Social Forestry Support Program
To establish social forestry, in order to have a more effective management of forest lands and renewable natural resources to upgrade the living standards of rural people.
To develop an effective forestry training capacity which is responsive to the demands of implementing sustainable and participatory forest land management.
Objectives
1 Human Resources Development (HRD)
The 7 WPIs have a nucleus of trained people who :
- have adjusted their professional responsibility to a changing policy environment
- work willingly with farmer-based and interdisciplinary approaches
- incorporate in their work social, economic and environmental concerns for sustainable management of renewable natural resources
2 Generation Of Knowledge (GOK)
- Farmer-centered sustainable approaches and technologies are generated and adopted to make the management of forests and the management of agriculture more sustainable, particularly on sloping land.
3 Information Exchange (IE)
- The collaborative working relations among the WPIs, especially for curricula development, sharing / screening / analysis of information, and knowledge building, are strengthened and institutionalised.
Main Achievements
The main achievements obtained to date may be summarised as follows :
- Several subjects (see list above) have been remodelled and are used in the 5 faculties. These improved curricula are presently being evaluated and will be revised accordingly.
- A network of lecturers / promoters of social forestry exists and is operational.
- The use of improved pedagogical methods by the lecturers teaching social forestry is increasing.
+ more active and participative pedagogy (LCTM),
+ use of teaching / learning materials (transparencies, flip-charts..)
+ how to teach large classes
+ preparation and use of specific case studies during the teaching process
+ tools for analysing teaching skills
+ etc.
- New approaches and methodologies are understood and used by the 7 partners (PCD and LCTM for the 5 faculties, PRA, PTD, and HRD for all partners).
- The new concept of social forestry is spreading and attitudes are starting to evolve.
- The efforts on Capacity Building within the 7 partners are starting to show some promising results :
+ improved communication and facilitation skills
+ improved pedagogy
+ more structured approach for research activities
+ better understanding of the field realities
+ regular collaboration with the various extension agencies
+ improved networking at a national and regional level
An indicator of the above mentioned factors is that the 7 WPIs are more and more frequently approached by other projects and institutions for technical and / or pedagogical support.
- A special effort has been made in order to improve the English language of the members of the 7 partners (support from VSO), a pre-condition for attending trainings abroad and / or international workshops and seminars.
- The first results / findings / innovations of field based activities are now visible and documented, for example, in the following sectors :
+ land allocation and land use / management
+ anti-erosion practices
+ income generating activities (rattan, bamboos, durians, litchis..)
+ improved or innovative agroforestry practices
+ forest management and forest improvement
+ use of Non Timber Forest Products
+ etc.
These results are progressively included in the various curricula.
For more information on these results and innovations, please visit the SFSP web-site and more specifically the heading PTD (Participatory Technology Development).