Renforcement des capacités en identification et élaboration de projet

Background

World Bank[1] estimates show $10-15 billion annually are lost world wide due to illegal logging; with close to $5 billion lost due to uncollected taxes and royalties on legally sanctioned timber harvests due to corruption.

Such losses of state revenue prevent timber-rich Congo Basin governments from meeting development goals and public services of basic healthcare and education, as well as improvements in sustainable forest management.

Poor and disadvantaged communities suffer the most from poor governance of the forest sector, especially due to being denied a voice to actively participate in decision-making processes concerning their land and resources. Inequities in the ownership and management of land and resource are a major source of conflict which undermines prospects for development.

Project objectives

The project seeks to contribute to:

• strong inclusive national Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) processes that guide and frame effective implementation of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT)/VPAs in Cameroon and Central African Republic (CAR).
• shared regional experiences of how to achieve inclusive negotiations to improve buy-in to implementation. 

More specifically, the project aims to ensure that civil society organisations’ (CSO) and indigenous peoples’ (IP) capacity is built through contributing to development, implementation and monitoring of VPAs. It seeks to empower marginalised forest communities and indigenous peoples in the Congo Basin to actively participate in the decisions that affect their lives, specifically in the implementation of the FLEGT VPAs.

Project expected results: 1

Concerns of non-state actors, including recognition of the rights of local communities including indigenous peoples, integrated into VPA actions

Project expected results: 2

Effective implementation of VPAs, through greater direct input from CSOs, to ensure VPAs deliver improved forest governance

Key activities

Results 1

•          Raise local communities and indigenous peoples’ awareness of governance aspects of VPA.

•          Develop mechanisms toward improved representation of communities and indigenous peoples.

•          Support for civil society platforms to play an effective role in VPA implementation.

•          VPA implementation and Rights Training courses.

•          Organisational development courses for national civil society platforms and local partners.

•          CS and community participation in legal, policy and institutional reforms relevant to the rights of forest communities.

•          Legal, organisational and other support to CS to ensure effective participation in legal reform processes and implementation committees.

Results 2

•          Facilitate regional communication and experience sharing through African Community Rights Network (2014, 2016), Forest Forum (2015).

•          Support update/revision of curriculum with higher forestry educational institutions eg. Centre régional en agriculture forêt bois (CRESA), Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences, University of Dschang, Ecole des Eaux et Forêts de Mbalmayo

Project target

The National Civil Society Platforms in Cameroon and CAR are central to the project. From these, communication and actions will target advocacy to policy and decision makers in government and the international community, and member organisations feed information to communities and indigenous peoples. The project seeks to strengthen the links, representation and ability of the Local Communities, indigenous peoples to feed information back to strengthen accountability and protect their rights.

• 30 organisations that are members of the platform Gestion Durable des Ressources Naturelles et de l’Environnement (GDRNE) in CAR.
• 40 organisations that form the Forests and Communities Platform in Cameroon.
• Indigenous peoples’ associations and their representatives in National VPA Committees in CAR and Cameroon.
• Academia and vocational training institutions in CAR and Cameroon.

Project Funding:

This project is co-financed by the European Commission and the Department for International Development (DFID)

Project Duration: 30 months

Project budget: 1 960 000 euros

Project implementation partners

CIDT

The Centre for International Development and Training at the University of Wolverhampton has long and unrivalled expertise in forestry training and capacity building in Africa and Asia. CIDT will focus on developing training to address skills/ knowledge gaps among network members, key VPA actors and educational institutions.

CED

The Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement (CED) has long standing experience of capacity building provision and support to NGOs and local associations in forest areas in Cameroon as well as in other countries in the Congo Basin on issues related to rights, illegal logging and support to indigenous communities.

CIEDD

Centre pour l’Information Environnementale et le Développement Durable. CIEDD’s areas of expertise are on forestry, rights of forest people, rural development, fight against corruption and lobbying. CIEDD will focus of national forest legislation and reform working with the national civil society platform to make proposals for integration of rights and participation of forest peoples’ in relevant reform processes in CAR.

FERN

FERN will strengthen policy analysis and advocacy at national level, support local partners to create effective communication tools for use at community levels and ensure project visibility and dissemination of learning regionally and internationally.

FODER

Forêts et Développement Rurale. FODER’s areas of expertise are on forestry, rights of forest people, rural development, fight against corruption and lobbying. FODER will deliver capacity building events, create tools for awareness raising as well as facilitate lesson learning and experience sharing.

FPP

The Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) has high-level legal expertise on the rights of forest communities and indigenous peoples which will support and complement the work that CED and CIEDD will develop at national level in Cameroon and CAR. 

MEFP

Maison de l’Enfant et de la Femme Pygmées (MEFP). The aim of MEFP is to further the social, economic and cultural well-being of indigenous peoples of the Central African Republic. MEFP will work with these communities to facilitate their participation in legal reform processes and ensure that they are fully represented and their concerns are taken into consideration.

Contact us

If you are interested in sharing your experience and expertise on forest governance and improving forest peoples’ rights or would like more information about the project, please contact:

Dr Aurelian Mbzibain

Project Manager

Centre for International Development and Training (CIDT)

University of Wolverhampton, Telford Campus, Shifnal Road, Priorslee, Telford,

TF2 9NT. United Kingdom

Email: cidt@wlv.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1902 323 219

For project related information please visit: www.wlv.ac.uk/cidt