Forest Connect

Reducing poverty by linking small and medium forest enterprises with national forest programmes, markets and service providers

Small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) are critical to the poor. They generate local wealth, help to secure local resources and environmental accountability, promote local creativity and help to preserve indigenous cultures and market niches. But while the number of SMFEs starting up in least developed countries is high, keeping them going sustainably is a major challenge. They face problems such as too much bureaucracy, unstable policies and regulations, insecure land rights, lack of bargaining power, insufficient business knowledge and difficulties accessing credit, market information and technology.

Many SMFEs work together in associations to reduce transaction costs, adapt to new market opportunities and shape the policy environment in their favour. But in many developing countries, support structures for such forest associations either do not exist or fail to reach those who need help most.

Objectives and expected outputs

The central aim of this project is to connect SMFEs to:

• national forest programmes (empowering SMFEs to be heard by policy makers);
• emerging markets (by supporting existing SMFE associations) and;
• service providers (strengthening their capacity to provide training and finance).

The project expected outputs are:

• development of functional and stable information services and support networks for SMFEs in six countries – testing and adapting models for connecting SMFEs to national forest programmes, markets and service providers.
• development of an information ‘toolkit’ based on practical experience that guides national forest programmes on how to set up an SMFE information service / support network to support the economic, social and environmental sustainability of SMFEs.
• testing, applying and revising the toolkit in partner countries and national forest programme facility countries to maximise the worldwide potential of such information services and support networks for SMFEs.

Geographic region and duration

The project has been implemented in Burkina Faso, China, Ghana, Guatemala. Guyana, Lao PDR, Mali, Mozambique and Nepal since April 2007, and is currently being initiated in Liberia.

 
Forest Connect pilot countries

Key findings and publications to date

Forging linkages: the case of Forest Connect as a small-scale forest enterprise development network tool . Wagner, K., Grouwels, S. and Schweitzer Meins, L. FAO. 2011.
This report was developed for the 2011 IUFRO Small Scale Forestry Conference held in Freiburg, Germany. The report reflects on Forest Connect as a tool for fostering intra- and inter- country linkages between those working on small forest enterprise development. The experiences of Forest Connect in Burkina Faso and in Nepal are reflected upon in the report.

Testing and enriching guidance modules for the "facilitation of support for small and medium forest enterprises"; proceedings of the second international Forest Connect workshop. Macqueen, D.J. and Rolington, L., Editors, IIED, Edinburgh, UK.
The workshop took place at the Global Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 16-18 February 2011, and aimed to plan how to test and enrich this toolkit with experiences from Forest Connect partners from around the world. The first day of the workshop was dedicated to sharing progress on supporting small forest enterprises in 10 different Forest Connect country contexts. Each of twelve country presentations framed their presentation in relation to a particular toolkit guidance module – illustrating what they had done and the tactics that they had used. On the second day of the workshop, participants visited Chilimo Forest Union with its nine constituent Forest Cooperatives carrying out participatory forest management (PFM). A range of forest harvesting, restoration, nursery management, and livelihood diversification options were presented. The history of the emergence of PFM and community forest cooperatives under the current government was explained. Participants had a chance to question the cooperative and union members. On the final day of the workshop participants divided into working groups to share more detailed tactics and ideas under broad headings that related to the guidance modules. The aim of these working group sessions was to develop a series of steps and tactics through which to interrogate the existing guidance within the draft toolkit – identifying where the guidance was appropriate and where it might have missed the mark. In the final session of the afternoon a "fishbowl debate‟ was organised to debate the future of the Forest Connect alliance – which broadly served to affirm the commitment of alliance members to the work in hand and its increasing relevance to a range of issues such as poverty reduction, avoided deforestation and sustainable landscapes. 

