Grassroot newsletter No8 2015DEC Fin
Issue 8: December 2015
REDD+
Grassroots
Newsletter
Grassroots Capacity Building for REDD+
Training and Capacity Building of Forest Sector Grassroots Stakeholders for
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Asia
Welcome to the Grassroots REDD+
Newsletter
HIGHLIGHTs
• Key concerns and issues of grassroots stakeholders on REDD+ and
climate change are documented and communicated through several
consultation workshops in all countries.
• Workshops at national levels are organized to share lessons and
feedback from grassroots facilitators on REDD+ capacity development.
• Achievements of the project are shared at regional and international
levels by grassroots facilitators.
INDoNEsIa:
During the last few months, the Grassroots REDD+ project
activities in Indonesia focused on reflecting upon the key lessons
learned during capacity development activities conducted by
the project’s partner organizations and grassroots facilitators
and on documenting the project’s impacts.
Recently, the project’s partners organized two reflection
workshops. One, organized by YAKOBI, the project’s partner
in East Kalimantan, focused on the organization’s experiences
engaging with religious leaders to communicate the key
messages of REDD+ and climate change. The second was
organized by the grassroots project team in Indonesia,
bringing 20 grassroots facilitators together to reflect,
particularly on learning from their experiences in delivering
capacity development activities. These events also focused on
documenting key issues and challenges faced by grassroots
stakeholders related with delivering capacity development
activities on REDD+ and sustainable forest management. Such
reflection and sharing workshops also led to the creation of
a learning network of grassroots facilitators in the project
areas that would help in sustaining the knowledge sharing
process during the post Grassroots REDD+ project phase.
The participants of the workshops stressed the need of
strengthening such a network and building synergy with
other similar initiatives, integrating community welfare
and livelihoods improvements in the capacity development
programs and replicating learning in different areas with
support from proper awareness raising communication tools.
With regards to the project’s impact, documentation was carried
out in two locations: the Berau district in East Kalimantan and
the Jember district in East Java.
In Berau, the impact documentation focused on the
effectiveness of YAKOBI as REDD+ capacity development
organization. The documentation process focused on
interviewing representatives of the various target groups
– women, religious leaders and elementary school teachers
– about their experiences of participating in the project’s
capacity development activities. Project staff also interviewed
key YAKOBI staff, who reported that the project approach
helped them in designing and delivering the REDD+ capacity
development activities.
With regards to the project’s impact, documentation was
carried out in two locations: the Berau district in East
Kalimantan and the Jember district in East Java.
In Berau, the impact documentation focused on the
effectiveness of YAKOBI as REDD+ capacity development
organization. The documentation process focused on
interviewing representatives of the various target groups
– women, religious leaders and elementary school teachers
– about their experiences of participating in the project’s
capacity development activities. Project staff also interviewed
key YAKOBI staff, who reported that the project approach
helped them in designing and delivering the REDD+ capacity
development activities.
YAKOBI staff and women facilitators in the Biduk-Biduk community of Berau district, East Kalimantan province, who were
interviewed for the project’s “story of change.”
Woman grassroots facilitator
sharing her experiences implementing the project’s REDD+
capacity development program during a national sharing
and relection workshop in
Surabaya during September.
Setting up video interview for the project’s “story of change” with an
elementary teacher school teacher trained by YAKOBI in Berau district,
East Kalimantan province.
2
Lao PDR:
MyaNMaR:
Following a national level training of trainers (ToT) program
on gender mainstreaming in sustainable forest management
conducted by the Grassroots REDD+ project team in Lao,
six of the ToT participants were selected to form a team of
national facilitators consisting of the members of Women’s
Advancement Committee and Laos Women Union under the
Department of Forests (DoF). The selected ToT participants
helped delivering a three-day sub-national level ToT, which
was attended by 30 participants from three target provinces:
Saravan, Huaphan and Luang Prabang. These participants had
attended an earlier training on climate change and REDD+
social safeguards in 2014 under the Grassroots REDD+ project.
From this sub-national ToT, 3-4 participants were selected
as sub-national facilitators who would be responsible for
delivering training on climate change and sustainable forest
management at the community/grassroots level together
with the national facilitator team of the grassroots project,
following cascading approach.
