6. MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Internal monitoring and evaluation systems will be put in place to ensure that the stated outputs and outcomes in the LFA are achieved, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. Such systems will be adapted both to the overall achievements of the Forum per se, as well as to the individual activities for which funding is requested.

Appropriate and effective procedures for measuring progress in achieving goals against verifiable indicators of outputs, results and timeframes will be used on a continuing basis by the Secretariat (self-assessment). These will be analysed and summarised annually for presentation to the Governing Council (or its Executive Committee). Based on this, the GC will decide about appropriate management responses to rectify possible non-achievements of goals and/or to reallocate resources for adjusting priorities and timeframes. At the level of individual activities, the same approach will be used by those responsible for the activities in their relation to the Secretariat.

Independent external management and programme evaluations will be jointly commissioned by the donor (Sida) and the Governing Council mid-term through the support and at the end of the five-year period. Financial auditing will be carried out annually by a recognised international auditing company.

Finally, in order to provide independent guidance on relevance and quality of the work of the AFF, a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of 8-10 senior policy and technical people from the continent will be requested to provide guidance to the implementation of these activities and present an annual assessment to the GC.

The internal self assessment will be funded through the regular management budget, whereas there is a separate budget line for the external evaluations, financial audits and the TAC.

7. PROGRAMME DURATION AND BUDGET.

The activities defined in this concept note are of a long term nature. Good forest governance is an attribute of good forestry practice and will always be there. Climate change is a dynamic activity that will always impact our forests. Information will always be generated, some will become out of date, and sharing will add value to information. The African Forest Forum is a necessity for good forestry on the continent. Therefore the activities outlined in this document can then be construed to be of a fairly long term nature that can be subscribed to by many actors in forestry. The implementation of the activities in this programme is planned for a period of five years.

The budget for 5 years is US$ 4,969,500. Funds already available for the first three years.