List of Contents

1. Background

2. Follow-up Phase of the Project from 1/3 2006 to 28/2 2008
2.1 The Contextual Framework
2.2 The Rationale of the SFM Phase II 

3. Elaboration of Specific Objectives 
3.1 Establishment of an African Forest Forum
3.2 Supporting the Implementation of SFM Project Recommendations
3.3 Dissemination of SFM Project Recommendations

4. Structure and Activities

5. Expected Outputs and Beneficiaries
5.1 Project Outputs
5.2 Project Beneficiaries

6. Budget

Appendix 1: Logical Framework Analysis
Appendix 2: Partner Institutions
Appendix 3: Examples of Follow-up Projects

 1. Background

The project Lessons learnt on SFM in Africa started in early 2003 and formally came to an end in June 2005, and, although most final outputs are ready and distributed, a few final documents remain to be finalised at the time of writing this revised request (January 2006). The project was initiated in response to the realisation that, in spite of repeated statements in the IPF/IFF and UNFF processes on the importance of basing decisions about sustainable forest management (SFM) on “lessons learnt”, limited efforts had been made to analyse the vast experience and body of written material for such lessons. To do so in a more systematic and unbiased way would, it was argued, increase our understanding of when and why particular combinations of economic, ecological, political, social, cultural, legal and other factors lead to success or to failure. And, more importantly, such analyses would help us to derive guidelines on how to target and extend positive lessons to larger areas and more people, primarily in Africa but also elsewhere. Finally, it would help in determining what mechanisms and conditions are needed for such learning to succeed.

A joint initiative was taken in late 2002 between the Board of the African Forest Research Network (AFORNET), based at the African Academy of Sciences, FAO’s Forestry Department and the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA) through its Committee on International Forestry. Through this initiative, a project proposal was submitted to, and subsequently funded by, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Sida. Implementation of the approximately USD 1 million project started in March 2003 through a joint Steering Committee of the three institutions involved in implementing the project, with KSLA being responsible for the financial management and reporting. The Steering Committee also drew members from Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone countries in East, West and Southern Africa, making it a truly pan-African owned initiative. In addition, the UNFF Secretariat has been represented on the Steering Committee and the Project was regarded as a so called “country/institution-led initiative” in the terminology of UNFF. Agreements between the Project and ICRAF and CIFOR have guaranteed strong inputs by these two important international organisations.

The Project phase I had three specific objectives, viz.:

1. Analyse and establish what lessons have been learnt from positive and negative experiences of various initiatives, projects and programmes aimed at sustainable management, use and conservation of forests in Sub-Saharan Africa.

2. Analyse and establish what the ecological, economical, social, and other pre-requisites are for extending positive lessons to wider use (to more people, larger areas, other countries, etc.).

3. Based on the outcome of the above analyses, identify the most urgent issues and concerns for Africa to give priority to in international forest processes such as UNFF.

In addition, the intention was that the work would also assist in: 

• Defining roles for how the various international and regional institutions can contribute to national efforts to extend positive lessons and assist African countries in international processes related to forests and forestry.
• Defining roles for how Swedish “forestry actors” (authorities, institutions, industry, forest owners, NGOs, etc.), and those in other developed countries, might contribute to achieving SFM in Africa in partnership with national or international institutions.

There were four different, sequential and logically linked, component activities of the project, viz.:

1. Compiling and analysing a number of case studies and studies on regional and cross-cutting issues relevant to SFM in Africa.
2. Organising a workshop in Nairobi 9-13 February, 2004, at which these studies were presented and discussed.
3. Further studies and analyses commissioned.
4. Concluding workshop in Uppsala, Sweden 18-22 October, 2004.

All the material emerging from the 20 studies and the two workshops plus all other inputs and ideas that have been submitted in this process were discussed by the Steering Committee in January 2005 and decisions were taken about products and formats suitable for dissemination to the main target groups, viz. African forest stakeholders (in a wide sense). The final outcome and recommendations were presented at UNFF 5 in New York in May 2005, and will be made available to other global and African stakeholders.

The Project has developed, among others, the following concrete outputs:

• Well-documented studies and syntheses on key lessons learnt from various aspects of forest management.
• Strategies on how to extend positive lessons on SFM in Africa.
• Plans and priorities on how to achieve SFM in different situations in Africa and suggested roles of various actors in implementing such plans and priorities.
• Enhanced African participation in the international forest-related processes and initiatives.
• All the above produced in various printed and digital formats to suit the various stakeholders and target groups.

