FFF activities in support of producer organizations in Gambia

FFF activities in support of producer organizations in Gambia, Nicaragua, Nepal and Guatemala.
GAMBIA
The Gambia initiative aims to promote cross-sectoral coordination on sustainable forest landscape
management, reduce rural poverty by organizing and building the capacity of Producer Organizations
towards participatory and environmentally sustainable resource development and management.
Through enhancing Producer Organizations understanding and awareness of environmental and policy
issues, they can then work towards farming methods that will prevent ecological damage and improve
livelihoods. The programme targets the National Farmers Platform of The Gambia (NFPG) and
Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Platform by building the capacity of their members on policy
advocacy, promoting sustainable livelihood options, to enable decision making about their lands, food
security and income generating activities
The National Farmers Platform of the Gambia has been consolidated around a shared agenda. A number
of workshops for specific producer groups, like cashew growers in Gambia have already stimulated
discussion on cross sectoral interests and the need for national representation. Special advocacy has
been focusing around pushing forward the designation of Community Forest Areas, a process that had
stalled in a country well known for supportive community forestry policy.
NICARAGUA
One of the components of the FFF in Nicaragua aims at strengthening forest producer organizations by
providing added value to the products sustainably manufactured by these organizations. The traditional
natural resource management practices of the Mayangna are environmentally sustainable, and it is
important to preserve and rehabilitate these practices while supporting the organizations. Moreover, as
the area of implementation of the FFF in Nicaragua is the Biosphere Reserve of Bosawás, it is essential
that the organizations operate in accordance with the rules and regulations of the area.
Pillar 1: Strengthen smallholder, women, community and Indigenous Peoples’ producer organizations
for business/livelihoods and policy engagement
At the first phase of the implementation of the FFF, the organizational capacity of forest producers is
enhanced through capacity building and technical assistance. A territorial analysis will be conducted to
identify the challenges and the opportunities that the groups face in order to adequately target the
capacity building efforts. At the second stage, once the groups have been strengthened in terms of
organization, emphasis will be given to supporting their production efforts. In practice, this will be
carried out through conducting added value analyses, improving production processes, validating social
technologies, and improving the commercialization of the products. The objective is that, by the end of
the implementation of the FFF, forest producer organizations manufacture products of improved quality
and have access to domestic markets, while ensuring that that the whole production cycle is sustainable.
This contributes not only to the livelihoods of the members of the organizations but also to the
sustainable management of natural resources in the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve.
Pillar 3: Local voices and learning link to global processes
Also the third component of the FFF in Nicaragua supports the forest producer organizations at least
indirectly. The FFF, mainly through support to the ongoing effort to create synergies between the
different productive sectors through the Cabinet of Production and Commerce, contributes to the
mainstreaming of forest policies into the overall production framework. An increased acknowledgment
of the forest sector as an important contributor to production may improve the possibilities of the forest
producer organizations to commercialize their products and participate in decision making.
Strengthening organizations of mayangna and mestiza women and young people in the Bosawás
Biosphere Reserve.
A special emphasis in the implementation of the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) in Nicaragua is given to
strengthening organizations of mayangna and mestiza women and young people in the Bosawás
Biosphere Reserve. They use forests and other natural resources, including bamboo, tuno, and tree bark,
in an environmentally sustainable way but with low revenues. The FFF will support organizations of
Mayangna women and young people in four territories: Mayangna Sauni As (Bonanza); Mayangna Sauni
Bas (Siuna); Mayangna Sauni Arungka (Bonanza); and Mayangna Sauni Tuahka (Rosita). In addition, the
FFF will work with mestiza women residing in these territories.
The Mayangna women have been working in handicraft, including products such as purses, necklaces,
bracelets etc. for some time. However, many of these products are of low quality and still need added
value to be appealing for national and local customers. The FFF will through technical assistance and
capacity-building promote the adoption of low-cost added value practices related to the products,
including improved design and quality. This will encourage enhanced productivity and economic
empowerment. Although the market is small, there are domestic markets where these products could
have a steady demand. Moreover, the women and the young will be trained in aspects related to the
importance of organization, participation, and leadership.
Some mestiza women are rather advanced in production of chocolate. However, they still need
technical assistance in order to be able to e.g. improve their access to markets and upgrade the design
of moulds. Moreover, the FFF could assist them in developing new initiatives that could provide them
with new business opportunities and qualify for additional financing or loans for instance from Banco
Produzcamos.
The FFF aims at encouraging innovation and the exchange of best practices to further empower the
organizations of women and young people. In February 2014, the first exchange was organized between
groups of mayangnas and mestizos. In March, there will be a regional event with participation of
representatives of women’s organizations from Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. The main
objective is to exchange experiences and lessons learnt regarding production, organization, and
leadership, and to facilitate new contact and communication between organizations of Mayangna and
mestiza women from Nicaragua and the other countries. Later on, there will be national interchanges
between the more advanced groups and those who are only beginning their production activities.