After completing training programs for REDD+ at grassroots,
sub-national and national levels, the Grassroots REDD+ project
team in Myanmar organized a series of consultation meetings
with grassroots stakeholders in three project sites: PyarponBogalay, Pyay-Pauk Khaung and Layshe townships to document
the key concerns and issues of the stakeholders. The results of
the consultations are listed in the following table:
Another important activity that was accomplished by the
Grassroots REDD+ project team in Lao PDR was to organize a
two-day national workshop in Vientiane in preparation for the
upcoming 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in
Paris. The workshop, which had a key focus on equity in forests
and climate change, was organized jointly with the Department
of Forest Resource Management (DFRM), the Ministry of Natural
Resource and Environment (MoNRE) and in close collaboration with
the Department of Forestry (DoF) of the Ministry of Agriculture
and Forestry (MAF). A total of 24 delegates from agencies under
MoNRE and MAF, including REDD+ taskforce members, attended
this two-day event. The main objective of the workshop was to
raise the awareness of the key national stakeholders on climate
change and equity ahead of the upcoming COP21. The outputs
from this workshop contributed to the development of an issue
paper on equity in climate change that is scheduled to be released
during COP21 this month.
Concerns and issues
Pyarpon-Bogalay
PyayPauk
Khaung
Illegal logging, weak law enforcement and lack of coordination between communities and government agencies at the local level.
×
×
Lack of alternative fuel supply to minimize forest degradation and
deforestation caused by firewood collection.
×
×
Technical and financial support needed to develop and support alternative livelihood opportunities for community forest user group and to
gradually replace shifting cultivation by terrace farming.
×
Support needed for agro-forestry practices to reduce pressure on
forest resources.
×
×
Lack of the forest land for establishing community forest.
×
Lack of knowledge on forest laws and forest conservation practices.
×
Lack of adequate knowledge of REDD+.
Uncertainty of carbon market at the national and international levels.
Layshe
×
×
×
Infrastructure development, such as road construction from Manipur
in India to Lay-Shi township in Myanmar, may lead to loss of natural
forests.
×
Customary rights on land tenure and rights on traditional forest
management need to be considered in REDD+ implementation by the
relevant agencies and project proponents.
×
Benefit-sharing and equity are critical at the community level,
particularly because the role of women in forest management and
decision-making is yet to be recognized as essential to sustainable
forest management.
×
In view of the priorities for daily livelihoods, convincing communities
for their participation in REDD+ implementation is a challenge.
×
Poor capacity of women to effectively participate in forest management practices.
×
Group discussion during the village level consultation meeting in
ThaPhaKine village, Pauk Khaung township, Pyay district, Bago
region, during July 2015, conducted by Friends of Wildlife (FoW).
Group discussion on mainstreaming gender in sustainable forest management during a sub-national ToT in Thalad during July.
Group photo of the national level REDD+ stakeholders participating
in the workshop on equity in climate change ahead of COP21 during
September.
Village level consultation meeting in Tepinseik village, Phyarpon
township, Phyarpon district, Ayeyarwaddy region during
June 2015, conducted by the Forest Resource Environment
Development and Conservation Association (FREDA).
3
NEPaL:
VIET NaM:
In Nepal, the Grassroots REDD+ project team’s activities were
affected by the rainy season and also to some extent by the
tumultuous political situation between July and September. The
project’s activities picked up again in October 2015, which will be
reported in the next newsletter. The focus of the project’s activities
is on continuing with a series of grassroots level consultations on
sustainable forest management, climate change and REDD+ and
to document key issues and concerns of grassroots stakeholders
and share them with policymakers. The aim of the consultation
workshops is to engage local resource persons who have been
trained under the Grassroots REDD+ project.
During July, the Grassroots REDD+ project team in Viet Nam
conducted a series of 13 refresher and consultation workshops
at the community level in all four target provinces, engaging
nearly 400 participating grassroots stakeholders to identify and
document concerns and aspirations related to REDD+. Of the
13 events, two were organized both in Ha Tinh and Ca Mau
provinces, three in Lam Dong and six in Bac Kan. The discussions
resulting from these workshops were then synthesized and the
results were shared in six district-level round table meetings,
which were organized during August and September. A total of
137 local government officials with an influence on policymaking
attended the meetings, which also served as a platform to update
the participants on the Grassroots REDD+ project’s achievements,
lessons learnt and a range of communication tools developed
by the project.
Energizing exercise during a refresher consultation workshop in Lang
Ngam commune, Ngan Son district, Bac Kan province.
Discussing REDD+ social safeguards during a refresher consultation workshop
in Lang Ngam commune, Cho Don district, Bac Kan province.