The project Steering Committee tentatively decided that these formats will include, but not necessarily be restricted to, the following:

• The 20 original reports that were commissioned by the project have been edited for style, consistency and language and are available on the internet WebPages of AFORNET – www.afornet.org - and KSLA – www.ksla.se ).
• Based on a careful analysis of these twenty reports, the discussions at the workshops and the ideas and recommendations coming out of these, and by looking at other relevant material, a “master output” publication is currently under production. It will summarise the reports under the headings “issues”, “lessons learnt” and “the way forward”, and it will contain recommendations and suggestions on actions and responsibilities at national, regional and international levels, in order to achieve sustainable forest management in Africa. 
• Short (4-8 pages) and nicely printed policy briefs on different subjects (more or less following the chapters of the main report). To date, 13 such policy briefs have been produced and widely distributed. 
• As appropriate and whenever relevant, the material generated in the project will also be turned into other products, such as CD-ROMs containing information/literature data, incorporating material into various web-pages, power-point presentations, press releases, posters, training and education material, curriculum outlines, special issues of (or articles in) different journals and newsletters, etc.

Some of this material was ready for presentation at the COFO meeting in Rome in March 2005, and for presentation and distribution at the UNFF 5 meeting in New York in May 2005. Most of it will be distributed during 2006, partly in connection with dissemination activities during the next phase (see below).

2. Follow-up phase of the project from 1/3 2006 to 28/2 2008

2.1 The Contextual Framework

The global concern on the declining state of tropical forests and its impacts on societal welfare are also reflected in discussions relating to African forests, especially in view of the particularly rapid rate of forest loss on the continent. This loss of forests, and the degradation of land that normally follows, are important topics discussed at national, regional and global levels. Internationally, the fate of tropical forests has featured prominently in discussions in various fora, including the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in South Africa, the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), and its predecessor arrangements, the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF). In addition, issues related to forests are also addressed by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and, more specifically to Africa, in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and in the Report of the Blair Commission on Africa. At national level, many governments in Africa are increasingly becoming articulate in putting up the case for forestry in their Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), the blueprint for socio-economic development that also serves as a basis for mobilising and allocating resources to various sectors of the economy.

Phase II of the current project, which this request concerns, will contribute to the achievement of the higher level objectives stated in the international, regional and national initiatives mentioned above by strengthening the role of Sustainable Forest Management in support of gender equitable poverty reduction, economic development, and environmental stability. More specifically, the project will address components of the Millennium Development Goals, the Report of the Blair Commission for Africa and the NEPAD initiative, as well as contribute to the implementation of the national Poverty Reduction Strategies.

With respect to the MDGs, strengthening of SFM on the continent through this project will contribute to two goals: one that seeks to reduce the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and another that seeks to implement sustainable development to reverse the loss of environmental resources.

The Report of the Blair Commission for Africa, in its support of the Environment Initiative of the African Union’s NEPAD programme, recommends that:

• donors strengthen environmental considerations in all their programmes,
• donors, governments and international institutions encourage inclusion of environmental sustainability in African government’s poverty reduction strategies as well as including indicators for monitoring environmental performance and helping African governments adapt to the risks and impacts of climate change,
• support is provided for Africa to build system and staff capacity to design and deliver on policies, and,
• developed countries give strong political and financial support to Africa’s efforts to strengthen pan-African and regional bodies and programmes.

With regard to NEPAD, the forestry sector and its strengthening are closely linked, if not central, to its Environment Initiative that targets desertification, wetlands conservation, invasive alien species, coastal management, global warming, cross-border conservation areas, environmental governance and financing. In addition, the following NEPAD objectives will also be directly addressed by this project, viz. to:

• provide focussed leadership by prioritising poverty reduction in all programmes and priorities of NEPAD as well as national macroeconomic and sectoral policies,
• promote networks of highly specialised research and higher education institutions, and,
• promote cross-border cooperation and connectivity by utilising knowledge currently available in existing centres of excellence on the continent.

