GREEN Mekong resource kit and news update | RECOFTC GM DEC 2015 3
About the GREEN
Mekong Program
GUIDE TO EQUITY
1. Training of Trainers extends help to forest communities in Lower Mekong
This resource kit and news update is
produced by the USAID-funded Grassroots
Equity and Enhanced Networks in the
Mekong Program (GREEN Mekong), which
aims to improve capacities of policymakers
and grassroots stakeholders in the Lower
Mekong region to promote equity in forestbased climate change mitigation policy and
practice.
2. CSO reflection workshop looks back at training, impacts on forest
communities in the Lower Mekong
The program is based on the fact that local
people’s needs, aspirations, knowledge
and participation are critical during
decision-making processes concerning
forest governance and management. In
the Lower Mekong region, where millions
of people remain highly dependent on
forest resources, policies and strategies
developed to protect forests, reduce carbon
emissions and mitigate climate change
will only succeed if actively involving local
communities.
6. VIDEO: The equity effect: what is social equity?
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by
the United States Agency for International
Development’s
(USAID)
Regional
Development Mission for Asia (RDMA) and
implemented by RECOFTC – The Center for
People and Forests.
13. Equity resource kit
3. USAID-Funded Program Unites Equity Champions from the Lower Mekong
with ASEAN Social Forestry Network Members to Reflect on Impacts and Plan
for the Future
4. VIDEO: The Regional Learning Group: Promoting equity-based approaches
among local forestry officials
5. Infographic: Equity in forests and climate change
7. Q&A booklet: equity in climate change and REDD+
8. Equity case studies in forest governance from the Lower Mekong
9. VIDEO & DISCUSSION GUIDE: A fair climate: gender equity in forestry and
REDD+
10. GREEN Mekong success stories
11. VIDEO: Without indigenous women: what happens to our forests and forest
communities?
12. TRAINING MANUAL: Improving grassroots equity in the forests and climate
change context
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
Training of trainers extends
help to forest communities in
Lower Mekong
Seventeen local forest practitioners
from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand
and Viet Nam met in Chiang
Mai, Thailand to participate in a
Training of Trainers workshop with
Grassroots Equity and Enhanced Networks in the Mekong Program
this month. Participants learned how the principles of social equity
can advance their communities while the training strengthened
their abilities as facilitators to promote and apply the concept in the
forests and climate change context.
CSO reflection workshop
looks back at training,
impacts on forest
communities in the Lower
Mekong
Local forest practitioners
participate in a field trip in
Baan Thung Yao, Thailand
The training of trainers ultimately extends the reach of the program,
ensuring trainees can share their knowledge further, resulting in
better forest governance and management policies and practices. As
a result of the training, which included a field visit and an opportunity
to engage with a community that has applied the principles of social
equity, participants were able to identify opportunities for addressing
issues in their respective workplaces. They also developed new skills
to effectively engage with grassroots stakeholders and communicate
their perspectives to policymakers. Finally, trainees used this
opportunity to create new relationships between governmental
and civil society actors that can strengthen collaboration in forest
governance both in countries and regionally.
Finally, the training also saw visit a field site in Baan Thung Yao,
Thailand where a community applied the concepts of equity and
resulted in protection of community resources. This essential aspect
of the workshop gave trainees the opportunity to engage with the
community and learn first-hand how improving gender equity led to
an overall improvement in the community.
In late August, the
USAID-funded GREEN
Mekong
program
wrapped up its threeyear training of civil
society representatives,
who have already started to see impacts from the skills they learned.
The program trained civil society organizations from Myanmar,
Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia and Viet Nam with an approach to
engage forest communities and make their voices heard, granting
them equity in forest management with government officials.
A youth group member explains to
CSO representatives the importance
of the forest to the community
Eight CSOs received additional grants through the GREEN Mekong
Challenge Fund (GMCF) to carry out further activities. While originally
conceptualized to support CSO participants in implementing the
action plans produced during training workshop, the GMCF has
since provided opportunities for the CSOs to put their equity training
to use while utilizing their knowledge of the local context.
The final regional CSO training also included a field visit to a
forest community where representatives put their skills to the
test in consultations with forest community stakeholders in Baan
Hua Hin Lard Nai, Thailand. Here, participants saw firsthand
how equity strengthened the community and enabled them to
engage government officials to protect their rights. One of the
CSO representatives, Teng Rithiny from NGO Forum in Cambodia,
commented, “The forest community came together to protect their
forests and share the benefits. And they shared their work with
the national park. I saw how government officials listened to the
community and their proposals because of the engagement.” Other
trainees expressed a new confidence in their abilities to facilitate
discussions, analyze the information to understand if the process is
equitable and share their results to enact change.
