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Filename: CARD-CFM, MS5 Second Six-Monthly Report, FINAL 10 Jan 08.doc Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development Project Progress Report MILESTONE 5 SECOND SIX-MONTHLY REPORT (1 July – 31 December 2007 inclusive) Sustainable community-based forest development and management in some high poverty areas in Bac Kan Province Project No: 017/06 VIE Prepared by Forest Protection Department of Bac Kan Province Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry and CSIRO Forest Biosciences 10 January 2008 1 Table of Contents 1. Institute Information 3 2. Project Abstract 4 3. Executive Summary 4 4. Introduction & Background 5 5. Progress to Date 6 5.1 Implementation Highlights 6 5.1.1 CF land allocation 6 5.1.2 Development of CFM plans 6 5.1.3 Implementation of CFM plans 6 Study tour to other CFM projects Training in nursery propagation Establish village nurseries Establish agroforestry models Support community forest development funds 5.2 Smallholder Benefits 7 5.3 Capacity Building 7 Study tour to other CFM projects. Training in nursery propagation. 5.4 Publicity 8 5.5 Project Management 8 6. Report on Cross-Cutting Issues 8 6.1 Environment 8 6.2 Gender and Social Issues 8 7. Implementation & Sustainability Issues 9 7.1 Issues and Constraints 9 7.2 Options 9 7.3 Sustainability 9 8. Next Critical Steps 9 9. Conclusion 9 10. Statutory Declaration 9 Logical Framework 13 ATTACHMENT 1: Community Forest Development Funds (CFDF) 23 2 1. Institute Information Project Name Sustainable community-based forest development and management in some high poverty areas in Bac Kan Province Vietnamese Institution Department of Forest Protection, Bac Kan Province Vietnamese Project Team Leader Mr Trieu Van Luc, Joint Team Leader Australian Organisation Ensis – the Joint Forces of CSIRO and SCION (From 1 January 2008, now termed CSIRO Forest Biosciences) Australian Personnel Mr Khongsak Pinyopusarerk (Joint Team Leader), Mr Brian Gunn and Dr Peter Stevens Date commenced March 2007 Completion date (original) March 2010 Completion date (revised) (At this date, the completion date has not been revised) Reporting period July 2007 to December 2007 inclusive Contact Officer(s) In Australia: Team Leader Name: Khongsak Pinyopusarerk Telephone: 61-2-6281 8247 Position: Research Scientist Fax: 61-2-6281 8266 Organisation Ensis – the Joint Forces of CSIRO and SCION (From 1 January 2008, now termed CSIRO Forest Biosciences) Email: Khongsak.Pinyopusarerk@csiro.au In Australia: Administrative contact Name: Mr Brian Thomas Telephone: 61-3-9545 2219 Position: Commercial Manager Fax: 61-3-9545 2449 Organisation Ensis – the Joint Forces of CSIRO and SCION (From 1 January 2008, now termed CSIRO Forest Biosciences) Email: Brian.Thomas@csiro.au 3 In Vietnam Name: Mr Tran Van Dien Telephone: +84-280-851822 Position: Director, Fax: +84-280-852921 Department of International and Scientific Cooperation Organisation Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry Email: tranvandientn@vnn.vn 2. Project Abstract The project aims to empower ethnic minority people in four pilot villages in Van Minh and Lang San Communes, Na Ri District, Bac Kan Province, to manage their allocated Community Forests. This will be achieved through capacity building activities at community and government levels, and technical and institutional support, in participatory forest land use planning, land allocation and extension services as part of community based forest management. The project will help to improve local livelihoods of disadvantaged men and women through equal access to forest land, better resource management and sharing of benefits. New systems will help to minimize forest land degradation and support forest development and conservation. Newly-developed information systems, experiences and training methods will be shared with other villages, Communes and relevant parts of the Province and northern mountainous regions through numerous information dissemination methods. 3. Executive Summary The project continued satisfactorily with all the relevant project components completed according to schedule. This report covers the period July 1 2007 to December 31 2007. Following the very heavy load of activities during the first six months of the project, most project activities are now being implemented. Progress and achievements during the period from July 2007 to December 2007 inclusive are described in this Second Six-Monthly Progress Report. Land use planning and land allocation, which were initiated during the first five months of the project and were discussed in the First Six-Monthly Progress Report, have now been completed during the current reporting period. Initially it was planned to obtain “Green Book” (temporary use rights) for the project community forest lands. However, after discussion among key leaders of communes and villages and with support from Na Ri district authorities