NEPAL
In Nepal, the processes to catalyze multi-stakeholder policy platforms and strengthen smallholders’
producer organizations for business and policy engagement will be initiated by three key organizations:
the Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN), the Federation of Nepal Cottage and
Small Industries (FNCSI) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Nepal office (IUCN
Nepal).
FECOFUN is a formal network of Forest Users Groups (FUGs) coming from all over Nepal dedicated to
promote and protect the rights of forest users. In the context of FFF, FECOFUN will conduct district-level
dialogues on key issues – previously identified through public field hearings - concerning the FUGs,
including evidence-based policy dialogues. These meetings will build the capacity of the FUGs on key
policy issues and on policy advocacy.
FECOFUN will also provide capacity development trainings to Community Forest User Groups on
sustainable forest management and enterprise development. The topics of the training will include
processing support, revision of operational plan or entrepreneurship development. In addition,
FECOFUN will develop a generic tool and conduct training workshops on the issue of organisational self
assessment tools and criteria, including Gender Equality and Social Inclusion tools.
FNCSI is a business membership organization representing the Micro, Cottage, and Small Industries
(MCSI) all over Nepal. They lobby for the rights of their members and provide support for business
development as well as market promotion of their MCSI entrepreneurs.
In the context of the FFF, FNCSI will support business development and strengthening at community
level. Activities will include identification and prioritisation of communities' business development
needs and identification of potential value chain developments, technology and skill transfer trainings,
as well as business plan development training for forest and farm service providers and collection
centres rehabilitation.
FECOFUN and FNCSI, with support of IUCN Nepal, will co-chair the National Consortium of Producers
Organizations that will be created to increase cross-sectoral integration of forest and farm issues at
national level.
GUATEMALA
El Mecanismo para Bosques y Fincas (FFF, por sus siglas en inglés) ha sido establecido con el propósito
de fortalecer la organización y las capacidades de las personas locales, de tal forma que puedan
participar en diálogos políticos y procesos de toma decisiones a nivel local, regional y nacional, los cuales
influyen el futuro de los bosques y las fincas.
Iniciativa Probosque
Uno de sus pilares es el relacionado con el desarrollo organizacional para desarrollo (micro) empresarial.
Bajo este marco, el FFF, en alianza con UICN, ACOFOP, CATIE, INAB, MAGA y RA, dan soporte técnico,
financiero y seguimiento al desarrollo y consolidadación del encadanamiento productivo del grupo de
reforestadores de tierras ejidales (municipales), de San Francisco Petén.
Dentro del proceso de apoyo a este encadenamiento, se ha concluido la actualización de su oferta
maderable y se ha iniciado la preparación de su Plan de Negocios. En materia de comercialización de sus
productos de plantaciones, durante la temporada de 2013, el grupo ha comercializado un total de 50
trailers, con lo cual ha permitido la generación de jornales e ingresos a los que participan en el esquema
asociativo.
Fortaleciendo capacidades de organizaciones forestales comunitarias
En materia de capacitación para mejorar sus capacidades, conocimiento y habilidades, de participación
en el dialogo político, el FFF en conjunto con la Fundación Propaz, facilita un programa de capacitación
en cuatro áreas: a) análisis de conflictos y comunicación constructiva; b) fortalecimiento de habilidades
para la negociación de conflictos; c) liderazgo, democracia interna y transparencia; d) el sector forestal,
espacios de diálogo e intereses comunitarios dentro del dialogo político forestal. A raíz de esta
capacitación, la Alianza a través de sus cuadros dirigenciales tendrá los insumos y las capacidades para
plantear mejoras del proceso de participación e incidencia de la Alianza Nacional de OFCs, en el dialogo
político forestal. Este dialogo se lleva a cabo en los temas: a) REDD+ y Cambio climatíco; b) Salvaguardas
para REDD+; c) Programa de Incentivos y presupuestos institucionales; d) Reducción de la ilegalidad en
las cadenas forestales maderables.
En materia de fortalecimiento a la organización para fines de desarrollo microempresarial; el FFF ha
facilitado las siguientes acciones:
a) Un inventario de pequeñas empresas forestales y agroforestales, con información de 43
emprendimientos de cinco de las organizaciones forestales de la Alianza (Acofop, Fundalachua,
Utz Che, Asorech, Fedecovera y Federafogua. Este inventario esta depositado en la organización
comunitaria Utz Che para fines de mantenimiento de la base de datos.
b) La obtención de los permisos de operación de un sitio webb denominado Pyme comunitaria, a
través del cual, se apoya la promoción de productos de los emprendimientos de varias de las
organizaciones de la Alianza.
c) La participación en ferias y eventos regionales de productos y artesanías derivadas de la
actividad con bosques y plantaciones.
d) La capacitación de capacitadores en el tema de Analisis y Desarrollo de Mercados, utilizando la
experiencia y herramientas de un manual que para este tema FAO ha desarrollado en varios
países e incluso en Guatemala. Personal de cinco organizaciones (Acofop, Fundalachua, Tikonel,
Helvetas y el Inab) han sido capacitados en esta herramienta y apoyarán a los emprendimietos
de sus organizaciones en el desarrollo de planes de negocios para crecimiento empresarial.