The MDGs provide the global over-arching goals that more specific initiatives, like the Blair Commission for Africa and NEPAD, seek to contribute to. But then these two provide the broad goals for SSA to achieve through more focussed and narrower project objectives such as the ones for this project. The objectives of this project will therefore contribute to the above three NEPAD objectives in ways that will facilitate the implementation of some aspects of the Environmental Initiative which NEPAD recognises as central in reducing poverty and sustaining the environment on the continent. In general, the project is expected to contribute to orienting the forest sector in a wide sense, at the SSA, sub-regional as well as national levels, towards achievement of the MDGs, at the same time as it will make direct contributions to the recommendations of the Blair Commission and the objectives of NEPAD.

In addition, this project will contribute to other sub-regional and national goals like those in the PRSPs. These target poverty reduction through several sectors, like agriculture, education and health, but are not yet robust enough on poverty alleviation and environmental governance through the forestry sector. This project will provide information to the sector to better argue its case for a more active role and place of SFM in contributing to the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategies. Exchange of country experiences through the African Forest Forum is also expected to contribute to better understanding of the sector and an improved articulation of forestry in the PRSPs in an effort to implement programmes that reduce poverty and improve forest governance.

2.2 The Rationale of the SFM Phase II

A very substantial number of recommendations, ideas and proposals for action have emerged from phase I of the project. In addition, several informal networks and many new, vibrant individual and institutional contacts have been created among the African forest constituency as a result of the two and a half years long and very interactive project process. Many senior African “forest stakeholders” from national, regional and international bodies who have been involved with the process have expressed a strong conviction that the project ought to be continued to ensure dissemination and implementation of pertinent recommendations, and also to sustain the momentum of getting quality scientific analysis to backstop African leaders in decisions concerning the management of national forest resources and in various global debates. In this context, there is a desire by many African participants in the project to strengthen, institutionalise and sustain the independent, professional and openly analytical way of working that has been the modus operandi of the project. This would provide a forum for discussing and influencing African forest issues also in the future.

It is therefore proposed that a second phase of the project follows upon the conclusion of the first phase. This would be a logical and essential extension of the current project in order to ensure an efficient dissemination of the final recommendations from the project to African national and regional stakeholders, to initiate and support the early implementation of key recommendations, and to create an African forest forum that can facilitate and monitor such implementation.

The second phase shall be impact-oriented and implemented over a period of two years, from 1/3/06 to 28/2/08. It will have the following overall objective:

“To contribute to Africa’s efforts in achieving Sustainable Forest Management in support of gender equitable poverty alleviation, economic development and environmental stability.”

This overall objective will be achieved through three specific objectives and sets of activities related to these, viz.:

1. To design and initiate the establishment of an African Forest Forum that will provide independent analysis, advocacy and advisory services to regional and national forest policy makers and to other relevant forest stakeholder institutions inside and outside Africa.

2. To support national and regional institutions and bodies in developing and initiating priority activities that will address pertinent recommendations from the first phase, and to help identify institutional and funding frameworks for these.
 
3. To effectively and strategically disseminate the recommendations, material and findings from the first phase to primary national, regional and international stakeholders and, through these, to plan and start implementing dissemination to relevant institutions in Africa

3. Elaboration of specific objectives

3.1 Establishment of an African Forest Forum

Africa is presently in a state of flux with regard to the management and use of its forest resources. There is a lot of rhetoric, both inside and outside Africa, about the importance of forests for biodiversity conservation, for water and climate stability and its economic potential to address poverty. The constituency that has a stake in, responsibility for and knowledge about the resource is very small and poorly organised, both at the national and regional levels. The results from the first phase of the project support this view.

However, one result that was not originally anticipated in the first phase of the project is the emergence of a very wide, but still loosely organised, network of stakeholders interested in forestry and in how the management, use and conservation of Africa’s forest, woodland and tree resources can contribute to wider developmental, economic and environmental goals. This group, or network, is made up of individuals from research, politics, civil service, NGOs, education, private business and independent experts, many of whom have taken active part in the project. This group provided the initial or an embryonic African forest forum that received and discussed the results of the first phase of the project. One concrete outcome of the group’s final workshop in Uppsala was the recommendation to build on this forum by developing a more structured institution like an African Forest Association or African Forest Network. It is proposed that a feasibility study for such a forum be undertaken in the proposed second phase of the project. The recommendations coming out of this study, for example regarding type of organisation and secretarial functions, mandate, modus operandi, financing and membership, should also begin to be implemented in the life of the project.

