Background

On 24 and 25 of November 2003 the Community of Practice on “Enhancing Stakeholder participation in national forest programmes” held his second technical with the theme “Assessment of participatory processes in national forest programmes” at the FAO headquarter in Rome.

The purpose of the event was to define strategic ways forward to strengthen participatory processes in national forest programmes and to build partnerships for action.

In order to achieve this, the meeting has the following objectives:

To review various methods and experiences for assessment of participatory processes in nfps.

To identify and adapt methods for assessment of participation in nfps with a view to providing guidance for effective participation.

To acknowledge the achievements of the partnerships established at the previous meeting and draw lessons.

To establish the Community of Practice.

To agree on the main theme for next year’s technical meeting.

The meeting was targeted at governmental institutions, research and development organizations, UN agencies and other international organizations that have practical experience with enhancing participation in nfp processes. The focus was on organizations that operate at international level; however, the representation of specific national experiences and perspectives of civil society organizations was an important consideration in the design of the meeting and the selection of participants. The Concept Note is attached in annex 1.

In total 34 participants from 18 countries (Annex 2) came together for two days to share their experiences, exchange ideas and build partnerships for strategic action toward meaningful participation in national forest programmes.