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
USAID-Funded Program
Unites Equity Champions
from the Lower Mekong
with ASEAN Social Forestry
Network Members to Reflect
on Impacts and Plan for the
Future
The Grassroots Equity and Enhanced Networks in the Mekong
– GREEN Mekong, funded by the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) and implemented by RECOFTC, wrapped up
its activities on a high note this week by bringing together over 20
forestry officials and representatives from civil society organizations as well as members of the ASEAN Social Forestry Network (ASFN) - to
reflect on equity in forest governance.
Covering five countries in the Lower Mekong region – Thailand,
Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia – GREEN Mekong has
over the past three years carried out its Regional Learning Group
approach with forestry officials and training workshops with CSOs.
Having created
Two separate groups benefited from the training, with the Regional
Learning Group consisting of regional forestry officials and the CSO
training including representatives from local organizations with a
focus on forest governance and management. Both groups now
constitute “Equity Champions” who understand the positive impact
social equity has on forest communities and its importance for
reducing deforestation and mitigating climate change.
Throughout the program, which concludes in December 2015,
GREEN Mekong created a series of knowledge products covering
important aspects of social equity, including gender, and more
specifically, indigenous women. These resources provide insight
into the obstacles in achieving equity in forest management and
governance as well as highlight the importance in improving them.
The Regional Learning Group training helped members from
Vietnam’s Forest Administration (VN-Forest) to incorporate this
equity approach into their program related to Payment for Forest
Ecosystem Services (PFES). They created their own knowledge
products as a result, based on the equity framework, including a
policy brief outlining the need to improve local engagement with
forest communities in the design and implementation of the PFES
mechanism, which got picked up and published in a VN-Forest
newsletter reaching out to over 13,000 forestry officials.
Likewise, the CSO training program brought greater insight into forest
management and governance while the GREEN Mekong Challenge
Fund (GMCF), a small grants program empowered CSOs to carry
out additional activities utilizing their local institutional knowledge
to affect change. In Cambodia, the NGO Forum used its GMCF grant
for a number of activities including equity training of their national
network, which had a cascading effect. Non-timber Forest Products
– Cambodia, NTFP-Cambodia), a local CSO that received the
training from NGO Forum, implemented their skills when engaging
local communities. Mr. Chum Chhean, a program manager for
NTFP-Cambodia, said: “After the training, the community forestry
meetings in Yarkpoy and Kachoun in Rattanakiri province had more
women participating in the meetings because we trained them on
the principles of equity to encourage female participation. Now
women are actively reporting on illegal logging and educating the
community on problems they face when deforestation has led to a
lack of cooking timber or wild vegetables. This protects the entire
community.”
Results like these show the potential for a good concept to incur
positive change on a large scale in a short period of time. In the
case of the Regional Learning Groups, the work was done without
additional financial support, demonstrating long-term sustainability
of the program’s efforts to promote equitable forest governance.
“GREEN Mekong was able to close gaps in understanding between
local communities and government agencies,” said Aurelia Micko,
acting director of the Regional Environment Office for USAID in
Asia. “The project created a platform where all of these stakeholders
could come together and learn from each other to create the best
policies to support forest dwelling people, reduce deforestation and
mitigate carbon emissions.”
At this week’s event, invited ASFN delegates welcomed valuable input
from GREEN Mekong’s Equity Champions. AFSN also recommended
channels through which the Equity Champions could bring their
voices to the regional level to influence potential future policy.
“GREEN Mekong’s legacy will continue to live on as the work is only
beginning,” said Etienne Delattre, GREEN Mekong Chief of Party.
“Through enhanced dialogue between these actors including ASFN,
the Equity Champions and other stakeholders involved, and also
through GREEN Mekong’s comprehensive knowledge resources on
equity, the program is poised to have a continued positive impact on
forest governance.”
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
The Regional Learning Group:
Promoting equity-based
approaches among local
forestry officials
This short video puts on view our work in the Mekong region and
an approach to prioritize the development of provincial and local
forestry officials’ capacities with an aim to strategically improve
social equity in forest governance.
With an attempt to close the gap between communities and the
government, provincial and local forest officials of the Lower
Mekong countries have been trained and supported to improve and
implement more equitable approaches in forest governance policies
and practice.
Infographic
USAID GREEN Mekong Produces an Infographic to
Explain Equity in Forests and Climate Change
Illustration credit: GREEN Mekong/RECOFTC.