Supporting small forest enterprises - A cross-sectoral review of best practice Duncan Macqueen This report reviews the growing consensus on best practice in small enterprise support, both within and outside the forest sector. It describes how a framework known as ‘market system development’ unites attempts to: strengthen enterprise associations, facilitate better provision of financial and business development services, and improve the business environment. It concludes with specific recommendations for support to SMFEs, which constitute the basis for the ‘Forest Connect’ alliance, aiming to spread good practice more broadly.

Toward an enabling environment for small and medium forest enterprise development Jason Donovan, Dietmar Stoian, Sophie Grouwels, Duncan Macqueen, Arthur van Leeuwen, Gemma Boetekees and Ken Nicholson (2007)
This policy brief was developed from an international conference on Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Poverty Reduction: Opportunities and Challenges in Globalizing Markets, Costa Rica, 23-25 May 2006.

Forest Connect country-specific summary reports

The following are reports written by the Forest Connect hub organizations in Burkina Faso and Nepal. Each report tells the story of Forest Connect and its progress, lessons learned, challenges and successes from its initiation in each country through to the end of 2011. These documents provide great narratives for anyone wishing to get a quick overview of what Forest Connect looks like in different countries.

Forest Connect Burkina Faso summary report 

Forest Connect Liberia summary report 

Forest Connect Nepal summary report 

Country case studies

Testing Research Report on Forest Farmer Cooperatives in Longquan, Zhejiang, China for the Forest Connect Toolkit, Guidance Module 14. FAO, 2011. 

Diagnostic Study on Small and Medium Forest Enterprises (SMFEs) in Uganda 
This case study report attempts to consolidate existing knowledge on small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) and provides an overview of the sector based on literature reviews, fieldwork surveys and analyses. The study was undertaken as there is little information on non-timber Small and Medium Forest Enterprises (SMFEs) in terms of their value chain aspects such as production, processing, market syndicates, profitability, financing, policy and legal investment climate. Their role in supporting livelihoods is not fully understood and is probably greatly underestimated. As a result, the future of commercialization of the Non-timber resources in Uganda does not receive much attention from policy makers, development agencies, private sector and civil society advocates. In general, the study concludes that SMFEs have already demonstrated uncontested success, proving their worthiness to drive economic and social development. The report was produced by the Natural Enterprise Development LTD on behalf of Environmental Alert in November 2009.

Sistematizacion de Experiencia Encadenamiento Forestal Asociacion TIKONEL, San Martín Jilotepeque Chimaltenango 
This case study from Guatemala focuses on the forest product chain and was developed by the Regional Coordinating Committee for the Integrated Development of the Environment (La Coordinadora Regional de Comités Para El Desarrollo Integral Ambiental), e.g. “Asociación TIKONEL.” This is the third activity TIKONEL has contributed as part of Forest Connect.

Sistematizacion de Experiencia de Mercadeo de un Producto, desarrollado por Asociacio TIKONEL, San Martín Jilotepeque Chimaltenango - “Caja para Té” 
This case study, also from Guatemala, focuses on the successful marketing of forest products, the production chain, and the value chain by the small forest enterprise, Ut'z Che.

Developing a toolkit for facilitation of support for small forest enterprises

A draft toolkit, entitled: Supporting small forest enterprises - A facilitator’s toolkit -DRAFT has the goal of helping supporters, or  ‘facilitators’, of SMFEs at the international level (e.g. donors) and especially at the national level (e.g. government extension services, NGOs) to do their job better. This toolkit will be improved during the testing phase starting in 2010.

Materials from the first international workshop (July 2008) in Edinburgh, Scotland:

Forest Connect Diagnostic Studies on Small and Medium-Sized Forest Enterprises

1. Challenges and opportunities for Lao DPR’s small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) (2009)
2. Défis et opportunités pour les petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) au Burkina Faso (2009)
3. Challenges and opportunities for Nepal’s small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) (2009)
4. Challenges and opportunities for China’s small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) (2009)
5. Desafíos y oportunidades para las micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas forestales (MIPYMEs forestales) de Guatemala (2009)