Recalling the concept of REDD+ during a refresher consultation workshop in
Gung Re commune, Di Linh district, Lam Dong province.
4
In August, a Grassroots REDD+ project representative was
invited to share experiences of the project’s citizen journalism
training approach during a side event at the IUCN Asia Regional
Conservation Forum 2015 held in Bangkok, Thailand, titled,
“Citizen journalism: Empowering local people to share voices
through SMS”. Specifically, the project representative presented
the TempoSMS mechanism – an SMS service that allows local
people to text issues they encounter to the TempoSMS website –
introduced to the citizen journalists during a training delivered
by the Grassroots project to communicate local issues related
to natural resource management to the wider public through
the national media outlet, Tempo.
Cascading up grassroots concerns and issues
Mr. Le Van Dinh, Ha Tinh Center for Community Development
(HCCD), Viet Nam: “While helping to organize RECOFTC’s
pre-WFC regional meeting, I learned about the participatory
approach. I am excited to apply this method in organizing further
grassroots consultation workshops and will also share it with
partner organizations. And I will convey the four key priorities3
that could contribute to successful REDD+ implementation.”
The cascading approach has been a core method applied by
the Grassroots REDD+ project for developing the capacities
of grassroots stakeholders by bringing their voices from the
grassroots level up to the national, regional and international
levels, hence, the term, “cascading up.” In-country strategies,
consultation and sharing workshops have been an essential part
of the cascading approach for sharing grassroots concerns and
issues with decision- and policy-makers. In the process of bringing
grassroots voices to the regional and international levels, the project
has also supported eight grassroots facilitators from five project
countries to share their concerns and issues at the “Asia Regional
Workshop on Community Forest Rights and Strengthening Forest
Associations”1, “Investing in local communities for sustainable
forests: The Asia and the Pacific pre-World Forestry Congress
(WFC) regional meeting on people and forests”2 and the XIV
World Forestry Congress 2015. Grassroots facilitators related
their experiences attending these key events with the project
staff, which are shared below:
Mr. Ganesk Karki, of FECOFUN, Nepal: “Attending the ‘Asia Regional
Workshop on Community Forest Rights and Strengthening Forest
Associations,’ I gained an understanding of different experiences of
community management and its ability for livelihood improvement
in Asia. I was also able to learn about the good practices of land
ownership rights of community forests in the Philippines. I aim
to use all of these lessons to raise awareness of communities,
enhance my institution’s structure and to coordinate among
networks for advocating and ensuring community rights in
community forestry.”
Mr. Muhammad Jamil, representative of a village forest in Labbo
Village, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia: “During the ‘Asia
Regional Workshop on Community Forest Rights and Strengthening
Forest Associations,’ I shared the status of the community forest
network in my province and village. The event helped me
understand how to analyze the weaknesses and strengths of
community forest networks and better understand the concept
of community forest networks to apply in my own context.”
1 he workshop was organized by RECOFTC, Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme, Forest
and Farm Facility and Global Alliance of Community Forestry during the last week of July in Manila,
Philippines.
2 his regional meeting was organized by RECOFTC and its donors and partner organizations during the
second week of July in Bangkok, hailand.
During the XIV World Forestry Congress held in Durban, South
Africa during September, the representative delivered another
presentation, titled, “Grassroots facilitators as agents of change
for promoting sustainable forest management: Lessons learned
from REDD+ capacity development in Asia.” The paper resulting
from the presentation can be read online at www.foris.fao.org/
wfc2015/api/file/552e1b8e9e00c2f116f8e7ea/contents/8cec63caf0c7-4799-abbe-14aad1302ee4.pdf
Ms. Rosdiana, a local facilitator and a member of Pemberdayaan
dan Kesejahteraan Keluarga (PKK), a women’s group in Indonesia:
“I shared the perspectives of different forests in Berau, Indonesia
and the participatory process used in forest management in my
area. I learned about facilitation skills and appropriate mechanisms
for supporting for my community and village. I intend to apply
and replicate the facilitation skills learned from the meeting into
awareness raising activities on sustainable forest management
in my community.”
Ms. Theya Chaw, Myanmar: a community forest member and
local facilitator: “During the pre-WFC regional meeting and
the XIV World Forestry Congress, I shared the concerns of local
villagers about the impacts of global warming and climate
change. I also stressed the need of providing adequate support
for local people for addressing the impacts of climate change and
improving forest-based livelihoods. I learned about sustainable
forest management and community forestry practices that I will
disseminate to local communities when conducting awarenessraising events and encouraging local people to manage forests
sustainably.”
