News
 2 May 2013 Both government and civil society representatives welcomed the launching of the FFF in Myanmar and endorsed its mission of support for smallholder producer organization to provide business incentives and policy voice for sustainable forest landscapes. The on going reforms on the new Forest Law may create the space for forest and farm producer groups for business. The new emphasis of the FD on people centred approaches for bottom-up poverty reduction, and securing rights for smallholders. The twofold approach of (i) piloting producer group formation and organisation in which FD will contribute in the process and (ii) using lessons from those pilots to catalyse cross-ministerial dialogue on solutions to policy constraints was felt to be the way forward for the government cross-sector coordination. A process involving the following steps was proposed by stakeholders and agreed at the launching workshop: (i) a transparent and inclusive call for proposals with initial selection of pilot areas for supporting producer organisation for business, (ii) at the end of the six months implementation a workshop with the participation of the established producer groups, civil society, business and governmental partners to share and discuss the experiences and identify ways of moving forward with the implementation of business oriented CFUG organizations, (iii) grants over longer periods will be available in future calls for the established producer groups for enhanced business development and policy dialogue. Working groups in the launching workshop identified a range of business opportunities for forest and farm producer groups, including timber production, wood energy, non-timber forest products (including medicinal plants), agricultural crops, and including aquaculture. Private sector present at the workshop express interest in engaging, providing technical support, and buying product from producer groups in key product areas to secure sustainable future sup... [more] |
| 9 April 2013 Under the Regional News, Launching Workshops of the FFF pilot countries are reported. [more] |
 13 March 2013 The need for more cross/sectoral integration of the forest sector and strengthening of local producers organisations were the main issues discussed during the lauching workshop (11-13 March) for FFF support . Gambia has started developing an integrated approach in managing landscape resources with the Agricultural and Natural Resources (ANR) Policy 2009-2015, elaborated through nation wide consultative processes at local, regional and national level. A working group (coordinated by the National Environmental Agency) including agriculture and environment constituencies was created to make sure the policy encompassed all relevant aspects related to iron out the land use -conflicts between forest and agriculture and others. It is proposed that this working group be strengthened by the FFF. Participants agreed on the urgent need to review the administration process regarding forest ownership transfer to Communities. In addition, it was agreed that the National Coordinating Organization for Farmers Associations of The Gambia (NACOFAG) will be the focal point for the FFFacility, being a national coordination umbrella representing all key producer platforms of the country. [more] |
 8 March 2013 In order to strengthen cross-sectoral integration of the forest sector, it is proposed that continued support be provided to the established National Forest Forum (NFF), to improve the participation of the stakeholders in the Forum. Suggestions such as changing the name to better present the cross sector objective and mandate were discussed. The venue of the Forum will also circulate between the key ministries involved in order to broaden the ownership outside the Forestry Development Authority (FDA). A process involving the County Forest Forums (CFF) was proposed by the producer groups and approved at the “launching” workshop to strengthen local forest and farm organizations. It will start with an identification and mapping exercise on the existing producer groups to better understand how the FFF could support the organizing of producer groups for business/enterprise purpose. [more] |
 16 February 2013 The Introductory Meeting of the Forest & Fram Facility in Nepal took place on Saturday, 16 February in Kathmandu. Around 25 stakeholders participated to set up priorities for FFF support focused on forestry communities rights. [more] |
 12 February 2013 The Launching Workshop was held on 11-12 February to discuss the relevance of the FFF with Government institutions and farmer organizations, and to identify the relationship of the FFF with the national public policies in Nicaragua. The FFF will support cross-sectoral fora at national level as well as at departmental and municipal levels in a few prioritized departments. The pilot areas should be selected based on their relevance to thematic issues prioritized by the Government and FAO like; food security, water, and the related introduction of agroforestry and silvipasture production systems. The following steps for initiating FFF suppport were agreed during the Workshop: FFF at national level will strengthen the PRORURAL platform which currently includes MAGFOR, INAFOR ,MEFCA and INTA. At departmental level, support to strengthening producer organizations will be initiated in both RAAN and Corredor Seco. [more] |
 10 February 2013 The Launching Workshop to set up priorities for FFF support was held on 7-10 February. Activities at both national level and in some selected pilot territories (department, municipality, community levels) will be identified. Pilot areas will be prioritized by government for key policy implementation of cross sectoral thematic issues like fuelwood, tourism, food security, water. Since the forest sector in Guatemala remains isolated and not integrated into the main national policies and initiatives, like the Agricultura Familiar, Hambre Cero and the Energy policy, FFF support will focus on cross/sectoral integration of the forest sector. A base line study will provide more info on existing cross-sectoral fora and the participation of the forestry sector in those. Support to strengthening producer organizations will be initiated through providing continued support to the Alianza. [more] |
