REDD + Grassroots Newsletter
Training and Capacity Building of Forest Sector Grassroots Stakeholders for Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) in Asia
Issue 2 April2014
CONTENT 1. Updates from the field
• Indonesia • Lao PDR • Myanmar • Nepal • Viet Nam 2. Project news 3. Publications
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Dear Readers,
The beginning of 2014 marked the start of the second year of phase III, for the Grassroots project, with new targets, challenges and commitments.
In this edition, we would like to share updates on the progress of the project in each of our target countries, participation in the Oslo REDD+ Exchange, and our new publications.
During the last several months, we have continued REDD+ capacity development in our focal countries with active support from our partner organizations and we have conducted a number of events to reach out to more grassroots stakeholders.
Write to us at REDDgrassroots@recoftc.org and share your stories or perspectives with our readers.
Enjoy reading !
Dr. Chandra Shekhar Silori,
Coordinator, Grassroots Capacity Building for REDD+ in Asia
Project locations
Fast Facts
Phase I: August 2009 - July 2010
Phase II: August 2010 - July 2013
Phase III: January 2013 - December 2015
Focal Countries: Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam
Donors: Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad)
Early this year, the national project team and Communication Forum for Community Forestry (FKKM), delivered two training programs on sustainable forest management, REDD+ and its livelihood linkages, to farmers from Jeneponto community forest in South Sulawesi.
In the first training programme, representatives from 33 farmer groups from Jeneponto community forest were engaged in a training to raise their awareness on climate change and its linkages with the forest, REDD+, concept of sustainable forest management and forest -based enterprise development. A second training programme engaged 17 farmers, six of whom were women. The focus of this training programme was to build the capacity of the farmers on cashew processing for value addition and sustainable forest management of Jeneponto CF.
Indonesia
Group presentation on stakeholder analysis, during a sub-national training on climate change and REDD+ for multi-stakeholders in Jember District in East Java, Indonesia
Development of entrepreneurship skills among farmers in Jeneponto Community Forest, South Sulawesi
There are a total of 33 far ers groups in Jeneponto Community Forest in South Sulawesi, which is a rehabilitated forest area. The rehabilitation of the degraded forest benefited local farmers in numerous ways. The major benefits reported was an increase in water supply, which helped the local farmers to plant more rice and also to earn a higher cash income from cashew harvesting.
According to a value chain analysis conducted by FKKM in 2013, Jeneponto CF has nearly 350,000 cashew trees with a potential to produce 6,675 tons of cashew per year. Considering the income generation potential of cashew, FKKM engaged local farmers for developing their capacity in a more holistic manner by building their basic understanding of climate change and the role of forests in mitigating impacts of climate change. More importantly, the training focused on sustainable forest management practices and building forest-based entrepreneurship skills among farmer groups, by providing training on sustainable harvesting and processing of cashew. A positive and enthusiastic response from the farmers helped in the successful completion of the training programs. The farmers also committed themselves to further develop cashew processing as a group activity.
Lembaga Alam Tropika Indonesia (LATIN) in collaboration with the grassroots national project team and the Center for Forestry Education and Training (CFET) conducted a sub-national workshop on climate change and REDD+ for multi-stakeholders in Jember District in East Java in January 2014. This was the first opportunity for all stakeholders (see Box A) to sit together and discuss the topic of climate change and REDD+. Through the process, participants recognized that climate change is a cross cutting issue and it needs the collaboration of all relevant stakeholders to address it.
Participants appreciated the initiative and acknowledged the importance of the forest sector in climate change mitigation, especially through the REDD+ mechanism. The workshop resulted in several recommendations, one of which is to establish a joint working group on climate change and REDD+ with members from the workshop participants.
Box A
The workshop targeting multi-stakeholders from East Java included various government departments such as the District-level Parliament, Planning and Development Agency, Forestry Department, Agriculture Department, Environment Department, Social Department, Education Department, Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Department, National Park Office, Police, University of Jember, and local NGO, and Sub-district and Village Offices.