Ms. Viengphet Phengmany, Participatory Development Education
Training Center, Lao PDR: “During the pre-WFC regional meeting, I
shared my experiences of developing the capacities of community
members on climate change and REDD+. I also emphasized that
community empowerment is fundamental for creating a strong
foundation for REDD+. Many local people live close to or in
forests and they must therefore have a better understanding
about the importance of forests to be in a better position to be
effective sustainable forest managers. I would like to apply the
methods related in pre-WFC regional meeting to further community
capacity development programs. I will also incorporate the four
key messages of the event into a further community capacity
development program for sustainable forest management.”
3 Four key messages identiied in the pre-WFC regional meeting were: 1) participatory process for policy
and enabling regulatory framework development; 2) formalizing tenure rights, 3) funds and resources for
community forest establishment; and 4) capacity development for leadership empowerment, information
access and network advocacy.
5
•
Posters on “Mainstreaming Gender in Sustainable Forest Management” in Lao language
A set of posters has been developed in Lao language for raising the awareness and developing a basic understanding of
grassroots stakeholders on gender issues in climate change and sustainable forest management. The posters will be distributed
as support material to local facilitators of the Grassroots REDD+ project for raising awareness on gender mainstreaming among
grassroots stakeholders. The posters will also be made available to other organizations working on gender and natural resource
management in Lao PDR. The poster is available athttp://www.recoftc.org/project/grassroots-capacity-building-redd/postersinfographics/posters-grassroots-communities-lao-pdr-gender-and-climate-change
•
FPIC in REDD+ handbook in Bahasa Indonesia language
This question and answer booklet on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in REDD+ has been translated from the English
version and will be made available to local trainers and facilitators who are engaged in delivering REDD+ and climate change
training and capacity development activities. This booklet is available at http://www.recoftc.org/project/grassroots-capacitybuilding-redd/q-and/fpic-redd-handbook-grassroots-facilitators-bahasa-indonesia
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
[email protected]
http://www.recoftc.org/project/grassroots-capacity-building-redd
Copyright © 2015 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.
Issue 8: December 2015
REDD+
Grassroots
Newsletter
Grassroots Capacity Building for REDD+
Training and Capacity Building of Forest Sector Grassroots Stakeholders for
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Asia
Welcome to the Grassroots REDD+
Newsletter
HIGHLIGHTs
• Key concerns and issues of grassroots stakeholders on REDD+ and
climate change are documented and communicated through several
consultation workshops in all countries.
• Workshops at national levels are organized to share lessons and
feedback from grassroots facilitators on REDD+ capacity development.
• Achievements of the project are shared at regional and international
levels by grassroots facilitators.
INDoNEsIa:
During the last few months, the Grassroots REDD+ project
activities in Indonesia focused on reflecting upon the key lessons
learned during capacity development activities conducted by
the project’s partner organizations and grassroots facilitators
and on documenting the project’s impacts.
Recently, the project’s partners organized two reflection
workshops. One, organized by YAKOBI, the project’s partner
in East Kalimantan, focused on the organization’s experiences
engaging with religious leaders to communicate the key
messages of REDD+ and climate change. The second was
organized by the grassroots project team in Indonesia,
bringing 20 grassroots facilitators together to reflect,
particularly on learning from their experiences in delivering
capacity development activities. These events also focused on
documenting key issues and challenges faced by grassroots
stakeholders related with delivering capacity development
activities on REDD+ and sustainable forest management. Such
reflection and sharing workshops also led to the creation of
a learning network of grassroots facilitators in the project
areas that would help in sustaining the knowledge sharing
process during the post Grassroots REDD+ project phase.
The participants of the workshops stressed the need of
strengthening such a network and building synergy with
other similar initiatives, integrating community welfare
and livelihoods improvements in the capacity development
programs and replicating learning in different areas with
support from proper awareness raising communication tools.
With regards to the project’s impact, documentation was carried
out in two locations: the Berau district in East Kalimantan and
the Jember district in East Java.
In Berau, the impact documentation focused on the
effectiveness of YAKOBI as REDD+ capacity development
organization. The documentation process focused on
interviewing representatives of the various target groups
– women, religious leaders and elementary school teachers
– about their experiences of participating in the project’s
capacity development activities. Project staff also interviewed
key YAKOBI staff, who reported that the project approach
helped them in designing and delivering the REDD+ capacity
development activities.