To expand outreach efforts after training CSOs and government
officials across the Lower Mekong region, the USAID Grassroots
Equity and Enhanced Networks in the Mekong program released a
two-part infographic that explains the importance of social equity
in forests and the basics on putting it into practice. The infographic
defines equity and provides an easy to understand overview of the
key elements that will empower forest-dependent communities.
Through understanding equity, forest communities will better
understand their rights and be prepared to participate in the
decision-making process so they gain a fair share of benefits from
forest resources. http://www.recoftc.org/q-and/infographic-equityforests-and-climate-change
The equity effect: what is
social equity?
What is equity? And how is it different from equality? This short
animation video explains the answers to these questions and basic
principles of social equity in forest governance.
This video also has subtitles available for all five GREEN Mekong
languages: Thai, Lao, Myanmar, Khmer and Vietnamese. To watch
the video, please visit: http://www.recoftc.org/project/greenmekong/videos/equity-effect
Equity in climate change
and REDD+: A handbook for
grassroots facilitators
Equity in climate change and REDD+: A
handbook for grassroots facilitators is now
available. The handbook was developed
by RECOFTC and co-supported by the
USAID-funded GREEN Mekong program
and the NORAD funded Grassroots
Capacity Building for REDD+ project.
The handbook will help grassroots
facilitators with the aim of increasing
their understanding of processes and
dimensions of social equity in forests and
climate change, and to develop specific
skills to put this learning into practice.
Read more and download the handbook at http://www.recoftc.org/
project/green-mekong/training-manuals-and-guides/equity-climatechange-and-redd-handbook-grassroots-facilitators
To obtain hardcopies, please contact [email protected]
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
Equity case study briefs in
forest governance from the
Lower Mekong
VIDEO & DISCUSSION GUIDE:
A fair climate: gender equity
in forestry and REDD+
To accompany GREEN Mekong’s equity training, five case study
briefs were produced to give a deeper look at how the principles of
equity have produced results in forest governance. These five briefs
represent a range of equity dimensions while addressing multiple
equity elements.
Together, this training video and dicussion guide target community
forestry practitioners to improve gender equity on the ground. The
video explains the concept of gender equity in the context of forest
communities and highlights best practices for achieving gender
equity.
Equity Case Study Brief #1
http://www.recoftc.org/project/green-mekong/training-manualsand-guides/equity-case-study-brief-1-access-information-securingresource-and
Brief #1 covers the importance of access to critical information as it
pertains to achieving equity in forest governance focusing on teak
farmers.
Shot in Vientiane in Lao PDR and the Baan Thung Yao community
forest in Thailand, the video features grassroots and institutional
knowledge and experience, on forest governance and management
practices. The video is produced by USAID-funded programs
Grassroots Equity and Enhanced Networks in Mekong (GREEN
Mekong) and Lowering Emissions in Asia’s Forests program (USAIDLEAF).
Equity Case Study Brief #2
http://www.recoftc.org/project/greenmekong/training-manuals-and-guides/
equity-case-study-brief-2-participationand-decision-making-improving
Brief #2 covers community-based forest
governance, focusing on increased
participation by the community, and on
securing rights and tenure, brought about
by the lack of tenure and resource rights
for the individual households.
Equity Case Study Brief #3
http://www.recoftc.org/project/green-mekong/training-manualsand-guides/equity-case-study-brief-3-establishing-benefit-sharingmechanism-bu-nor
Brief #3 covers community-based forest governance, focusing on
providing incentives for local community in forest management via
benefit sharing mechanisms.
Equity Case Study Brief #4
http://www.recoftc.org/project/green-mekong/training-manualsand-guides/equity-case-study-brief-4-participation-decision-makingsecuring
Brief #4 is an equity case in community-based forest governance,
focusing on increased participation by the community.
A Fair Climate: Gender Equity
in Forestry and REDD+ - Video
Discussion Guide
In addition to the video, the discussion
guide allows trainers and grassroots
facilitators to delve deeper into the
gender aspect of social equity in
terms of forest-based climate change
initiatives, including REDD+. The questions in the guide will help
facilitate discussions concerning forest management practices and
forest governance in the local and institutional contexts.
The discussion guide is available in English, Thai, Lao, Vietnamese,
Myanmar, Khmer, Nepali and Bahasa Indonesia, while the video is
available in all of these languages as well as Malay.
Download the discussion guide here: http://www.recoftc.org/project/
green-mekong/training-manuals-and-guides/fair-climate-genderequity-forestry-and-redd-discussion-guide
Watch the video here: http://www.recoftc.org/videos/fair-climategender-equity-forestry-and-redd
To obtain hardcopies, please contact [email protected]
Equity Case Study #5
http://www.recoftc.org/project/green-mekong/training-manualsand-guides/equity-case-study-brief-5-effective-participationdecision-making
Brief #5 is a contractive equity case in community-based forest
governance, focusing on the development of a mechanism for
community participation in natural resources management.