and Bac Kan Forest Protection Department, it was decided to apply for “Red Book” (long-term use rights). This would give local communities the confidence to contribute and invest labour and other inputs to the protection and development of CF lands 4 for overall local benefit. Red Books for all project CF lands were formally issued on 31 December 2007. The project CFM plans (details reported in the MS4 report) are now considered official documents after the issuance of Red Books. There were two capacity building activities during this reporting period. Firstly, a study tour to other CFM projects in Hoa Binh province between 21-25 September 2007 was led by the Vietnamese joint project leader, Mr Trieu Van Luc. There were twenty four participants from four villages in the CARD project area (Na Muc, Khuoi Lieng, To Dooc and Ban Sang villages). The main objective was to learn about and share experiences in community forest management and income generation activities. Secondly, separate nursery training courses were conducted for each pilot village in September-October 2007 and were well attended by both men and women. Village nurseries were constructed as part of the training. Preparation of seedlings for agroforestry models and forest plantations is already underway. Establishment of Community Development Funds progressed well with separate village and commune meetings facilitated by project field staff. Distribution of seed money ($1000 per village (about. 13 million VND) to four target village communities is expected to take place in January 2008. 4. Introduction & Background The background to the project was fully described in the First Six-Monthly Progress Report, and most of this information is not repeated here. However, it is worth repeating the Project Goal, which is: Sustainable improvement in livelihood security of disadvantaged forest-dependent people in northern mountainous areas, through empowerment of access to forest and forest land, influence over forest land management, conservation of the natural resources and development of relevant skills. The project will contribute to achievement of the Goal by developing community-based forest management (CFM) through: (i) ensuring equal access of forest-dependent households to the common forest; (ii) building capacities within the forest user groups to effectively represent themselves; (iii) strengthen extension services to enable them to be responsive to the needs of the forest dependent people; (iv) provide skills to communities to enable them to develop and manage their allocated forest resources in a transparent and equitable manner; (iv) raising awareness of and providing training in forest and land policy issues and good forest governance; (v) promoting sustainable forest and natural resource use to reduce food shortages by strengthening agroforestry, sustainably producing timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs), and training in improved forest management skills; and (vi) promoting the active involvement of women. These broad objectives are reflected in the formal Objectives within the project logical framework. All the participatory and other activities outlined in the project Logical Framework will be undertaken in ways which are appropriate for the local cultural context, and of course development of successful CFM models will depend heavily on incorporating all the indigenous knowledge of both men and women. During these activities, the participants will be encouraged to indicate the gaps in their skills and knowledge, and to participate in remedying these deficiencies. Simple indicators of baseline and subsequent competencies will be devised which suit the participants. 5 5 Progress to Date 5.1 Implementation Highlights 5.1.1 CF land allocation The formal processes of CF land allocation have been completed for all four project villages. Initially it was planned to obtain “Green Book” (temporary use rights) for the project CF lands. However, after discussion among stakeholders and with support from Na Ri district authorities and Bac Kan Forest Protection Department, it was decided to apply for “Red Book” (long-term use rights). This would give local communities the confidence to contribute and invest labour and other inputs to the protection and development of CF lands for overall local benefit. The process to obtain a Red Book is more complicated as the approval authority is the Land Management Department who must verify that land boundaries on the maps and on the ground are matching. Application for Red Books as proof of long-term use rights has been approved by district and provincial Land Management Departments, and Red Books for three village communities (Na Muc, To Dooc and Ban Sang) were signed off by the Chairman of Na Ri District on 31 December 2007. Key project staff from Thai Nguyen (Dr Tran Thi Thu Ha) and Bac Kan (Mr Nguyen My Hai and Mr Hoang Anh Tuan will witness a formal distribution of Red Books from district authorities to these village communities in January 2007. 