2nd ASFN Meeting 27-29 August 2008, Bangkok – Thailand ASEAN Secretariat Information Paper
Agenda Item 12.1: EC-UNDP Project Proposal with the ASEAN Social Forestry Network (ASFN) and other Identified Partners
The 10th ASOF Meeting, 12 – 13 July 2007, Vientiane agreed in-principle to the project proposal that was developed from the concept paper presented during the First Meeting of the ASEAN Social Forestry Network (ASFN) in April 2007 in Semarang – Central Java, Indonesia, and noted that the proposed amount of funding was considerably large and more information was needed before going through ASEAN project appraisal process.
2. To this date, the developments have been as follows:
Proposal had been further developed with more information needed, with adjustment at the Title and the Budget to fit with the theme of cooperation for funding assistance and volume of funds indicated by the targeted Donor for proposal application in the year 2008;
Budget of the proposal is now at EUR 2,632,662 and had been developed into detailed break-down, which appears as ANNEX A;
As much as 83% of the Total Budget is proposed to be sourced from the targeted Donor (EC), while UNDP and SEARCA will provide 12.66% and 1.44% of it, respectively. Local Government Units in participating Countries will provide office space and in-kind facilities that is estimated at 2.92% of the overall Budget.
3. The Roles of ASFN in this Project:
Under Two Components of the three-year EC funded project (Learning Sites and Knowledge Management), Specific Activities for ASFN will be:
(1) At least one yearly Regional Conference on Local Forest Governance to be held back-to-back with ASFN Meetings;
(2) Publications on Local Forest Governance to be jointly published by the ASFN, UNDP and SEARCA;
(3) Reflection Visits to Project Sites by the ASFN Leaders.
ASFN sits in the Regional Steering Committee of the project, together with the identified funding donors (EC, UNDP and SEARCA) as well as Partners of the project (ASEAN Center for Biodiversity and the Asia Forest Network), which allows further discussion in the implementation of the project.
4. It is observed that the interaction of ASFN with funding donor agency and partner organizations throughout the finalization of the project proposal as well as in the implementation of the project will allow the opportunity for the ASFN in exchange of best practices and explore potential collaborative activities to be developed for the near future.
Action required: The 2nd ASFN Meeting may wish to
1) take note of this development under detailed Budget of the Project; and
2) endorse the proposed ASFN Project with UNDP for funding consideration by the EC; and 3) support the project to undergo further appraisal process at ASEAN Secretariat.
