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Assessment of REDD+ Training Needs and Supply in Six Countries in the Africa and Asia-Pacific Regions

A report by members of the Alliance for Global REDD+ Capacity

Synthesis Report

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Climate and Land Use Alliance that provided funding for this report.

The study would not have been possible without the participation of 65 people from 56 organizations in the six study countries, who generously contributed their time and expertise to share information on REDD+ training activities in their countries.

This study was prepared by members of the Alliance for Global REDD+ Capacity (AGRC), a partnership of organizations with common goals to enhance the capacity of stakeholders to participate in the assessment, development or implementation of REDD+. AGRC members Conservation International (CI), The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) and The Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC), led the development of this work. The lead contributors to sections of this work include Mario Chacon, Maria Bendana and Steven Panfil (CI), Andrew Chek (OTS), Jim Stephenson, Summer Montacute and Ronnakorn Triraganon (RECOFTC).

The AGRC

The Alliance for Global REDD+ Capacity (AGRC) is a distributed global alliance of respected organizations working to help provide the expertise, training, and tools required by REDD+ stakeholders. The stakeholders include governmental agencies, civil society, indigenous peoples, and rural communities who need to evaluate the implications of, plan for, and/or implement REDD+. Members of the AGRC include: · Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) · The Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) · Conservation International (CI) · Conservation Strategy Fund (CSF) · Yale-Smithsonian Environmental Leadership & Training Initiative (ELTI) · Forest Trends/Ecosystem Marketplace/Katoomba Group · Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) · Global Canopy Programme (GCP) · Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil (IIEB) · International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) · The Nature Conservancy (TNC) · Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) · Rainforest Alliance (RA) · The Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC) · UN-REDD · World Bank Institute (WBI)/Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) For more information on this report or the AGRC, please contact Steve Panfil (spanfil@conservation.org) or Ronnakorn Triraganon (ronnakorn@recoftc.org)

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Suggested citation for this report

Conservation International, The Organization for International Studies and The Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC). 2013. Assessment of REDD+ Training Needs and Supply in Six Countries in the Africa and Asia-Pacific Region.

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Acronyms

AGRC Alliance for Global REDD+ Capacity

CCBA Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance

CI Conservation International

COP Conference of the Parties

FCPF Forest Carbon Partnership Facility

FPIC Free, Prior and Informed Consent

GHG Greenhouse Gas

GIZ

MRV Measurement, Reporting and Verification

NEC National Executive Council

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

PNG Papua New Guinea

RECOFTC The Center for People and Forests

REDD+

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (+ includes forest conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks)

RELs Reference Emission Levels

RPP Readiness Preparation Proposal

SFM Sustainable Forest Management

ToT Training of Trainers

UNFCCC

UN-REDD United Nations REDD+ Programs

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Executive Summary

REDD+ capacity building is fundamental to achieving REDD+ readiness, recognized as a priority area by the UNFCCC since COP 13 in 2007. There is little data, however, that describe the type of capacity building and the number of people that are reached with these initiatives in REDD+ countries. The lack of information makes it difficult to determine where additional investments in capacity building are needed.

This report presents results from a study of REDD+ capacity building initiatives that were implemented in Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Indonesia, Liberia, Madagascar and Papua New Guinea (PNG) between September 2010 and June 2012. It is intended to assist the organizations that fund and conduct capacity building for REDD+ to more efficiently target their efforts. The report describes training supply in the country, and the perceptions of key actors engaged in the REDD+ process about the priority capacity building needs.

Data were collected through a short online survey and detailed interviews carried out over the telephone and via email. The survey participants and interviewees were identified through Conservation International’s and RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests’s networks in the study countries as well as through Readiness Preparation Plans (RPP’s) and other documents that describe the country’s REDD+ process.

In every country the overall verdict was that the supply of REDD+ training does not meet demand. However there has been important progress in REDD+ awareness raising, training for REDD+ policy development and planning, and community carbon accounting.

NGOs are most commonly targeted by REDD+ training service providers, followed closely by local communities, indicating a shift in focus for training providers from the ‘capital cities’ towards field-level activities.

Government departments were most frequently identified by service providers as the priority stakeholders to receive further REDD+ training. The little training attention paid to the general public and land-use industries is also a cause for concern, being two stakeholder groups with a sizeable influence on the success or failure of national REDD+ implementation.