5.1.2 Development of CFM plans Four CFM plans have been developed (details reported in MS4) and will be formally approved by district authorities following the finalization of CF land allocation in January 2008. This concludes the formal distribution of CF land to communities for protection and development. 5.1.3 Implementation of CFM plans The process started during this reporting period, and will continue for the remainder of the project. • Study tour to other CFM projects A study tour to other CFM projects in Hoa Binh province between 21-25 September 2007 was led by the Vietnamese joint project leader, Mr Trieu Van Luc and Mr Ho Son (TUAF). There were twenty four participants from two communes (Van Minh and Lang San) and four villages in CARD project area (Na Muc, Khuoi Lieng, To Dooc and Ban Sang villages). The main objective was to learn and share experiences in community forest management and income generation activities. The study tour program included a workshop for participants to share and learn experiences in CFM activities (for example, the way local communities work together to protect their community forest and the mechanism to share benefits from cash crop cultivation), and field visits to view on-ground activities. A full report of this study tour will be included in MS 11 – Capacity Development. • Training in nursery propagation Four two-day training sessions were conducted in September-October 2007, one for each project pilot village. According to the project budget plan, 20 participants would attend the training. However, 39 villagers in Ban Sang and 33 villagers Khuoi Lieng attended. The training began with informal lectures at the village meeting hall, using flip charts prepared from PowerPoint slides in the Vietnamese language and many drawings and pictures. This was followed by a practical session focusing on preparation of potting mix and seed sowing. 6 On the second day, trainees and trainers joined force in construction of a nursery. A simple manual for village nursery operation has been prepared and translated into Vietnamese. A full report on the nursery training together with the manual will be provided in MS 11 – Capacity Development. • Establish village nurseries As mentioned above a nursery was constructed in each village for preparation of seedlings which will be used for agroforestry planting and forest plantations. Seed sowing took place in November. Field project staff in Bac Kan (Mr Nguyen My Hai and Mr Hoang Anh Tuan) have been working closely with villagers to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to prepare high quality seedlings. After this first demonstration of nursery establishment, villagers are expected to be able to establish their own seedlings in future. • Establish agroforestry models Although establishment of agroforestry models is not scheduled until April/May 2008, it was necessary to commence activities such as seedling preparation and designs of the models for each village. A written implementation plan has been prepared and already reported in MS4. The models adopt alley cropping between economic tree species (Acacia, Manglietia and Melia) and cash crops which may vary with the conditions and priorities of different villages. In addition, Leucaena will be planted as part of the models to provide fuelwood. • Support community forest development funds Establishment of community development funds is on schedule. As part of the project each village will receive $1000 (about 13 million VND) as seed money. In October-November 2007, field project staff facilitated separate village meetings to discuss and develop CFM fund regulations. On 5 December 2007 a project team comprising Mr Trieu Van Luc, Dr Tran Thi Thu Ha, Mr Nguyen My Hai, Mr Hoang Anh Tuan and Mr Khongsak Pinyopusarerk attended two commune meetings at Van Minh and Lang San where the head of each village and key village members presented their versions of CFD funds regulations and development plans. After that several village meetings in each village community were organized to revise and complete the CFD regulations. Details are provided in Attachment 1 in this report. Formal distribution of the seed money is planned in January 2008. 5.2 Smallholder Benefits To date, given that the project has been implemented for less than twelve months, few tangible smallholder benefits are evident. The establishment of community development funds in each project pilot village has been a very promising step towards enhancing smallholder benefits. Some aspects of these funds have been described above. However, a very significant intangible benefit has already been realised, in the form of a high degree of interest and commitment among virtually all the villagers. This is very promising for future development of practical methods for Community Forestry Management. 5.3 Capacity Building Study tour to other CFM projects. 