Such a forest forum is very much overdue for Africa and could potentially play very important roles. It can serve as a well-organised, non-political, region-wide forest “think-tank” that can provide independent technical and policy advice and analytical capacity to governments and regional bodies. It can further provide orientation to regional and sub-regional bodies and initiatives in SSA, such as NEPAD, in how to make SFM contribute to the MDGs and the recommendations of the Blair Commission for Africa. It can also provide similar services to the industry, civil society and partners from outside Africa, like donors and potential investors in the sector. In addition, through such a forum the African forest constituency will be able to make its voice heard in forest policy processes at national, regional and international levels. This is therefore something that is of strategic importance to Africa and deserves to be supported.

3.2 Supporting the implementation of SFM Project recommendations

One main objective of this phase will be to facilitate the initiation and early implementation of follow up activities derived from the recommendations coming out of the first phase of the project. Priorities for such follow up activities will be determined by national and regional institutions, associations, NGOs, private businesses, and other interested parties in conjunction with the sub-regional meetings described below, and through other mechanisms of dialogue between the project secretariat and relevant stakeholders. The project will, if and when requested and where it is relevant and possible, assist the national and regional partners to develop ideas, projects, programmes and/or other forms of activities at various levels (national, regional or international), and may also advice on ways of securing funding and setting up institutional mechanisms required to facilitate implementation.

To this end, the project Secretariat will assist in identifying and making available individuals or small groups of resource persons with appropriate backgrounds and experiences to work with the national and/or regional stakeholders in developing such follow up activity plans and proposals. These resource persons, or task forces, will mainly (but not necessarily entirely) be made up of persons who have been involved in the project to date and who form the nucleus of the “African Forest Forum” described above. By facilitating these types of inputs, the project will not only contribute to implementing some of the recommendations of the first phase of the project but also contribute to the consolidation of the Forum and, thereby, to a strong sense of African ownership of the various forest related activities coming out of the project. In the budget, it has been very tentatively assumed that the project will contribute, through the work and mobility of resource persons and through back-up support from the Secretariat, to the development of 15-20 different priority activities related to project recommendations.  The work will be monitored by the project Steering Committee for quality control.

It lies in the nature of the approach suggested – that priority actions will be determined by national and regional institutions and bodies after presentation and discussion of the recommendations from the first phase – that it is not possible at this stage to say exactly what proposals will come out of this part of the work. Some will undoubtedly be confined to individual countries; others will be activities carried out by institutions with a regional mandate; and still others to cross-cutting sectoral concerns (e.g. related to environmental or commercial problems and potentials). Some will be “central” activities addressing Pan-African needs, e.g. to explore the role of forest management in improving health (HIV/AIDS, malaria and other serious diseases) and nutritional conditions, and some may be related to international collaboration between African and external institutions. In all cases, priority will be given to support programmes and activities that, as directly as possible, address the central goal of the project, i.e. to promote SFM as a tool to achieve gender equitable poverty reduction, economic development and/or environmental stability.

In Appendix 3, some examples of the type of work that might be commissioned are listed just to provide an idea of what has been mentioned in many discussions carried out at workshops and at various interactions during the first phase of the project.

3.3 Dissemination of SFM Project recommendations

The first phase of the SFM Project will result in a number of printed and digital outputs that will contain the main findings, conclusions and recommendations from the many studies made and the discussions following their presentation. Some of these outputs were presented to the UNFF 5 meeting as part of the first phase of the project. Most of this material will, however, be directed to various stakeholder/target groups in Africa and it is not going to be enough to just share the various publications with these institutions and individuals. In order to achieve a full understanding and implementation of the recommendations it will be necessary to have a much more active and direct approach to their dissemination.

It is planned that the second phase would start with a series of four sub-regional seminars where recommendations are presented and plans are drawn up for how to implement them at national and sub-regional levels. These meetings will be attended by key people in policy and operational positions in the countries of the sub-regions, viz. politicians, government forest authorities and departments, forest industry (both wood and non-wood based enterprises), forest and farming community representatives, research and education institutions, non-governmental organisations, and other relevant stakeholders. People and institutions outside the forest sector dealing with PRSPs will also be invited to ensure that issues related to poverty and devolution of natural resources governance are also on the agenda.

