Credit: Parfait Dihoukamba/REPALEAC

The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility’s (FCPF) Capacity Building Program for forest-dependent Indigenous Peoples and Southern Civil Society Organizations is entering its third and a final phase, supported by US$5 million of a total of US$15 million in funding allocated to the program since 2008.

The Capacity Building Program aims to strengthen the engagement of forest-dependent communities in REDD+ processes and decision making at the country and regional levels. The program also works to strengthen gender integration in its activities and in related emission reductions programs with the FCPF Carbon Fund.

Phase 3 of the Capacity Building Program will focus on:

1. National REDD+ capacity development, awareness and local dissemination – with a particular focus on potential analytical studies on topics such as benefit sharing arrangements in REDD+, watersheds and water supply/quality protection, diseases/plague balance, economic benefits; social inclusion dimensions of REDD+, low-carbon and resilient livelihoods, monitoring and carbon accounting. The Capacity Building Program will continue to incorporate traditional knowledge and feedback mechanisms in the implementation of the benefit-sharing plans.

2. Regional exchanges and lessons learned aim to facilitate REDD+ knowledge sharing among Indigenous Peoples and civil society organizations. These efforts include the creation of REDD+ publications, South-South exchanges, and meetings of forest-dependent Indigenous Peoples and civil society organizations to enhance regional dialogue on REDD+, promote networking and integration, and facilitate cross-learning.

3. Management, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting – this component will finance the work of Capacity Building Program partner organizations, including regional and cross-country activities, communications, monitoring and evaluation, reporting and overall support.

With about US$2 million in funding, projects in Latin America and the Caribbean will be managed by two regional organizations: the Asociación Sotz’il, based in Guatemala, and the Indigenous and Peasant Coordinating Association of Community Agroforestry of Central America (ACICAFOC), based in Costa Rica. Asociación Sotz’il will focus on implementing REDD+ capacity-building activities among forest-dependent Indigenous Peoples, and ACICAFOC will have the same focus with in-country civil society organizations and local communities.

With US$920,000 in funding, projects in the larger Asia-Pacific region will be managed by two regional organizations: the Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education (Tebtebba) located in the Philippines, and the Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources (ANSAB) in Nepal. Tebtebba will provide resources to, and supervise subprojects for Indigenous Peoples in Fiji, Nepal, and Vietnam, while ANSAB will do the same for civil society and local communities in these three countries.

The Capacity Building Program in this region will focus on Fiji, Nepal and Vietnam. All three of these countries have recently signed Emission Reductions Payment Agreements with the FCPF Carbon Fund, and have started implementation of their Emission Reductions Programs.

• In Fiji, the program will seek to further build resilience, with attention to climate resilience, fiscal resilience, and social protection.
• In Nepal, program activities will prioritize inclusion and diversity, working to achieve greater inclusion for the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized groups, with greater resilience against climate change and natural disasters.
• In Vietnam, the program will support inclusive growth, invest in people and knowledge, and ensure environmental sustainability and resilience. These activities aim to further strengthen the strategic shift in Vietnam toward poverty reduction among ethnic minorities, through livelihood and income generation activities.

The implementation of Phase 3 of the Capacity Building Program in Africa is still under discussion, but is expected to be launched in 2021 with US$2.1 million in funding from the FCPF. The Capacity Building Program will officially close in December 2022 with the closing of the FCPF Readiness Fund.