Ghana

FAO, jointly with the NFP Facility, responded to Ghana’s request for support in training staff of the Forestry Commission and other non-state actors on the important subject of enhancing stakeholder participation in national forest programmes. A training workshop was organised from 16 – 21 November 2008 in Kumasi. Twenty participants drawn from all the major stakeholders in forest management, namely: the public (government) & private sectors, civil society, academia, traditional authorities and forestry forums took part in the training.

A one-day field exercised was organised which brought participants in contact with key stakeholders such as forest fringe communities, chiefs, resource harvesters, researchers, NGOs and forestry operational staff. Beyond the field interaction, the fish-bowl method was employed to engage all the stakeholder groups in a debate on the factors militating against the sustainable management of forest resources. This proved quite interesting and brought to the fore the conflicting interests of different stakeholders. In the end, mechanisms for seeking consensus towards the common goal were conceived. The last sessions of the programme focused on devising an action plan that would engage all stakeholders in improving the formulation, implementation and monitoring of Ghana’s nfp.

Several issues on how to improve the nfp process emerged and key amongst them were: lobbying for legal recognition of forestry forums which were initiated a few years back and improving stakeholder representation in the nfp process.