The resource person from Agriculture Institute of Bogor explains how to peel raw cashew
This is the first time I am invited to participate in a training programme. Normally, it would be my husband, who always joins the training, but I am very happy to join this training. I learned a lot. Before this training, I did not know [how to] process cashew for value addition; for example, the fruit can be produced as juice, syrup, flour and pickled fruit. I hope that in the future if the farmer group can produce various products from cashew, it will generate more income for our households, and we will be able to send our kids for higher education.
–Hardiana, a farmer from Kapita village, Jeneponto, Indonesia Here Hardiana is seen sharing the results of a group discussion on
processing cashew derivative product during the training on climate change, REDD+ and entrepreneurship ,to cashew farmers in her village
A National Project Officer, Mr. Khankeo Outhasak, has been appointed to coordinate project implementation with support from the RECOFTC focal point in Lao PDR and national partner organizations. Mr. Outhasak will network with partner organizations to build linkages, understand their engagement with the project, and to plan for project implementation for this phase. The project will continue to work with existing partners, including the National University of Laos, Participatory Development Training Centre (PADETC) and Department of Forests.
Lao PDR
Each partner organization is currently preparing to implement the plans for 2014. The annual plan will continue to focus on enhancing the capacity of key stakeholders on REDD+ from national level down to
A group discussion in ToT programme at sub-national level in Lay Shi Township of the Naga Hill region, Myanmar
78 % of total participants said the objective of the training programme was clear and 89 % agreed that the content of the training was relevant to the objective. 68 % mentioned that training materials were clear and relevant, while 74 % saw that all materials are useful for field.
Myanmar
In Myanmar, the project has initiated capacity development activities at different levels. The project team delivered the first national level Training of Trainers (ToT) programme in partnership with Myanmar Country Program of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Forest Department in October 2013. This was attended by a total of 19 participants, including five from Forest Department and 14 from national NGOs; six of whom were women. Overall, participants provided a positive feedback on the training programme, which was facilitated by trainers from the forest department, Forest Research Institute, WCS, and RECOFTC regional and national teams. The national ToT was followed by a similar ToT at sub-national-level, led by grassroots proje t s national partner WCS, in La Shi Township of the Naga Hill region, in November 2013. This training was attended by 19 participants, representing government organizations and CSOs. It was facilitated by four participants selected from the national-level ToT programme, and the WCS team. The participants requested for more training programs with longer duration, on community-based natural resource management and sustainable forest management practices.
Youth participating in climate change and REDD+ learning event
Multi-stakeholder consultations on drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Dadeldhura district, far western Nepal
Dadeldhura is known for its vast forest cover, expanding to nearly 75 percent of the total geographical area of the district. The area has a mountainous landscape with an average altitude of 1,745 m above sea level, and it is dotted with villages on the hill tops and slopes.
The district unit of FECOFUN, with support from Forest Action, organized a multi-stakeholder discussion in December 2013, focusing on drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in context of REDD+. The consultation was attended by participants from various sectors, including forestry, energy, rural development, soil conservation and land management, along with local journalists, youth representatives, and district forest office (DFO).
In addition to the usual challenges faced by the participants such as poor implementation of policies and encroachment, participants listed specific issues that contribute to deforestation and degradation in the district. A prominent issue discussed was the link between ground reality and the limited understanding of relevant policies and laws of CF management among CFUG members. Other concerns included – ignorance of user rights while developing policies; improving access of women to the forest; and lack of technical and administrative knowledge among CFUG members, particularly with respect to the renewal of CF management plans, silvicultural practices, regeneration methods and techniques.
Numerous solutions were proposed to address the challenges including – capacity development, appropriate communication materials; proactive engagement of youth and women in CF management; introduction of alternative energy devices to lower the pressure on forest-based fuels; and strengthening democracy at CFUG level with stronger collaboration between local unit of FECOFUN and DFO to help timely renewal of CF plans.
The representative from DFO found the workshop useful, since it helped him understand the local issues in a better way, and it will help him formulate guidelines for improved management of forests in the district. In Nepal, the project has completed seven
grassroots level consultation meetings, engaging district level multi-stakeholders and covering a range of topics related to REDD+ in Nepal.
