Partnership agreements
Partnership agreements are established between the Facility and partner countries to enhance their national forest programme (nfp) process over a three-year period. The partnership's objectives and rationale, foreseen actions and expected outcomes are presented in a Concept Note prepared by the partner country when it applies for Facility support.
The amount of funds made available to a partner country depends on the proposed activities and is adjusted to the respective countries' needs and circumstances (e.g. socio-economic significance of forestry in the country, progress in developing the national forest programme, the likely cost-effectiveness of the funds allocated and the external support available from other sources). An average of US$ 300 000 is provided in three years.
The Facility and the partner country agree on successive one-year programmes detailing activities to be carried out.
Procedures for concluding a partnership agreement
In countries wishing to obtain Facility support, the government agency in charge of the national forest programme prepares a Concept Note that:
- documents the relevance of the forestry sector in the country;
- takes stock of the current status of the national forest programme process, including the main stakeholders involved, national and donor initiatives providing support, and any bottlenecks that could hinder further progress;
- makes a case for Facility support, indicating the type of activities most needed, estimating the total annual budget required and explaining how the Facility support could make a difference to the national forest programme process;
- indicates the willingness of the government to allow civil society and other stakeholders to implement activities funded by the Facility, based on an open competitive process;
- describes how Facility support will be managed and monitored.
For the proposed outline of the Concept Note (20 pages maximum) Click here. Guidance on how to prepare the Concept Note is provided to governments upon request by FAO Regional nfp Advisors.
On the basis of specific criteria (see here), the Facility's Steering Committee decides upon the eligibility, priority and indicative funding for the countries that have submitted a Concept Note. Following this decision, partnership agreements are established between the Facility and selected countries.
For the time being the Facility has not opened new call for countries to submit Concept Note.