With regards to the project’s impact, documentation was
carried out in two locations: the Berau district in East
Kalimantan and the Jember district in East Java.
In Berau, the impact documentation focused on the
effectiveness of YAKOBI as REDD+ capacity development
organization. The documentation process focused on
interviewing representatives of the various target groups
– women, religious leaders and elementary school teachers
– about their experiences of participating in the project’s
capacity development activities. Project staff also interviewed
key YAKOBI staff, who reported that the project approach
helped them in designing and delivering the REDD+ capacity
development activities.
YAKOBI staff and women facilitators in the Biduk-Biduk community of Berau district, East Kalimantan province, who were
interviewed for the project’s “story of change.”
Woman grassroots facilitator
sharing her experiences implementing the project’s REDD+
capacity development program during a national sharing
and relection workshop in
Surabaya during September.
Setting up video interview for the project’s “story of change” with an
elementary teacher school teacher trained by YAKOBI in Berau district,
East Kalimantan province.
2
Lao PDR:
MyaNMaR:
Following a national level training of trainers (ToT) program
on gender mainstreaming in sustainable forest management
conducted by the Grassroots REDD+ project team in Lao,
six of the ToT participants were selected to form a team of
national facilitators consisting of the members of Women’s
Advancement Committee and Laos Women Union under the
Department of Forests (DoF). The selected ToT participants
helped delivering a three-day sub-national level ToT, which
was attended by 30 participants from three target provinces:
Saravan, Huaphan and Luang Prabang. These participants had
attended an earlier training on climate change and REDD+
social safeguards in 2014 under the Grassroots REDD+ project.
From this sub-national ToT, 3-4 participants were selected
as sub-national facilitators who would be responsible for
delivering training on climate change and sustainable forest
management at the community/grassroots level together
with the national facilitator team of the grassroots project,
following cascading approach.
After completing training programs for REDD+ at grassroots,
sub-national and national levels, the Grassroots REDD+ project
team in Myanmar organized a series of consultation meetings
with grassroots stakeholders in three project sites: PyarponBogalay, Pyay-Pauk Khaung and Layshe townships to document
the key concerns and issues of the stakeholders. The results of
the consultations are listed in the following table:
Another important activity that was accomplished by the
Grassroots REDD+ project team in Lao PDR was to organize a
two-day national workshop in Vientiane in preparation for the
upcoming 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in
Paris. The workshop, which had a key focus on equity in forests
and climate change, was organized jointly with the Department
of Forest Resource Management (DFRM), the Ministry of Natural
Resource and Environment (MoNRE) and in close collaboration with
the Department of Forestry (DoF) of the Ministry of Agriculture
and Forestry (MAF). A total of 24 delegates from agencies under
MoNRE and MAF, including REDD+ taskforce members, attended
this two-day event. The main objective of the workshop was to
raise the awareness of the key national stakeholders on climate
change and equity ahead of the upcoming COP21. The outputs
from this workshop contributed to the development of an issue
paper on equity in climate change that is scheduled to be released
during COP21 this month.
Concerns and issues
Pyarpon-Bogalay
PyayPauk
Khaung
Illegal logging, weak law enforcement and lack of coordination between communities and government agencies at the local level.
×
×
Lack of alternative fuel supply to minimize forest degradation and
deforestation caused by firewood collection.
×
×
Technical and financial support needed to develop and support alternative livelihood opportunities for community forest user group and to
gradually replace shifting cultivation by terrace farming.
×
Support needed for agro-forestry practices to reduce pressure on
forest resources.
×
×
Lack of the forest land for establishing community forest.
×
Lack of knowledge on forest laws and forest conservation practices.
×
Lack of adequate knowledge of REDD+.
Uncertainty of carbon market at the national and international levels.
Layshe
×
×
×
Infrastructure development, such as road construction from Manipur
in India to Lay-Shi township in Myanmar, may lead to loss of natural
forests.
×
Customary rights on land tenure and rights on traditional forest
management need to be considered in REDD+ implementation by the
relevant agencies and project proponents.
×
Benefit-sharing and equity are critical at the community level,
particularly because the role of women in forest management and
decision-making is yet to be recognized as essential to sustainable
forest management.
×
In view of the priorities for daily livelihoods, convincing communities
for their participation in REDD+ implementation is a challenge.
