Established in 2012, the Forest and Farm Facility’s (FFF) mission is to strengthen forest and farm producer organizations representing smallholders, rural women, forest communities and Indigenous Peoples as a means to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and responding to climate change. The Facility believes in the importance and potential of local communities to mitigate climate change effects, conserve biodiversity and generate sustainable livelihoods. FFF counts on the complementary attributes of four implementing partners: FAO, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and AgriCord. Four outcomes guide FFF’s initiatives:

1. More enabling policy and legal frameworks for forest and farm organizations delivered through inclusive governance and cross-sectoral processes.
2. Increased entrepreneurship, access to markets and finance through gender equitable value chains delivered through new capacity to provide business incubation within forest and farm organizations.
3. Improved delivery of landscape-scale mitigation of and adaptation to climate change and climate resilience through direct engagement of forest and farm organizations and integration with inclusive livelihood approaches.
4. Improved and equitable access to social and cultural services.

Looking into the future, FFF aims at replicating its approach at a larger scale through diverse funding mechanisms and supporting its beneficiaries to do the same.

Status of the sub-programme 
Ongoing – Phase II (2018-2025)

Currently active in 10 countries spanning over three geographical areas, FFF helps unlock the potential of communities and organizations and gain access to markets and better prices, leverage financial resources, policy changes and tenure security, and improve livelihoods. By promoting synergies between groups acting at different levels, FFF has contributed to the creation of opportunities for south-south learning and the development of a global community of practice. Unified communities improve each other’s prospects and practices through mutual learning and amplify their collective voice in markets and among policymakers. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, in 2021, 82 direct changes in policies, processes or decisions in favor of forest and farm organizations were recorded. Additionally, through increased engagement of forest and farm organizations in legal processes, 162 policy processes were created or strengthened.

Recently, FFF has supported the creation of the Ghana Federation of Forest and Farm Producers (GHaFFaP), which counts on over 1 million members. GHaFFaP is part of a long list of apex forest and farm organizations with whom FFF collaborates, which, through its members, collectively manage millions of hectares of forests and agricultural land.

In addition, FFF collaborates with three regional networks and two global alliances: the Network of Peasant Organizations and Agricultural Producers in West Africa (ROPPA), the Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA), the Mesoamerican Alliance of People and Forests (AMPB) and the World Rural Forum (WRF) and the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC). 

The Facility promotes the engagement of youth and women in its initiatives. In 2020, for example, gender strategies were integrated into country workplans in all countries. FFF budget allocations for achieving gender equality also increased. In 2021, the FFF worked with 90 groups led by women and 64 majority-women groups (many of them are both).

CHALLENGES AND LESSONS LEARNED

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges faced included:

• Lockdowns, which make it difficult for producers to transport and sell their products

• The loss of several national level organizations’ leaders 

The FFF has observed and raised awareness about the surprising capacity of rural grassroots organizations to respond to the pandemic and to help their constituencies in meeting health, food security, income and organizational needs. Here are some examples of way the organizations have helped mitigate the challenges:

• Supporting local communities to respond to and build back from the crisis
• Using local networks to help raise health awareness and distribute protective equipment
• Strengthening social protection services to members
• Connecting farmers to governmental support

Besides the COVID-19 pandemic, farmers are increasingly challenged by climate variability. One way in which FFF has assisted farmers to cope with this challenge is by helping them diversify production by growing trees, which are generally more resistant to extreme weather conditions and provide 

additional social and environmental benefits to communities.

For More information about the Forest and Farm Facility please click here.