Intro
The proposed peer learning project, which will be implemented under the EfD Forest Collaborative, seeks especially to provide three of the newer EfD centers with the opportunity to exchange information on community forest management and learn from Kenya and Tanzania, as well as Nepal, which is a global leader in this forest governance area. The project will have three touch points during the course of one year. First, representatives from the Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda EfD centers along with policy makers and other stakeholders will participate in a Zoom meeting where all will be familiarized with the community forestry efforts of their counterpart countries and the project activities will be discussed. Second, two representatives from each country (i.e. researcher and policy maker), who will be in part selected to support female and young researchers, along with Randy Bluffstone, will participate in a study tour in Nepal hosted by ForestAction Nepal, which is the pre-eminent policy/research organization focused on forests in Nepal. Finally, approximately one month after finishing the study tour, representatives of the five EfD countries, possibly including ForestAction, will have a second Zoom meeting to discuss lessons, potential research and how each country may try to change policies. Policymakers will participate fully in all three activities. It is expected that the peer learning project will deepen connections between EfD centers and forest policy makers, help policymakers improve forest management in the three countries involved in the project and provide significant food-for-thought, leading to more policy interactions and new EfD research projects.