The consultations were organized by the district chapters of the Federation of Community Forestry Users in Nepal (FECOFUN) and HIMAWANTI, covering the following development regions: central (district Makwanpur, Sarlahi and Kavre), western (district Dadeldhura, Bardiya and Kapilvastu), and eastern (district Ilam). Forest Action supported the analysis, synthesis and documentation of the deliberations during the consultations.
Altogether 212 participants, including 80 women, representing government and non-governmental organizations, representatives from print and electronic journalists, community forestry users
and wo e s groups participated in these events.
The topics covered during the consultations ranged from drivers of deforestation, forest degradation to REDD+ safeguards. The synthesis from these consultations will be shared with policy makers and other key stakeholders at the national-level.
Nepal
The key objectives of the consultations were to:
1. document key concerns and issues of grassroots stakeholders; and
2. gather inputs from district level forestry stakeholders for the ongoing REDD+ strategy development process.
The national team in Vietnam organized one reflection and planning workshop in each of the four project provinces, namely: Ca Mau, Bac Kan, Lam Dong, and Ha Tinh. The workshops were attended by a total of 72 participants, half of whom were women. Participants represented the Sub-Department of Forestry, Department of Forest Protection, Wo e s Union, and the Center for Community Development, a local NGO.
As a result of these workshops, the participants from four project provinces – Bac Kan, Ha Tinh, Lam Dong and Ca Mau, developed their draft action plans, which were then refined and finalized with support from the regional team. These provincial-level reflection and planning workshops were followed by a national-level refresher training programme for selected participants from all four project provinces. A five day refresher training programme in Hanoi focused on updating the participants with new REDD+ information from the national and international levels, improving facilitation skills and perspectives of the participants.
The workshop provided them with an opportunity to exchange information, experiences and ideas generated during the second phase of the project. Participants were also given knowledge related to the REDD+ safeguard elements, such as FPIC, gender mainstreaming, effective participation, among others. Responding to the recommendations from the end term review of Phase II, the participants were given the opportunity to practice and improve their facilitation skills during the training programme.
Vietnam
Along with other
objectives of the ToT, the 5-day training also aimed to build on key attitudes concerning facilitation and training, including
fostering trust, respect and empathy among the trainees and facilitator.
Participants at the reflection and planning workshops organized in one of the four project provinces in Vietnam
The Coordinator of the Grassroots project participated in the Oslo REDD Exchange 2013 held between 29 and 30 October 2013, in Oslo. The Exchange was attended by nearly 500 delegates, including policy makers, non-government organizations, civil society organizations, indigenous people s organization and research and academic institutions.
The grassroots project was selected to showcase the progress and lessons learned during a special session called the Result Bar session. The session was designed to share key results from various NORAD-funded projects from across the globe. Grassroots project was one of 15 projects selected from a total of 42, under the Norad-Climate and Forests Initiative (NICFI) funding scheme for civil society 2013-2015. The grassroots project received an encouraging response from the Exchange participants during the results bar session.
Project news
Oslo REDD+ Exchange
Capacity
development products: featured publications
Many publications have been produced to serve as training materials in capacity development activities, for all levels of stakeholders, to promote awareness on REDD+ for grassroots stakeholders. All project publications are available online and can be downloaded for free at at www.recoftc.org/site/Grassroots-REDD-Publications
Project brochure
An updated brochure reflecting the new phase of the project is ready and available for download at http://bit.ly/OHwJrR. The brochure presents information on project approach, partner organizations, and project implementation areas in each country.
The Grassroots project has produced a Bahasa Indonesian version of REDD+ training manual in partnership with the Center for Forestry Education and Training (CFET). The manual is now available for use for the grassroots project and other capacity development organizations that are working in forestry sector and climate change and REDD+ in Indonesia. Available at: http://bit.ly/1ecE7HV
REDD+ training manual in Bahasa
Indonesia
The FPIC guidebook is now available in Lao language, in addition to English. The translated version will be used for delivering grassroots level training on FPIC in Lao PDR. Available for download at http://bit.ly/1ggbJmZ
Free, Prior, and Informed Consent in REDD+: Principles and
Approaches for Policy and Project Development in Lao Language
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This Newsletter is published by:
RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests P.O. Box 1111
Kasetsart Post Office Bangkok 10903, Thailand
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