Grassroots stakeholders in Asia involved in REDD+ planning and policy processes

The purpose of the project was to enable grassroots stakeholders in Asia to effectively contribute to the REDD+ planning and policy process, communicate their perspective to policy makers, and thus be well positioned to potentially benefit from REDD+ for local socio-economic development.

Why did Norway decide to support this project?

Problem description:

The following was described as the situation with regards to REDD+ knowledge among the target groups in the project countries: In general grassroots stakeholders’ knowledge and awareness on climate change and REDD+ was typically very low across Asia. This assessment was based on a REDD+ Capacity Development Needs Assessment (CDNA) conducted in the previous two phases of the project. Such a low level of knowledge made it difficult for these stakeholders to participate effectively in local and national REDD+ planning and policymaking and left them vulnerable to manipulation by project proponents.

The CDNA also reported that in all the project countries, accessible and contextualized information on REDD+ and climate change was seriously lacking. Such a situation made it difficult to convey the key message of REDD+ to local stakeholders and for them to be contribute to the REDD+ process. The previous two phases of the Grassroots project had made substantial contribution in this direction, but demand for simple and locally relevant information to support grassroots capacity building on REDD+ continued to grow.

Grassroots stakeholders and civil society groups had limited capacity to communicate their aspirations and concerns to national governments in a coordinated and strategic manner. In general, the communication of local level concerns had remained limited to reactive or ad-hoc responses and lacked coordinated and targeted approaches to influencing REDD+ policy and planning processes.

Field practitioners and grassroots stakeholders had limited opportunities to share their experiences and concerns. Through a series of regional reflection workshops during the previous two project phases, the Grassroots project had provided a platform for partner organizations and other key stakeholders to share their experiences. There was still an opportunity to strengthen information exchange and networking between national organizations in order to learn from one another and thus improve the effectiveness of REDD+ capacity building across the region.

Why was the project selected?

The project was phase three of a project previously supported by Norad’s grant scheme for civil society under the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI). The project was re-selected for funding in 2013-2015 because RECOFTC was assessed to be a strong organization with relevant REDD+ experience and good local knowledge. It was considered a strength that it was based in South-East Asia. Their combination of research and training skills was seen as an advantage in order to include local communities, indigenous peoples and grassroots organizations in REDD+.

The planned outcomes in this project were:

Outcome 1: Policy makers and other key stakeholders are aware of concerns and aspirations of grassroots stakeholders with regards to REDD+ and climate change and in the context of sustainable forest management in the project countries

Outcome 2: Grassroots stakeholders use new knowledge on REDD+ and associated social safeguards and adapt it in the context of sustainable forest management in the project countries.

Results

Activities and outputs are achieved or over-achieved in implementation of the project.

For outcome 1, Norad assesses that the outcome is partially achieved. RECOFTC has used Kirkpatrick’s methodology for assessing impacts of training programs in terms of enhancement of knowledge and behavioral change. RECOFTC reports that in Indonesia, Vietnam and Nepal, the percentage of participants retaining knowledge on climate change and REDD+ was between 60 and 80 %. In Lao PDR and Myanmar, knowledge retention ranged from 30 to 60 percent. When it comes to behavioral change, examples from six individuals are given. However, this small sample may not be representative among 6000 trainees.

For outcome 2, the report provides several examples of positive effects on individuals and community groups. For example, some trained individual women have become spokesperson in their communities; other trained participants have become members of UN-REDD provincial working groups. The examples given are however from a relatively small sample size, and it is difficult to assess whether these are representative for the target group as a whole. It is considered very positive that partners have committed to apply their learnings in their work, after the end of the project.

RECOFTC reports to have shared experiences and lessons from the project at several international events, including at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of the Parties (COP) 20 in Lima, at the World Forestry Congress and at regional events. In this way, RECOFTC has functioned as a link conveying concerns from forest-dependent communities to professional experts and policy makers in international fora.

Lessons learned

Among lessons learned, RECOFTC mentions the continued need for REDD+ capacity development, particularly at grassroots level. Furthermore, it is also necessary to manage grassroots expectations from REDD+. RECOFTC also highlights that sustainability of capacity development within REDD+ requires an integrated and adaptive approach, including considerations of both climate change, sustainable forest management, community development and local livelihoods. Capacity building efforts should always be adapted to address specific needs of stakeholders in different contexts.