7 This has been described above. Training in nursery propagation. This has been described above. 5.4 Publicity So far there has been little external publicity about the project, but there has certainly been a great deal of favourable publicity within the four project villages in the two Communes. There has been very full participation by both men and women at all the meetings and training sessions, and complete cooperation with the activities which have been undertaken. Visits to villages during the reporting period and discussions with other project personnel confirmed that publicity has encouraged the villagers: (i) to be heavily involved with village meetings to set up Forest User Groups and other administrative bodies; (ii) to be very much involved with forest surveys, land use allocation and land use mapping; (iii) to participate in the training sessions; and (iv) to take a keen interest in the establishment of nurseries and the production of planting materials. The last of these activities – the establishment of nurseries and training in nursery operations – has already generated favourable publicity as it becomes obvious around each Commune that this activity produces very useful outputs and outcomes. The Village Extension Workers for Van Minh Commune, Ms Hoang Thi Thu, and Lang San Commune, Ms Luu Thi Men, can be relied upon to spread news around the Commune, as they visit each village on average at least once every three weeks. 5.5 Project Management Project management continued to proceed well. Planning meetings for the next phases of the project took place in September and December 2007, when the Australian project leader Khongsak Pinyopusarerk visited Vietnam to lead the nursery training course and attend CFM funds meetings. Regular contact has been maintained between key Australian and Vietnamese personnel by email and telephone throughout the reporting period. The project has now secured the full services of three key personnel - Dr Tran Thi Thu Ha (TUAF land use expert), Mr Nguyen My Hai, extension expert of Bac Kan Agriculture and Forestry Extension Department, and Mr Hoang Anh Tuan (Kim Hy Nature Reserve). Funds were transferred to Vietnam for project implementation. 6. Report on Cross-Cutting Issues 6.1. Environment No specific issues have arisen during the reporting period. 6.2 Gender and Social Issues Gender balance in the villagers participating in community meetings and receiving training in the course of the project has been identified as an issue requiring close attention throughout the project. At least one third of participants attending nursery training courses have been women, and both commune Village Extension Workers are female. 8 7. Implementation & Sustainability Issues 7.1. Issues and Constraints Several Issues and Constraints were identified and discussed in the First Six-Monthly Progress Report. These now appear to have been largely resolved and there are no new issues and constraints of any significance to be reported here. 7.2. Options Not applicable – the project is proceeding as planned 7.3. Sustainability Although it is too early to assess sustainability at this stage, it is promising that the villagers are keen to participate in project meetings and training activities. For example, meetings to discuss CFM Guidelines, CFM plans and Community Forest Development Funds were attended by 100% of households. The number of villagers who attended nursery training sessions was well above what was planned. The project had to accommodate twice the number of participants at Khuoi Lieng and Ban Sang villages. 8. Next Critical Steps The establishment of the four agroforestry models will take place in May 2008, during the rainy season in northern Vietnam. Mr Brian Gunn will organize two training courses in agroforestry development to coincide with the timing of tree planting activity. Prior to those activities, it is important to ensure that seedlings in the nurseries are well maintained and sites for agroforestry models appropriately cleared and prepared. 9. Conclusion The first ten months of the project have been extremely busy but excellent progress has been demonstrated. A sound foundation has been laid for future progress. The villagers are interested and enthusiastic about the potential benefits to be gained from their efforts and those of other supporters under the project. In particular, all the villagers have shown a keen understanding of the importance of maintaining much of their (identified and allocated) Community Forestry land as Protection Forest. These decisions were taken by the villagers because they uniformly recognise that the quantity, quality and reliability of their water sources for drinking, irrigation and fish production depend almost completely on the maintenance of a healthy catchment. The main challenge now is to ensure that practical and effective methods of management of the Community Forestry land are implemented in such ways as to guarantee the sustained protection of these forest environments, while still allowing some levels of use which do not degrade their essential environmental stability. In addition, practical income generating activities must soon be identified and implemented. 