including experience sharing, group discussion, visualization and interaction. The training facilitators were former participants, which gave them an opportunity to practice facilitation skills and build confidence as facilitators. A total of 76 participants from four different districts (Makwanpur, Sarlahi, Nuwakot and Lalitpur Districts) took part in the two trainings.
During the reflection sessions of the trainings, participants shared the need to make such events more dynamic by encouraging participants to share their experiences and exchange their ideas more freely. It is thus important to select participants who can enrich the learning environment. A mix of participants from different demographic groups can help to bring diversity to the exchange of experiences and ideas. However, it was also observed that a few participants needed further support in understanding the linkages between forests and climate change; thus, more initiatives are needed to develop the capacities of local level stakeholders on climate change and REDD+ in the Nepal.
“I used to think that participating in Community Forest User Group meetings and forest management activities was only the role of my father. Now I have realized my role as a change agent to involve the youth; particularly females, in promoting sustainable forest management” - Srijana Wosti, a young participant of the training in Nuwakot
“Following the training on climate change and REDD+ organized by HIMAWANTI and RECOFTC, I shared the new knowledge and skills I gained with practitioners in my district. This training also provided an opportunity to share what I learned with individuals who are working in forest management.” - Kamal Kumar BK, A RECOFTC training alumnus and facilitator for the HIMAWANTI training.
Group discussion on the key issues of forest management in the local context.
VIetnaM
The Grassroots Project in Vietnam team has been conducting REDD+ capacity development activities at all stakeholder levels – national, sub-national and grassroots.
A ToT, titled“Facilitation of community participation in forestry,” was held in Thua Thien Hue province in August. The participants worked on applying participatory methods and facilitation skills, and also had the opportunity to work with local communities during a field visit. At sub-national and grassroots levels, a series of needs based training programs were organized in four target provinces. One of these trainings, a two-day training in Bac Kan, focused on climate change, REDD+ and social safeguards in the context of sustainable forest management; in Ha Tinh province, a series of four grassroots level trainings focused on basic knowledge of climate change and REDD+ for commune staff and local communities.
“The training helped me realize my weaknesses in attitude and facilitation skills. I was able to really practice those skills during the field visit.” - Tran Quoc Tinh, an officer of Ha Tinh Center for Vocational Training and Farmer Support, reflected on the ToT program on Facilitation of Community Participation in Forestry held in Hue Province.
Villager members of the Son Tho commune in Ha Tinh province discuss the role of forests in addressing the impacts of climate change.
l Dr. Tint Lwin Thaung, Executive Director of RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests, made a courtesy visit to Norad headquarters in Oslo, Norway in 12 September 2014. He shared the key achievements, impacts and ways forward for the Project. Norad expressed special interest in the key results and impacts of the capacity development activities in the Project’s focal countries.
l The regional project coordinator, Dr. Chandra Shekhar Silori, attended the ASEAN Regional Knowledge Network on Forest and Climate Change (ARKN-FCC) Pre-COP (Conference of Parties) meeting on 4 September 2014. The focus of the meeting was on building the capacity of the regional negotiators from ASEAN countries on developing REDD+ Safeguards Information System (SIS). Based on this meeting, Dr. Silori, published a blog post, highlighting the need for capacity development of the negotiators on REDD+ safeguards. The blog is available at this link: http://recoftc.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/effective- safeguard-information-systems-for-redd-in-asean-countries-still-a-challenge/
Project news
Grassroots team perspectives
Redd+ development kicks off in
Myanmar
Contributed by Khin Meo Kyi, National project coordinator, Grassroots Capacity Building in REDD+ Project in Asia, Myanmar.
Because REDD+ is a new approach in Myanmar, the Forest Department is strengthening its staff’s technical knowledge and enhancing the local peoples’ participation through different motivational programs, particularly in the pilot area of Taungoo.
The REDD+ roadmap for Myanmar, developed by the Forest Department based on a series of national and sub-national consultation workshops, asked the Grassroots Project to develop the capacity of key stakeholders on climate change and REDD+. In response, the Grassroots Project partnered with Wildlife Conservation
Society (WCS) and Friends of Wildlife (FoW),and has regular consultation meetings with the Forest Department. As a result of these partnerships and the capacity development approach of the Project, WCS has delivered a series of sub-national and grassroots level capacity development and awareness raising events in Sagain region in northern Myanmar, while FoW has been supporting project activities in Bago division in south-Central Myanmar.