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
GREEN Mekong success
stories
Success story #1: Innovative Training
Process Ensuring Equity in Forest
Management
what happens to our forests
and forest communities?
This video provides examples of when constructive policies are made
In this success story, we follow the
journey of a Lao PDR RLG member,
capturing the importance of equity on
the grassroots level http://www.recoftc.
org/sites/default/files/uploaded_files/
GREEN Mekong_RLG Laos Success
Story_RECOFTC_USAID.pdf
Success story #2: Small Grant from
USAID Program Enables CSO to Engage Policy Makers and Build
Awareness
This success story features a GREEN Mekong Challenge Fund
recipient, the Centre for Rural Development in Central Viet Nam and
how grant program enabled them to engage a wider community
and share the importance of the equity approach, especially the
participation of forest communities, in the policy development
process.
http://www.recoftc.org/sites/default/files/uploaded_files/
GREEN MEKONG_CF NGO Forum NTFP_RECOFTC_USAID_0.pdf
and responsive actions are taken, indigenous women are empowered
and can contribute meaningfully to successful forest governance.
To view the video, visit here: http://www.recoftc.org/project/greenmekong/videos/indigenous-women-and-forest-management
Success story #3: USAID Program Drives Institutional Changes in
Lower Mekong, Brings Equity in Forest Governance
This success story shares how the importance of equity was
demonstrated in Thailand and how it was adopted by an institution
as a positive tool for engaging forest communities. http://www.
recoftc.org/sites/default/files/uploaded_files/GREENMekong_
Thailand Success Story.pdf
Success story #4: USAID Program Enables Civil Society Organizations
to Reach Forest Communities, Improve Equity
In this success story, CSOs from Lao PDR are highlighted, explaining
how they benefited from the GREEN Mekong training and what it
has meant for their programs. http://www.recoftc.org/sites/default/
files/uploaded_files/GREENMekong_CSO training Success Story.pdf
Success story #5: Small Grants Program Empowers Local Organizations
to Protect Their Own Community
Through this success story, we follow the impact of the GREEN
Mekong Challenge Fund in Cambodia and the impact these grants
had with our CSO partner, NGO Forum. http://www.recoftc.org/sites/
default/files/uploaded_files/GREENMekong_Smal grants success
story.pdf
Without indigenous women:
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
TRAINING MANUAL: Improving
grassroots equity in the
forests and climate change
context
This training manual, the principal
publication from GREEN Mekong,
targets grassroots facilitators with the
aim of increasing their understanding of
processes and dimensions of social equity
in forests and climate change, and to
develop specific skills to put this learning
into practice.
It is based on the principle that grassroots
stakeholders must be engaged in the
decision-making processes for setting
national policies and for designing and
planning programmes. Grassroots stakeholders need to have
meaningful opportunities to participate and their perspectives must
be heard at all levels of the forests and climate change discourse to
achieve more equitable outcomes.
EQUITY RESOURCE KIT
The GREEN Mekong Equity Resource Kit
contains key products to enhance your
knowledge on social equity in forests. The
Kit is a compilation of GREEN Mekong
knowledge products developed over the
past three years, including the products
featured in this newsletter. Together, these
resources will help provide users with a
working basis to understand and utilize
the principles of social equity to improve
forest governance and management and
address climate change. The material
includes videos, case studies, a training manual and success stories
from program participants.
http://www.recoftc.org/project/green-mekong/basic-page/greenmekong-equity-resource-kit
While most of the existing REDD+ related training manuals focus
on the theoretical concepts around forests, climate change and
REDD+. This training manual provides guidance to train grassroots
facilitators to better engage all stakeholders and to promote equity
in forest-based climate change and forest management practices and
interventions. Its main premise is to extend the practice and process
of active participation towards effective engagement, through which
equity can be improved.
This training manual has been developed with the support of two
regional initiatives – the USAID-funded Grassroots Equity and
Enhanced Networks in the Mekong (GREEN Mekong) program , and
the NORAD funded project Grassroots Capacity Building for REDD+
in Asia.
Read more and download the training manual at: http://www.
recoftc.org/training-manuals-and-guides/improving-grassrootsequity-forests-and-climate-change-context-training
To obtain hardcopies, please contact [email protected]
This resource kit and news update is published by:
The GREEN Mekong program
RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests
P.O. Box 1111
Kasetsart Post Office
Bangkok 10903, Thailand
[email protected]
www.recoftc.org/site/about-green-mekong
The views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect those of RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests and USAID.