9 10 [...]... Kan Province (Project 017/06 VIE) Community Forest Development Funds (CFDF) Prepared by 1 Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry 2 Bac Kan Forest Protection Department 3 Kim Hy Nature Reserve 4 Bac Kan Agriculture and Forestry Extension Department January 2008 1 1 Introduction: CARD Project 017/06VIE - Sustainable community-based forest development and management in some high poverty areas. .. human and financial resources, and appropriate facilities, are available in order to present the required training activities Activities 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4 have been completed 17 18 MILESTONE 5 - ATTACHMENT 1 Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development Sustainable Community-Based Forest Development and Management in Some High Poverty Areas in Bac Kan. .. against Proposed Objectives, Outputs, Activities and Inputs The entries in this Logical Framework have been updated for the Second Six-Monthly Progress Report Performance Indicators for activities which were completed during the reporting period, and are continuing, are printed in red Project Title: Sustainable community-based forest development and management in some high poverty areas in Bac Kan Province. .. to disseminate results and promote replication Participants will include central and Provincial government agencies, NGOs and representatives of other donor projects on CFM (Apr 0 9) 5. 5 Use all appropriate methods for promoting CFM, including radio, TV, written and pictorial publications and other culturally sensitive methods (Mar 09/Feb 1 0) 5. 6 Producing and distributing guidelines and training materials... and training courses in Vietnam to strengthen human resources capacity for CFM in the target areas 6.1 Two 5- day training for 15 people per commune on LUPLA (Apr/May 0 7) 6.2 One 4-day training for 15 local government extension officers and commune leaders on CFM (June 0 7) 6.3 One 5- day study tour for 20 key villagers (5 from each pilot village) to other CFM projects (Sep 0 7) 6.4 Four 3-day training on... village (Sep/Oct 0 7) 6 .5 Four 3-day training on agroforestry income generation for 20 people per village total 80 people (Mar/Apr 0 8) 6.6 One 4-day study tour for 20 pilot villagers to income generation activities (Mar 0 8) 6.7 Four 2-day training for 20 people per village on forest laws (Apr/May 0 8) 6.8 Four 2-day training for 20 people per village on forest development (Apr/May 0 8) 6.9 Four 3-day training... changes in attitudes, practices and actual/potential impacts attributed to the project (Jan/Feb 1 0) Objective measures of capacity improvement in target beneficiaries, with appropriate measures of understanding of: (i) CFM attitudes, technical practices and sustainability; (ii) nursery operations; (iii) sustainable harvesting of non-wood forest products; and (iv) use and sustainability of the Community Forest. .. Kan Province Project No: 017/06 VIE Vietnamese Implementing Institution: Department of Forest Protection of Bac Kan Province Narrative OBJECTIVE 1 Narrative Initiate project through gaining acceptance of the concepts and practices of CFM among the people in four pilot villages (Na Muc, Khuoi Lieng, Ban Sang and To Duoc) in Van Minh and Lang San communes in Na Ri district, Bac Kan province, and among... disbursed in January 2008, to be utilized according to the agreed regulations and operational guidelines areas and types of forest management activities undertaken, especially areas of sustainable harvesting of timber and NTFP species; (v) evidence (numbers of women, numbers of meetings) demonstrating that women are being encouraged to participate actively in planning and managing various aspects of CFM and. .. surveys to evaluate the status of forest land for land use planning (May/Jun 0 7) 2.4 Carry out land allocation in the four pilot villages (Jun/Aug 0 7) 2 .5 Obtain necessary approvals from the district/provincial Peoples’ Committees for rights of land use, and agreements for benefit sharing and forest protection (June/Oct 0 7) 2.6 Land distribution to communities (Jun/Oct 0 7) To develop CFM plans for four . Community Forest Development Funds (CFDF) 23 2 1. Institute Information Project Name Sustainable community-based forest development and management in some high poverty areas in Bac Kan Province. Rural Development Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development Sustainable Community-Based Forest Development and Management in Some High Poverty Areas in Bac Kan Province (Project. period, and are continuing, are printed in red. Project Title: Sustainable community-based forest development and management in some high poverty areas in Bac Kan Province. Project No: 017/06