While the Project allowed the partner organizations to build their own capacities on a relatively new topic, the Project team has encountered a number of challenges in implementing training and awareness raising events. The team had limited access to the project areas, particularly Sagain region, and the low capacity of the grassroots stakeholders and local level government officials on climate change and REDD+ made it more challenging to communicate effectively with the target stakeholders about the topics.
As a result, the project has produced simple products such as posters, fliers and brief question and answer handbooks to help the grassroots stakeholders understand the basic concept of climate change, its causes and impacts and the role that forests play in mitigating the impacts of climate change. These products have been produced by engaging a consortium of local organizations and the Forest Department. A training manual on REDD+ in Myanmar language is currently under development in partnership with UNDP.
During the past few months, Grassroots Project produced the following key publications:
Featured publications
Gender in REDD+ question and answer handbook, in Nepali
The handbook is for local facilitators to answer their frequently raised questions on gender mainstreaming in climate change and REDD+ related training and capacity development. The Vietnamese and Lao languages of the handbook were released earlier this year. The Nepali version is available at this link - http://www.recoftc.org/project/ grassroots-capacity-building-redd/q-and/gender-redd-qa-handbook
Free prior and informed consent (FPIC) in REDD+ Question and Answer handbook, in Nepali
This question and answer handbook on FPIC in the context of REDD+ was developed to support local trainers and facilitators who are engaged in delivering REDD+ training and capacity development, and who have a basic understanding of these subjects. The handbook is available at this link - http:// www.recoftc.org/project/grassroots- capacity-building-redd/q-and/free- prior-and-informed-consent-redd-qa-handbook
Climate change, forests and you handbook in Myanmar language
This handbook provides simple explanations about the basic concepts of climate change, the role of forests, REDD+ and the roles of community in addressing to climate change. This handbook has been popular among the other focal countries and reprinted; it provides precise information and is easy to understand, helping local facilitators to communicate about climate change, REDD+ and the roles of forests to grassroots stakeholders. The handbook is also available in Bahasa Indonesia, Lao, Vietnamese and Nepali languages. The Myanmar language version is available at this link -
http://www.recoftc.org/project/grassroots-capacity-building-redd/q-and/climate-change-forests-and-you-qa-handbook
Posters on climate change and REDD+ in Myanmar language
This set of posters includes six posters on different topics covering climate change and REDD+. They provide visual explanations and information on greenhouse gas emissions, the impacts of climate change, sources of carbon dioxide emissions in Myanmar, forests as carbon sinks, the benefits of REDD+ for the country and potential of REDD+ in the community. Please visit this set of posters through the link - http://www.recoftc.org/project/grassroots-capacity-building-redd/posters/posters-climate-change-and-redd
Policy brief on project lessons learned in Nepal (English)
Project implementation in Nepal has quickly expanded resulting in greater progress compared to other focal countries. REDD+ capacity development at all levels of stakeholders has been completed and now the Nepal project team and partner organizations have brought up the grassroots concerns and voices to the policy level. This policy brief outlines the achievements and lessons learned throughout the Project cycle and is available at this link - http:// www.recoftc.org/project/grassroots-capacity-building-redd/policy-briefs/grassroots-redd-approaches-and-key-lessons-nepal
This newsletter is published by:
Grassroots Capacity Building for REDD+ in Asia RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests P.O. Box 1111, Kasetsart Post Office Bangkok 10903, Thailand
http://www.recoftc.org/project/grassroots-capacity-building-redd
Copyright © 2014 RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests gives permission to make digital or hard copies of portions or all of this work for educational or non-commercial purposes without fee or prior written consent provided the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that the source is fully acknowledged. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission. Send written requests for republication to RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests, P.O. Box 1111, Kasetsart Post Office, Bangkok 10903, Thailand. Please email your queries to [email protected]
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect those of RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests and Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). We disclaim any errors or omissions in the translation of this document from the original version in English into other languages.