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
Mekong Program
GUIDE TO EQUITY
1. Training of Trainers extends help to forest communities in Lower Mekong
This resource kit and news update is
produced by the USAID-funded Grassroots
Equity and Enhanced Networks in the
Mekong Program (GREEN Mekong), which
aims to improve capacities of policymakers
and grassroots stakeholders in the Lower
Mekong region to promote equity in forestbased climate change mitigation policy and
practice.
2. CSO reflection workshop looks back at training, impacts on forest
communities in the Lower Mekong
The program is based on the fact that local
people’s needs, aspirations, knowledge
and participation are critical during
decision-making processes concerning
forest governance and management. In
the Lower Mekong region, where millions
of people remain highly dependent on
forest resources, policies and strategies
developed to protect forests, reduce carbon
emissions and mitigate climate change
will only succeed if actively involving local
communities.
6. VIDEO: The equity effect: what is social equity?
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by
the United States Agency for International
Development’s
(USAID)
Regional
Development Mission for Asia (RDMA) and
implemented by RECOFTC – The Center for
People and Forests.
13. Equity resource kit
3. USAID-Funded Program Unites Equity Champions from the Lower Mekong
with ASEAN Social Forestry Network Members to Reflect on Impacts and Plan
for the Future
4. VIDEO: The Regional Learning Group: Promoting equity-based approaches
among local forestry officials
5. Infographic: Equity in forests and climate change
7. Q&A booklet: equity in climate change and REDD+
8. Equity case studies in forest governance from the Lower Mekong
9. VIDEO & DISCUSSION GUIDE: A fair climate: gender equity in forestry and
REDD+
10. GREEN Mekong success stories
11. VIDEO: Without indigenous women: what happens to our forests and forest
communities?
12. TRAINING MANUAL: Improving grassroots equity in the forests and climate
change context
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
Training of trainers extends
help to forest communities in
Lower Mekong
Seventeen local forest practitioners
from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand
and Viet Nam met in Chiang
Mai, Thailand to participate in a
Training of Trainers workshop with
Grassroots Equity and Enhanced Networks in the Mekong Program
this month. Participants learned how the principles of social equity
can advance their communities while the training strengthened
their abilities as facilitators to promote and apply the concept in the
forests and climate change context.
CSO reflection workshop
looks back at training,
impacts on forest
communities in the Lower
Mekong
Local forest practitioners
participate in a field trip in
Baan Thung Yao, Thailand
The training of trainers ultimately extends the reach of the program,
ensuring trainees can share their knowledge further, resulting in
better forest governance and management policies and practices. As
a result of the training, which included a field visit and an opportunity
to engage with a community that has applied the principles of social
equity, participants were able to identify opportunities for addressing
issues in their respective workplaces. They also developed new skills
to effectively engage with grassroots stakeholders and communicate
their perspectives to policymakers. Finally, trainees used this
opportunity to create new relationships between governmental
and civil society actors that can strengthen collaboration in forest
governance both in countries and regionally.
Finally, the training also saw visit a field site in Baan Thung Yao,
Thailand where a community applied the concepts of equity and
resulted in protection of community resources. This essential aspect
of the workshop gave trainees the opportunity to engage with the
community and learn first-hand how improving gender equity led to
an overall improvement in the community.
In late August, the
USAID-funded GREEN
Mekong
program
wrapped up its threeyear training of civil
society representatives,
who have already started to see impacts from the skills they learned.
The program trained civil society organizations from Myanmar,
Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia and Viet Nam with an approach to
engage forest communities and make their voices heard, granting
them equity in forest management with government officials.
A youth group member explains to
CSO representatives the importance
of the forest to the community
Eight CSOs received additional grants through the GREEN Mekong
Challenge Fund (GMCF) to carry out further activities. While originally
conceptualized to support CSO participants in implementing the
action plans produced during training workshop, the GMCF has
since provided opportunities for the CSOs to put their equity training
to use while utilizing their knowledge of the local context.
The final regional CSO training also included a field visit to a
forest community where representatives put their skills to the
test in consultations with forest community stakeholders in Baan
Hua Hin Lard Nai, Thailand. Here, participants saw firsthand
how equity strengthened the community and enabled them to
engage government officials to protect their rights. One of the
CSO representatives, Teng Rithiny from NGO Forum in Cambodia,
commented, “The forest community came together to protect their
forests and share the benefits. And they shared their work with
the national park. I saw how government officials listened to the
community and their proposals because of the engagement.” Other
trainees expressed a new confidence in their abilities to facilitate
discussions, analyze the information to understand if the process is
equitable and share their results to enact change.