×
Poor capacity of women to effectively participate in forest management practices.
×
Group discussion during the village level consultation meeting in
ThaPhaKine village, Pauk Khaung township, Pyay district, Bago
region, during July 2015, conducted by Friends of Wildlife (FoW).
Group discussion on mainstreaming gender in sustainable forest management during a sub-national ToT in Thalad during July.
Group photo of the national level REDD+ stakeholders participating
in the workshop on equity in climate change ahead of COP21 during
September.
Village level consultation meeting in Tepinseik village, Phyarpon
township, Phyarpon district, Ayeyarwaddy region during
June 2015, conducted by the Forest Resource Environment
Development and Conservation Association (FREDA).
3
NEPaL:
VIET NaM:
In Nepal, the Grassroots REDD+ project team’s activities were
affected by the rainy season and also to some extent by the
tumultuous political situation between July and September. The
project’s activities picked up again in October 2015, which will be
reported in the next newsletter. The focus of the project’s activities
is on continuing with a series of grassroots level consultations on
sustainable forest management, climate change and REDD+ and
to document key issues and concerns of grassroots stakeholders
and share them with policymakers. The aim of the consultation
workshops is to engage local resource persons who have been
trained under the Grassroots REDD+ project.
During July, the Grassroots REDD+ project team in Viet Nam
conducted a series of 13 refresher and consultation workshops
at the community level in all four target provinces, engaging
nearly 400 participating grassroots stakeholders to identify and
document concerns and aspirations related to REDD+. Of the
13 events, two were organized both in Ha Tinh and Ca Mau
provinces, three in Lam Dong and six in Bac Kan. The discussions
resulting from these workshops were then synthesized and the
results were shared in six district-level round table meetings,
which were organized during August and September. A total of
137 local government officials with an influence on policymaking
attended the meetings, which also served as a platform to update
the participants on the Grassroots REDD+ project’s achievements,
lessons learnt and a range of communication tools developed
by the project.
Energizing exercise during a refresher consultation workshop in Lang
Ngam commune, Ngan Son district, Bac Kan province.
Discussing REDD+ social safeguards during a refresher consultation workshop
in Lang Ngam commune, Cho Don district, Bac Kan province.
Recalling the concept of REDD+ during a refresher consultation workshop in
Gung Re commune, Di Linh district, Lam Dong province.
4
In August, a Grassroots REDD+ project representative was
invited to share experiences of the project’s citizen journalism
training approach during a side event at the IUCN Asia Regional
Conservation Forum 2015 held in Bangkok, Thailand, titled,
“Citizen journalism: Empowering local people to share voices
through SMS”. Specifically, the project representative presented
the TempoSMS mechanism – an SMS service that allows local
people to text issues they encounter to the TempoSMS website –
introduced to the citizen journalists during a training delivered
by the Grassroots project to communicate local issues related
to natural resource management to the wider public through
the national media outlet, Tempo.
Cascading up grassroots concerns and issues
Mr. Le Van Dinh, Ha Tinh Center for Community Development
(HCCD), Viet Nam: “While helping to organize RECOFTC’s
pre-WFC regional meeting, I learned about the participatory
approach. I am excited to apply this method in organizing further
grassroots consultation workshops and will also share it with
partner organizations. And I will convey the four key priorities3
that could contribute to successful REDD+ implementation.”
The cascading approach has been a core method applied by
the Grassroots REDD+ project for developing the capacities
of grassroots stakeholders by bringing their voices from the
grassroots level up to the national, regional and international
levels, hence, the term, “cascading up.” In-country strategies,
consultation and sharing workshops have been an essential part
of the cascading approach for sharing grassroots concerns and
issues with decision- and policy-makers. In the process of bringing
grassroots voices to the regional and international levels, the project
has also supported eight grassroots facilitators from five project
countries to share their concerns and issues at the “Asia Regional
Workshop on Community Forest Rights and Strengthening Forest
Associations”1, “Investing in local communities for sustainable
forests: The Asia and the Pacific pre-World Forestry Congress
(WFC) regional meeting on people and forests”2 and the XIV
World Forestry Congress 2015. Grassroots facilitators related
their experiences attending these key events with the project
staff, which are shared below:
Mr. Ganesk Karki, of FECOFUN, Nepal: “Attending the ‘Asia Regional
Workshop on Community Forest Rights and Strengthening Forest
Associations,’ I gained an understanding of different experiences of
community management and its ability for livelihood improvement
in Asia. I was also able to learn about the good practices of land
ownership rights of community forests in the Philippines. I aim
to use all of these lessons to raise awareness of communities,
enhance my institution’s structure and to coordinate among
networks for advocating and ensuring community rights in
community forestry.”