The sub-regions will, as much as possible, follow logical and conventional political and/or ecological boundaries, i.e. Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, Humid West and Central Africa and Dry West Africa (Sahel). Whenever relevant, these meetings will be organised together with important political, economic or technical regional and sub-regional bodies (e.g. NEPAD, AU, AfDB, SADC, EAC, AFWC, IGADD, COMIFAC, ECOWAS, COMESSA, CILSS, etc.), as well as with other on-going initiatives and programmes (e.g. the Congo Basin Partnership and the FAO-based National Forest Programme Facility).

The seminars will be followed, as appropriate and identified at the meetings, with further dissemination and awareness-creating efforts targeted at interested countries, groups of stakeholders and institutions. It may include training events, development of material for dissemination through mass media, visits and talks to key people and institutions, etc. Ideas, recommendations and priorities for follow up activities derived from these sub-regional meetings will also feed into the previous activity, i.e. the development of follow-up action proposals.

4. Structure and activities

The proposed phase 2, while retaining the strong personal and institutional partnerships built up in the first phase, will have a different structure and set of activities:

• Although the project will fully “move to Africa”, with the Project Leader (Prof. Godwin Kowero) and Secretariat being hosted at ICRAF in Nairobi, the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA) will remain the contracting party with Sida (for reasons explained in the Foreword). The Board of AFORNET (in its capacity as the key African partner in the first phase), at its meeting in Arusha in May 2005, appointed Prof. Fred Owino as chairman of the new SC. It is proposed that up to half of the SC membership come from project partner institutions (see below and Appendix 2), and the other half comprise “independent” members. The composition of the SC will be balanced with regard to gender, professional experience and geographic/linguistic backgrounds. This is more or less the way the first phase SC was composed.
  
  
• The successful partnerships - with FAO’s Forestry Department, the African Forest Research Network (AFORNET) at the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) Secretariat, the Committee on International Forestry of KSLA, CIFOR and ICRAF - that the first project phase has owed much of its success to, will continue into the second phase of the project and the respective roles of the partners will be reformulated. It is also anticipated that there will be closer links to some key regional and sub-regional institutions and initiatives, such as NEPAD and AfDB. The most important partners and their suggested roles in the next phase are described in Appendix 2.  
  
  
• The project Secretariat will establish, in collaboration with AFORNET, an interactive Internet communication site that will serve as a working and information tool for the project, for the emerging African Forest Forum, for AFORNET’s regular research granting activities, and for other purposes related to the promotion of sustainable management, use and conservation of forests in Africa. 
  
  
• Apart from the structures, partners and tools mentioned above, the project will work with small task forces and resource persons drawn mainly from a pool of experts on African forestry. Among other things, these task forces and resource persons will:

• Assist in the development and writing of proposals for follow-up programmes and activities.
• Plan, facilitate and act as resource persons at the four planned sub-regional meetings and at various other meetings and workshops.
• Carry out training events as deemed necessary.
• Advise regional and national forest actors on specific subjects.

• The project will continue to support and strengthen African participation in international forest processes, and particularly act as a resource base for preparing and providing technical advice to delegations. This role was endorsed by the African Union at the UNFF 5 meeting.

5. Expected outputs and beneficiaries

5.1 Project outputs

The outputs, or “deliverables”, from the project will be both tangible and intangible. Some will be achieved within the two-year period of the project, while for others the foundation will be laid during the project but the full benefits will come to fruition after the end of the two years. Against the three project objectives stated above, the planned outputs are:

1. An independent African Forest Forum will have been designed and initiated during the project phase. It will have a “membership” of at least 200 senior African forest actors who will be members in their personal capacities. They will come from politics, research, education, small and big business, government and non-government services, and from consulting and private sector backgrounds. A balanced geographical, sub-sectoral and gender distribution of membership will be essential.

2. A measurable increase of African capacity to participate effectively in international and regional forestry and related forums and influence their agenda and decisions.

3. An increased awareness, understanding and acceptance among national and regional “primary” stakeholders (policy makers, government technical departments, relevant associations, etc.) of key opportunities and constraints in achieving sustainable management, use and conservation of African forest and tree resources, and an uptake of recommendations on the way forward to exploit opportunities and reduce constraints.