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
USAID-Funded Program
Unites Equity Champions
from the Lower Mekong
with ASEAN Social Forestry
Network Members to Reflect
on Impacts and Plan for the
Future
The Grassroots Equity and Enhanced Networks in the Mekong
– GREEN Mekong, funded by the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) and implemented by RECOFTC, wrapped up
its activities on a high note this week by bringing together over 20
forestry officials and representatives from civil society organizations as well as members of the ASEAN Social Forestry Network (ASFN) - to
reflect on equity in forest governance.
Covering five countries in the Lower Mekong region – Thailand,
Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia – GREEN Mekong has
over the past three years carried out its Regional Learning Group
approach with forestry officials and training workshops with CSOs.
Having created
Two separate groups benefited from the training, with the Regional
Learning Group consisting of regional forestry officials and the CSO
training including representatives from local organizations with a
focus on forest governance and management. Both groups now
constitute “Equity Champions” who understand the positive impact
social equity has on forest communities and its importance for
reducing deforestation and mitigating climate change.
Throughout the program, which concludes in December 2015,
GREEN Mekong created a series of knowledge products covering
important aspects of social equity, including gender, and more
specifically, indigenous women. These resources provide insight
into the obstacles in achieving equity in forest management and
governance as well as highlight the importance in improving them.
The Regional Learning Group training helped members from
Vietnam’s Forest Administration (VN-Forest) to incorporate this
equity approach into their program related to Payment for Forest
Ecosystem Services (PFES). They created their own knowledge
products as a result, based on the equity framework, including a
policy brief outlining the need to improve local engagement with
forest communities in the design and implementation of the PFES
mechanism, which got picked up and published in a VN-Forest
newsletter reaching out to over 13,000 forestry officials.
Likewise, the CSO training program brought greater insight into forest
management and governance while the GREEN Mekong Challenge
Fund (GMCF), a small grants program empowered CSOs to carry
out additional activities utilizing their local institutional knowledge
to affect change. In Cambodia, the NGO Forum used its GMCF grant
for a number of activities including equity training of their national
network, which had a cascading effect. Non-timber Forest Products
– Cambodia, NTFP-Cambodia), a local CSO that received the
training from NGO Forum, implemented their skills when engaging
local communities. Mr. Chum Chhean, a program manager for
NTFP-Cambodia, said: “After the training, the community forestry
meetings in Yarkpoy and Kachoun in Rattanakiri province had more
women participating in the meetings because we trained them on
the principles of equity to encourage female participation. Now
women are actively reporting on illegal logging and educating the
community on problems they face when deforestation has led to a
lack of cooking timber or wild vegetables. This protects the entire
community.”
Results like these show the potential for a good concept to incur
positive change on a large scale in a short period of time. In the
case of the Regional Learning Groups, the work was done without
additional financial support, demonstrating long-term sustainability
of the program’s efforts to promote equitable forest governance.
“GREEN Mekong was able to close gaps in understanding between
local communities and government agencies,” said Aurelia Micko,
acting director of the Regional Environment Office for USAID in
Asia. “The project created a platform where all of these stakeholders
could come together and learn from each other to create the best
policies to support forest dwelling people, reduce deforestation and
mitigate carbon emissions.”
At this week’s event, invited ASFN delegates welcomed valuable input
from GREEN Mekong’s Equity Champions. AFSN also recommended
channels through which the Equity Champions could bring their
voices to the regional level to influence potential future policy.
“GREEN Mekong’s legacy will continue to live on as the work is only
beginning,” said Etienne Delattre, GREEN Mekong Chief of Party.
“Through enhanced dialogue between these actors including ASFN,
the Equity Champions and other stakeholders involved, and also
through GREEN Mekong’s comprehensive knowledge resources on
equity, the program is poised to have a continued positive impact on
forest governance.”
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
The Regional Learning Group:
Promoting equity-based
approaches among local
forestry officials
This short video puts on view our work in the Mekong region and
an approach to prioritize the development of provincial and local
forestry officials’ capacities with an aim to strategically improve
social equity in forest governance.
With an attempt to close the gap between communities and the
government, provincial and local forest officials of the Lower
Mekong countries have been trained and supported to improve and
implement more equitable approaches in forest governance policies
and practice.
Infographic
USAID GREEN Mekong Produces an Infographic to
Explain Equity in Forests and Climate Change
Illustration credit: GREEN Mekong/RECOFTC.
To expand outreach efforts after training CSOs and government
officials across the Lower Mekong region, the USAID Grassroots
Equity and Enhanced Networks in the Mekong program released a
two-part infographic that explains the importance of social equity
in forests and the basics on putting it into practice. The infographic
defines equity and provides an easy to understand overview of the
key elements that will empower forest-dependent communities.
