Community Forestry
The Partnership has been working with Community Foundations to deliver programs to over 30 partner organisations, adding a Community Foundation in Papua Barat and its three local partners. This program has successfully reached 42 different regencies and over 54 thousand households.
The Partnership’s total number of government partners has also grown, bringing an increase of land allocated for CBFM (Community Based Forest Management) from 8000 hectares to 136 000 hectares at the end of 2009. This 17-fold increase was achieved with funds of only IDR 750 million – perhaps the program’s greatest achievement.
A major evaluation of the Forestry program was undertaken in 2009 by an independent evaluation team who conducted over 116 in-depth interviews and 18 group discussions in 7 villages from Jambi, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara and Java.
The evaluation found that the Forestry Governance Program has encouraged community access, sustainable management, and helped foster small to medium enterprises. The Forestry Governance Program also helped develop further government regulations to secure access for local communities to manage their forests. The program has demonstrably improved local economies while protecting the forests.
