Zambia

A training workshop entitled "Enhancing stakeholder participation in National Forest Programmes" was held in Zambia from 8 - 12 March 2010. It drew participants from the Forestry Department, Copperbelt University, Zambia Forestry College and Non-Governmental Organisations, including the Civil Society Organisation for Climate Change, Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre, Mwanka Rural Development and Citizens for a Better Environment. The workshop was organised by the Forestry Department and aimed to improve the capacity of participants on facilitation of participatory national forest programme processes.

Zambia has agreed to manage its forestry sector according to internationally agreed upon good practice guidelines known as 'national forest programme' principles. The FAO - National Forest Programme Facility has been providing support to the government of Zambia to implement aligning its forest sector to national forest programme principles.

The specific objectives of the training workshop were the following:

• To assess the progress and limitations with regards to participation in Zambia's forestry sector
• To examine the rationale and principles of participation in national forest programme processes
• To experiment with skills and methods to enhance participation in Zambia's National Forest Programme
• To critically review attitudes, skills and methods to enhance participation in Zambia's National Forest Programme
• To develop relevant strategies, plans, skills and feasible methods for enhancing participation in Zambia's forest sector National Forest Programme

The Workshop was officially opened by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, who reiterated the government's commitment to the National Forest Programme process in Zambia. The Director of Forestry further thanked FAO and the Government of Finland for their support in the capacity building processes and implored participants to maximize the opportunity and embrace participatory principles in the forestry sector.

One of the major highlights of the workshop was the field experimentation in Chongwe District in Lusaka Province which allowed participants to practice the tools and methods learned during the first part of the workshop with key stakeholders in the field.

This enabled the facilitation of a meaningful analysis with actual stakeholder groups of various power levels and to facilitate communication amongst a multi-stakeholder group while ensuring that the marginalized have a voice and the powerful do not dominate. The secondary task of the field programme was to generate findings regarding forest sector management in Zambia.