Through understanding equity, forest communities will better
understand their rights and be prepared to participate in the
decision-making process so they gain a fair share of benefits from
forest resources. http://www.recoftc.org/q-and/infographic-equityforests-and-climate-change
The equity effect: what is
social equity?
What is equity? And how is it different from equality? This short
animation video explains the answers to these questions and basic
principles of social equity in forest governance.
This video also has subtitles available for all five GREEN Mekong
languages: Thai, Lao, Myanmar, Khmer and Vietnamese. To watch
the video, please visit: http://www.recoftc.org/project/greenmekong/videos/equity-effect
Equity in climate change
and REDD+: A handbook for
grassroots facilitators
Equity in climate change and REDD+: A
handbook for grassroots facilitators is now
available. The handbook was developed
by RECOFTC and co-supported by the
USAID-funded GREEN Mekong program
and the NORAD funded Grassroots
Capacity Building for REDD+ project.
The handbook will help grassroots
facilitators with the aim of increasing
their understanding of processes and
dimensions of social equity in forests and
climate change, and to develop specific
skills to put this learning into practice.
Read more and download the handbook at http://www.recoftc.org/
project/green-mekong/training-manuals-and-guides/equity-climatechange-and-redd-handbook-grassroots-facilitators
To obtain hardcopies, please contact [email protected]
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
Equity case study briefs in
forest governance from the
Lower Mekong
VIDEO & DISCUSSION GUIDE:
A fair climate: gender equity
in forestry and REDD+
To accompany GREEN Mekong’s equity training, five case study
briefs were produced to give a deeper look at how the principles of
equity have produced results in forest governance. These five briefs
represent a range of equity dimensions while addressing multiple
equity elements.
Together, this training video and dicussion guide target community
forestry practitioners to improve gender equity on the ground. The
video explains the concept of gender equity in the context of forest
communities and highlights best practices for achieving gender
equity.
Equity Case Study Brief #1
http://www.recoftc.org/project/green-mekong/training-manualsand-guides/equity-case-study-brief-1-access-information-securingresource-and
Brief #1 covers the importance of access to critical information as it
pertains to achieving equity in forest governance focusing on teak
farmers.
Shot in Vientiane in Lao PDR and the Baan Thung Yao community
forest in Thailand, the video features grassroots and institutional
knowledge and experience, on forest governance and management
practices. The video is produced by USAID-funded programs
Grassroots Equity and Enhanced Networks in Mekong (GREEN
Mekong) and Lowering Emissions in Asia’s Forests program (USAIDLEAF).
Equity Case Study Brief #2
http://www.recoftc.org/project/greenmekong/training-manuals-and-guides/
equity-case-study-brief-2-participationand-decision-making-improving
Brief #2 covers community-based forest
governance, focusing on increased
participation by the community, and on
securing rights and tenure, brought about
by the lack of tenure and resource rights
for the individual households.
Equity Case Study Brief #3
http://www.recoftc.org/project/green-mekong/training-manualsand-guides/equity-case-study-brief-3-establishing-benefit-sharingmechanism-bu-nor
Brief #3 covers community-based forest governance, focusing on
providing incentives for local community in forest management via
benefit sharing mechanisms.
Equity Case Study Brief #4
http://www.recoftc.org/project/green-mekong/training-manualsand-guides/equity-case-study-brief-4-participation-decision-makingsecuring
Brief #4 is an equity case in community-based forest governance,
focusing on increased participation by the community.
A Fair Climate: Gender Equity
in Forestry and REDD+ - Video
Discussion Guide
In addition to the video, the discussion
guide allows trainers and grassroots
facilitators to delve deeper into the
gender aspect of social equity in
terms of forest-based climate change
initiatives, including REDD+. The questions in the guide will help
facilitate discussions concerning forest management practices and
forest governance in the local and institutional contexts.
The discussion guide is available in English, Thai, Lao, Vietnamese,
Myanmar, Khmer, Nepali and Bahasa Indonesia, while the video is
available in all of these languages as well as Malay.
Download the discussion guide here: http://www.recoftc.org/project/
green-mekong/training-manuals-and-guides/fair-climate-genderequity-forestry-and-redd-discussion-guide
Watch the video here: http://www.recoftc.org/videos/fair-climategender-equity-forestry-and-redd
To obtain hardcopies, please contact [email protected]
Equity Case Study #5
http://www.recoftc.org/project/green-mekong/training-manualsand-guides/equity-case-study-brief-5-effective-participationdecision-making
Brief #5 is a contractive equity case in community-based forest
governance, focusing on the development of a mechanism for
community participation in natural resources management.
