Study reveals progress and gaps for civil society in VPA
and REDD+ processes

Civil society groups are increasingly participating in national policy processes related to forest governance in Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia and the Republic of the Congo, according to a new study.

However, the study says participation has not been institutionalised and overall it is inconsistent. It identifies barriers to participation and recommends ways to remove them.The research was undertaken by Poshendra Satyal, a senior research associate in the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia, UK.

Satyal focused on participation in REDD+ and FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) processes, and notes that the former have not adopted many of the best practices and lessons from the latter. He says VPA processes are more accommodating towards civil society organisations, in part because they are designed to be inclusive and participatory from the start.

However, other capacity gaps remain in areas such as organisational leadership and management, communication and knowledge on forest governance. Furthermore, He recommends addressing gaps in information sharing, synchronising participation and policy processes, increasing support to civil society groups and their platforms, building trust among stakeholders, focusing on vulnerable groups and strengthening links between local, national and global scales.