Mr. Muhammad Jamil, representative of a village forest in Labbo
Village, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia: “During the ‘Asia
Regional Workshop on Community Forest Rights and Strengthening
Forest Associations,’ I shared the status of the community forest
network in my province and village. The event helped me
understand how to analyze the weaknesses and strengths of
community forest networks and better understand the concept
of community forest networks to apply in my own context.”
1 he workshop was organized by RECOFTC, Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme, Forest
and Farm Facility and Global Alliance of Community Forestry during the last week of July in Manila,
Philippines.
2 his regional meeting was organized by RECOFTC and its donors and partner organizations during the
second week of July in Bangkok, hailand.
During the XIV World Forestry Congress held in Durban, South
Africa during September, the representative delivered another
presentation, titled, “Grassroots facilitators as agents of change
for promoting sustainable forest management: Lessons learned
from REDD+ capacity development in Asia.” The paper resulting
from the presentation can be read online at www.foris.fao.org/
wfc2015/api/file/552e1b8e9e00c2f116f8e7ea/contents/8cec63caf0c7-4799-abbe-14aad1302ee4.pdf
Ms. Rosdiana, a local facilitator and a member of Pemberdayaan
dan Kesejahteraan Keluarga (PKK), a women’s group in Indonesia:
“I shared the perspectives of different forests in Berau, Indonesia
and the participatory process used in forest management in my
area. I learned about facilitation skills and appropriate mechanisms
for supporting for my community and village. I intend to apply
and replicate the facilitation skills learned from the meeting into
awareness raising activities on sustainable forest management
in my community.”
Ms. Theya Chaw, Myanmar: a community forest member and
local facilitator: “During the pre-WFC regional meeting and
the XIV World Forestry Congress, I shared the concerns of local
villagers about the impacts of global warming and climate
change. I also stressed the need of providing adequate support
for local people for addressing the impacts of climate change and
improving forest-based livelihoods. I learned about sustainable
forest management and community forestry practices that I will
disseminate to local communities when conducting awarenessraising events and encouraging local people to manage forests
sustainably.”
Ms. Viengphet Phengmany, Participatory Development Education
Training Center, Lao PDR: “During the pre-WFC regional meeting, I
shared my experiences of developing the capacities of community
members on climate change and REDD+. I also emphasized that
community empowerment is fundamental for creating a strong
foundation for REDD+. Many local people live close to or in
forests and they must therefore have a better understanding
about the importance of forests to be in a better position to be
effective sustainable forest managers. I would like to apply the
methods related in pre-WFC regional meeting to further community
capacity development programs. I will also incorporate the four
key messages of the event into a further community capacity
development program for sustainable forest management.”
3 Four key messages identiied in the pre-WFC regional meeting were: 1) participatory process for policy
and enabling regulatory framework development; 2) formalizing tenure rights, 3) funds and resources for
community forest establishment; and 4) capacity development for leadership empowerment, information
access and network advocacy.
5
•
Posters on “Mainstreaming Gender in Sustainable Forest Management” in Lao language
A set of posters has been developed in Lao language for raising the awareness and developing a basic understanding of
grassroots stakeholders on gender issues in climate change and sustainable forest management. The posters will be distributed
as support material to local facilitators of the Grassroots REDD+ project for raising awareness on gender mainstreaming among
grassroots stakeholders. The posters will also be made available to other organizations working on gender and natural resource
management in Lao PDR. The poster is available athttp://www.recoftc.org/project/grassroots-capacity-building-redd/postersinfographics/posters-grassroots-communities-lao-pdr-gender-and-climate-change
•
FPIC in REDD+ handbook in Bahasa Indonesia language
This question and answer booklet on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in REDD+ has been translated from the English
version and will be made available to local trainers and facilitators who are engaged in delivering REDD+ and climate change
training and capacity development activities. This booklet is available at http://www.recoftc.org/project/grassroots-capacitybuilding-redd/q-and/fpic-redd-handbook-grassroots-facilitators-bahasa-indonesia
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
[email protected]
http://www.recoftc.org/project/grassroots-capacity-building-redd
Copyright © 2015 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.
Issue 8: December 2015