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
GREEN Mekong success
stories
Success story #1: Innovative Training
Process Ensuring Equity in Forest
Management
what happens to our forests
and forest communities?
This video provides examples of when constructive policies are made
In this success story, we follow the
journey of a Lao PDR RLG member,
capturing the importance of equity on
the grassroots level http://www.recoftc.
org/sites/default/files/uploaded_files/
GREEN Mekong_RLG Laos Success
Story_RECOFTC_USAID.pdf
Success story #2: Small Grant from
USAID Program Enables CSO to Engage Policy Makers and Build
Awareness
This success story features a GREEN Mekong Challenge Fund
recipient, the Centre for Rural Development in Central Viet Nam and
how grant program enabled them to engage a wider community
and share the importance of the equity approach, especially the
participation of forest communities, in the policy development
process.
http://www.recoftc.org/sites/default/files/uploaded_files/
GREEN MEKONG_CF NGO Forum NTFP_RECOFTC_USAID_0.pdf
and responsive actions are taken, indigenous women are empowered
and can contribute meaningfully to successful forest governance.
To view the video, visit here: http://www.recoftc.org/project/greenmekong/videos/indigenous-women-and-forest-management
Success story #3: USAID Program Drives Institutional Changes in
Lower Mekong, Brings Equity in Forest Governance
This success story shares how the importance of equity was
demonstrated in Thailand and how it was adopted by an institution
as a positive tool for engaging forest communities. http://www.
recoftc.org/sites/default/files/uploaded_files/GREENMekong_
Thailand Success Story.pdf
Success story #4: USAID Program Enables Civil Society Organizations
to Reach Forest Communities, Improve Equity
In this success story, CSOs from Lao PDR are highlighted, explaining
how they benefited from the GREEN Mekong training and what it
has meant for their programs. http://www.recoftc.org/sites/default/
files/uploaded_files/GREENMekong_CSO training Success Story.pdf
Success story #5: Small Grants Program Empowers Local Organizations
to Protect Their Own Community
Through this success story, we follow the impact of the GREEN
Mekong Challenge Fund in Cambodia and the impact these grants
had with our CSO partner, NGO Forum. http://www.recoftc.org/sites/
default/files/uploaded_files/GREENMekong_Smal grants success
story.pdf
Without indigenous women:
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests
TRAINING MANUAL: Improving
grassroots equity in the
forests and climate change
context
This training manual, the principal
publication from GREEN Mekong,
targets grassroots facilitators with the
aim of increasing their understanding of
processes and dimensions of social equity
in forests and climate change, and to
develop specific skills to put this learning
into practice.
It is based on the principle that grassroots
stakeholders must be engaged in the
decision-making processes for setting
national policies and for designing and
planning programmes. Grassroots stakeholders need to have
meaningful opportunities to participate and their perspectives must
be heard at all levels of the forests and climate change discourse to
achieve more equitable outcomes.
EQUITY RESOURCE KIT
The GREEN Mekong Equity Resource Kit
contains key products to enhance your
knowledge on social equity in forests. The
Kit is a compilation of GREEN Mekong
knowledge products developed over the
past three years, including the products
featured in this newsletter. Together, these
resources will help provide users with a
working basis to understand and utilize
the principles of social equity to improve
forest governance and management and
address climate change. The material
includes videos, case studies, a training manual and success stories
from program participants.
http://www.recoftc.org/project/green-mekong/basic-page/greenmekong-equity-resource-kit
While most of the existing REDD+ related training manuals focus
on the theoretical concepts around forests, climate change and
REDD+. This training manual provides guidance to train grassroots
facilitators to better engage all stakeholders and to promote equity
in forest-based climate change and forest management practices and
interventions. Its main premise is to extend the practice and process
of active participation towards effective engagement, through which
equity can be improved.
This training manual has been developed with the support of two
regional initiatives – the USAID-funded Grassroots Equity and
Enhanced Networks in the Mekong (GREEN Mekong) program , and
the NORAD funded project Grassroots Capacity Building for REDD+
in Asia.
Read more and download the training manual at: http://www.
recoftc.org/training-manuals-and-guides/improving-grassrootsequity-forests-and-climate-change-context-training
To obtain hardcopies, please contact [email protected]
This resource kit and news update is published by:
The GREEN Mekong program
RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests
P.O. Box 1111
Kasetsart Post Office
Bangkok 10903, Thailand
[email protected]
www.recoftc.org/site/about-green-mekong
The views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect those of RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests and USAID.
The GREEN Mekong Program is funded by USAID and implemented by RECOFTC- The Center for People and Forests