4. An increased involvement and, where appropriate, strengthening of “secondary” stakeholders (farmers, businesses, consumers, local NGOs, etc.) at national and local levels in implementing the above recommendations.

5.  A number (15-20) of fully developed proposals for programmes, projects and/or activities in support of the implementation of recommendations from the first phase of the project will have been initiated by national and regional partners with support from the project. Their institutional legitimacy and other requirements for implementation should be ascertained by the project. Where required, the project will also advice on funding mechanisms and sources.

6. An increased capacity of relevant African institutions to apply forest science and technology in the development of people and environment.

These six outputs are further elaborated and quantified in a logical framework (Appendix 1).

5.2 Project beneficiaries

The outputs of the project are directed to the following target groups and beneficiaries:

•Local communities dependent on forests. Many communities that live close to forest resources are very poor. Programmes and actions that emerge through this increased focus on using forests to alleviate poverty will directly benefit such communities.

•Owners, custodians and managers of forest resources. This group includes farmers, local communities, politicians (in their capacity as law makers), central and local governments and civil services, the private sector (both commercial and cottage industry) and NGOs. Also the sub-regional economic groups in SSA, to the extent they deal with forest environment or forest-based trade issues, belong here. They all relate to, own, manage and influence forest resources.

• The international community. The forests produce a number of international public goods and services, particularly related to environment and trade issues, which are enjoyed by, or influence, people outside the individual countries, sub-regions and SSA. These are indirect beneficiaries of the results of the proposed project.

• The academic and research community. This group is comprised of institutions offering diploma and degree programmes in forestry and related areas, as well as research institutions dealing with forests and forestry in a wide sense. The proposed project particularly targets the key research institutions and universities in SSA in the mainstream of forestry. These are the institutions that have to nurture any new thinking on forestry and be supported by good science.

The impacts of the project through these beneficiaries will be both short- and long-term in nature. For example, it is likely that improved forest and forest industry management techniques emanating from project-generated studies and activities, both for the private sector and for local communities, can be put to use rather soon, whereas the impact of improved institutions (research, education, extension) may be of a more medium-term nature. Major and measurable impacts at national levels on the poverty situation - through improved rural incomes, employment opportunities and cheaper forest products for poor consumers - will probably be medium- to long-term.   

 
6. Budget

The total budget envisaged for the two year project is SEK 8,716,000 (approximately equivalent to USD 1,132,000 with the current (January 2006) exchange rate of 1 USD = 7.7 SEK.

Appendix 2.

Project partner institutions in phase 2.
(See section 4 in text)

• FAO’s Forestry Department: will provide information and statistics to the project staff and consultants as required; in addition, senior FAO staff at the Africa Regional Office in Ghana will act as advisors to and reviewers of various project activities. The FAO-organised COFO and AFWC meetings will provide important fora for reporting project results and for soliciting feedback from international and regional forest institutions and individuals. The project will develop close collaboration with the FAO-based National Forest Programme Facility. FAO will have one representative on the Steering Committee in the second phase.

• The African Forest Research Network (AFORNET) at the African Academy of Sciences: will remain a key partner in many undertakings and particularly provide valuable contacts through its strong network among forestry research institutions and individual scientists.

• The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry: will be an independent international partner with particular emphasis on developing, maintaining and strengthening relations and partnerships with international actors with an interest in supporting and collaborating with African forest institutions and stakeholders in the follow-up projects and activities. This may include donors, universities and forest research institutions in Europe, forest industry and forest owners’ associations, forest authorities, etc. In addition, KSLA’s mandate and modus operandi may, in significant and relevant parts, serve as a model for building up a functional African Forest Forum. KSLA will have one representative on the Steering Committee.

• CIFOR and ICRAF: these two CGIAR and CPF institutions have played important roles in providing scientific inputs to the first phase of the project in the fields of technical and policy aspects of forest resources (CIFOR) and on-farm tree resources and forest/agroforestry education (ICRAF) in Africa. Both have been represented at senior level in the first phase Steering Committee. It is proposed that these relations and roles are retained in the second phase of the project. Both institutions may also serve as partners in several regional and sub-regional follow-up projects and activities emanating from the project.

• The United Nations Forum on Forests: The nature of relationship between the project and the successor mechanism of UNFF will depend on the mandate and roles of the latter (this will be decided at the “UNFF 6” meeting in February 2006).