| 1 February 2013 The first, ad hoc, Steering Committee (SC) of the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) met at FAO HQ in Rome from 10 to 11 January 2013. The following issues were discussed: funding situation, governance, management, monitoring, support mechanisms and modus operandi, and the slection of pilot countries. To download the Minutes, please click on the link [more] |
| 11 January 2013 What is the value added of the FFF, knowing that there are so many international initatives currently working on Forests, Climate Change and related topics? Steering Committee members answer: [more] |
| 11 January 2013 Steering Committee members have selected 6 pilot countries to start FFF activities in 2013. Latin America: Guatemala and Nicaragua Africa: Gambia and Liberia Asia: Myanmar and Nepal The selection of neighboring countries should facilitate exchange of experiences and learning and strengthen regional or sub-regional cooperation. [more] |
| 1 January 2013 Application toolkit is available on the FAO website here: http://www.fao.org/employment/current-vacancies/senior-level/en/. Deadline for submission: 18 January 2103. Post description here: [more] |
 22 November 2012 About 60 participants from eight Latin American countries (Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay Bolivia, and Mexico) attended the meeting in Managua with the main purpose to exchange knowledge and experiences on financing activities and credit programs by public and private banks for small agro-forestry producers. The meeting was co-organized by INAFOR, Banco Produzcamos of Nicaragua, FAO, the Forest and Farm Facility, GIZ and IUCN. The meeting was attended by senior managers of national development banks and forestry directors. For most participants from the financial sector this was the first time they attended an event where they had the opportunity to discuss with other bankers credit programs about forestry. The meeting also benefitted from the presentations of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE), and IUCN. LAFISE, a large private bank, also attended the meeting. The Alianza Mesoamericana de Pueblos y Bosques and FEPROAH also presented experiences of community forestry, their financing and institutional challenges, from the perspective of indigenous groups. [more] |
 22 November 2012 The FFF was presented during the meeting of the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forest, held on 22 and 23 November 2012 in Managua, Nicaragua. The members of this Alliance welcomed the recently launched FFF, and look forward to collaboration with the FFF pilot countries in Latin America. The Alliance is interested in the exchange of experiences with other groups of South America and other regions of the world. The Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forest is a space for coordination and exchange for territorial authorities that manage or influence the major forested areas of Mesoamerica. Through the Alliance, indigenous governments and community forest organizations look to strengthen their own dialogue and focus on community management of natural resources. [more] |
| 24 October 2012 The workshop "Hacia una estrategia para mejorar la competitividad del sector forestal de Paraguay y su financiamiento"was attended by national authorities e.g. the Minister of Finance, President of National forest Institute (INFONA) President of National development finance agency (ADF), Minister of the environment and decision making representatives of forest stakeholders such as the President of FEPAMA. The Minister of finance did a presentation about the importance of the forestry sector to the national development. After his presentation there were lively discussions. As output of the event the participants provided inputs to the plan to increase the competitiveness of the forestry sector and next steps were agreed. The minister of finance has decided to establish soon a Forest Finance Intelligence and Investment Unit. This unit will belong to the Ministry of Finance and will support the integration of forestry with other sectors coordinating with the Ministry of economy and enterprises, INFONA, SEAM, and financial sector. [more] |
Launching the Forest & Farm Facility (FFF) - COFO at FAO HQ
28 September 2012
Under the chairmanship of Richard China, Director, Policy and Programme Development Support Division (TCS), a panel of eight key Facility partners engaged with more than 100 participants ranging from forestry officials representing NFP Facility member countries, to donor representatives and civil society organizations as well as FAO colleagues.
On behalf of the Facility Manager, Jerker Thunberg, a short presentation was given by Johan Lejeune, Sophie Grouwels and Jhony Zapata on the transition of the NFP Facility towards the F&FF and its new focus. Participants learned that the new programme will be premised on a landscape approach of sustainable forest and farm management, with the emphasis on supporting local, regional, national and international organizations and platforms to ensure that any undertakings related to policies and investments are effective, inclusive and meet the needs of local people. Members of the selective panel included representatives of several civil society organizations, a government, the World Bank, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - all core partners of the Facility. All made brief statements on the relevance of the F&FF from their particular perspective and on how they intend to collaborate and contribute to the realization of its goals.
Summing-up remarks were made by Eva Muller, Director, Forest Economics, Policy and Products Division (FOE), who highlighted that the F&FF will directly and concretely contribute to all of FAO’s new Strategic Objectives. She passed the last word to Eduardo Rojas-Briales, Assistant Director-General, FAO Forestry Department, who said that FO was very pleased to host the Facility. He then declared the new programme officially “launched”.
last updated: Sunday, February 3, 2013