• The African Development Bank: the AfDB has taken a keen interest in the project process in the first phase and it is suggested that this interest is formalised into a full partnership in the second phase, with the Bank not only being a potential financial supporter of various follow-up activities, but also acting as an advisor on funding and regional development policy issues. The AfDB may be invited as an observer on the project SC.

• The African Forestry and Wildlife Commission (AFWC): the AFWC is made up of the heads of national forest and wildlife services throughout the continent. It is therefore a very important mechanism for the project to work with, both to provide information and advice to and to get feedback from regarding national and regional forest issues and priorities. AFWC meets every two years and the secretariat function is provided by the FAO Regional Forest Office in Accra. Through the membership of this office in the SC, the Commission and the project will have a direct link.

• The African Union (AU): links with this main political body at the continental level will be further developed during phase II. The AU provided official status and legitimacy for the Technical Support Team that the SFM project launched to assist African delegations at the UNFF 5 meeting in New York in May 2005 (those independent team members that were not on country delegations were official AU delegates). There are obvious potential mutual benefits of links between the project and AU - the evolving “Africa Forest Forum” can act as independent advisers to AU on forestry issues, particularly in international negotiations, and AU can provide a regional and international political context and legitimacy to the project. It is, however, important that such links are defined in terms that do not compromise the political independence and neutrality of the project and of the African Forest Forum.

• New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD): there have been positive contacts between AFORNET/AAS, the SFM project and officers responsible for forestry, agriculture, environment, and science & technology at NEPAD. These contacts have not yet led to any concrete results, mainly because of the lack of clarity on who will be responsible for forest issues within NEPAD. NEPAD has asked AFORNET to make inputs into the Comprehensive Africa’s Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) strategy, under which forestry is currently inserted as one of the “five pillars” of agriculture. However, forestry is not properly defined and elaborated. There is a strong case for formalising links between AFORNET and NEPAD, and the next phase of the SFM project can help to achieve that. As with AU above, the mutual benefits are obvious - the Africa Forest Forum can be independent advisers to NEPAD on forestry issues, and NEPAD can provide a regional developmental context and legitimacy to the project. Synergies between the project and NEPAD activities should be explored to minimise overlap, optimise use of resources and increase focus and impact.

• Sub-regional political, economic and technical bodies (e.g. SADC, EAC, IGADD, ECOWAS, COMESSA) – these will be important partners in mainstreaming relevant follow-up projects and activities. Many such institutions have actively participated in the process to date and have expressed their interest in working with the project.

Appendix 3.

Examples of types of follow-up projects
(See section 3.2 in text)

What will actually be done will be decided in the process of disseminating the outcomes of the first phase (e.g. during the four sub-regional meetings in the beginning of the second phase), and it will depend on the many consultations among national, regional and other stakeholders about priorities and opportunities that this process will encompass.

Carry out feasibility studies and initiate pilot projects aiming at developing, running and linking databases on forest activities, professionals, research projects and results, information sources, institutions, etc., at national and sub-regional levels in Africa. Such data-bases can be made available through a centrally managed “African Forest Portal” at the Project Secretariat in collaboration with AFORNET, and can be used to link efforts, monitor trends and quality of R&D efforts, and be a service information tool to investors in African forestry.

Assess the potential for strengthening and enlarging an indigenous African wood/timber-based primary (e.g. sawmills) and secondary (e.g. furniture making) industry as a way of increasing the value of sustainably managed forest and tree resources, and suggest and test steps and activities to achieve this.

• Initiate pilot schemes to assess and develop the potential for timber/wood production from smallholder farms - industry/farmers outgrower programmes as well as cooperative and independent farmer timber production.
  
  
• Design approaches to improving the economic viability and sustainability of Community Forest Management under a limited number of scenarios, and develop pilot projects to test such approaches.
  
  
• Design and implement a limited number of pilot projects at national level to strengthen the capacity of Public Forest Administrations for different roles (commercial management of national forest estate, extension to farmers, communities and other forest/tree owners, law enforcement and supervision).
  
  

• Develop approaches and methods on how to rationalise and modernise forest education and research at national and sub-regional levels, and initiate one or a few cases where such methods are used to initiate a process of change.
  
  
• Initiate and carry out a limited number of market and value adding chain analyses of some important wood and non-timber forest products – use examples of products for local, regional and international markets.