The delivery of in-person training workshops was most frequently identified as a successful training format across the study countries. This is likely because it is a tried-and-tested method, and one of the more intensive forms of training delivery. Posters and flyers reached the highest audiences at an average of nearly 6,000 per country. The fact that Radio and TV wasn’t the most far-reaching format indicates that it is not being used to its potential, and is restricted to localized rather than national broadcasting.

The most common barrier to training supply reported was a lack of resources to organize trainings, indicating potential problems with distribution and access too REDD+ training funding at a national and sub-national level.

Overall this study reveals that though REDD+ training has achieved much during its limited lifespan, the bulk of the workload remains on the horizon.

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Key Recommendations

National governments received increased training support, focusing on agencies outside of the forestry sector with a strong influence on REDD+. The priority focus should be on land use planning and low carbon development decision tools.

Local government should also be targeted due to their major influence on how REDD+ is implemented ‘on-the-ground’.

Technical assistance and targeted REDD+ awareness campaigns are directed to the private sector.

REDD+ training design should be informed by locally specific training needs assessments of the target audiences.

Training formats used should build in ample time for reflection and peer learning.

Training materials should be contextualized to the national and local context, being simple, user-friendly and easy to update and adapt in the future.

The REDD+ training of trainer (ToT) process should be scaled up in order to address the short supply of qualified trainers with up-to-date knowledge of REDD+.

Enhanced coordination of training activities and materials among training organizations is essential to better target audience groups and not duplicate training activities.

Forest areas under threat but outside of current REDD+ demonstration sites should be prioritized for local level awareness raising and training.

Coordinating with local religious institutions should be enhanced to arrange REDD+ awareness raising and training in dispersed and remote communities.

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1. Introduction

REDD+1 is a complex climate change mitigation option that requires the participation of a broad range of stakeholders, from local communities to national governments. Because of its novelty and complexity, informed participation cannot take place without substantial investments in training and other forms of capacity building. The international community has recognized the need for investment in capacity building for REDD+, beginning with COP 13 (UNFCCC, 2008). Ongoing efforts to support REDD+ Readiness through the UN-REDD Program, the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and bilateral investments have all put a strong emphasis on capacity building.

There is little data, however, that describe the type of capacity building and the number of people that are reached with these initiatives in REDD+ countries. The lack of information makes it difficult to determine where additional investments in capacity building are needed.

This report presents results from a study of REDD+ capacity building initiatives that were implemented in Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Indonesia, Liberia, Madagascar, and Papua New Guinea between September 2010 and June 2012. It is intended to assist the organizations that fund and conduct capacity building for REDD+ to more efficiently target their efforts. This synthesis report presents key findings across all six countries regarding training supply in the countries, and the perceptions of key actors engaged in the REDD+ process about priority capacity building needs. Separate detailed reports are also presented for each of the six countries.

This report was prepared through a collaboration of three of the members of the Alliance for Global REDD+ Capacity, including CI, OTS and RECOFTC. The Africa country studies were led by CI and the Asia-Pacific country studies were led by RECOFTC.

2. Methodology

Data were collected through a short online survey and detailed interviews that were done over the telephone and via email. The survey participants and interviewees were identified through CI’s and RECOFTC’s networks in the study countries and also through Readiness Preparation Plans (RPP’s) and other documents that describe country REDD+ processes. Details about the survey and interview are provided below.

2.1 Online Survey

The online survey was administered between February and June 2012. To promote higher response rates, the survey was short and included brief questions regarding five categories of information. These categories are described below and the complete survey can be found in Appendix 1.

Respondents were asked to indicate all of the audience types that they target in their trainings. Audience types included the general public, NGOs, government, donors, REDD+ project developers, academic

1 REDD+ refers to “reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries; and the role of

conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries” (UNFCCC 2007)

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institutions, indigenous peoples, local communities, representatives of land use industries, or other stakeholders.

Training formats were presented as a list that included in-person workshops or courses, long term mentoring and technical support, training manuals and guides, internet-based training courses, study tours, radio/TV programs, posters/flyers or other formats. Respondents were asked to mark each of the formats that their organization had used and to estimate the number of people reached using each format.

The list of thematic areas included:

The basic elements of climate change

International climate change policy and the UNFCCC process

Awareness raising and REDD+ knowledge dissemination

Support for the REDD+ readiness process

REDD+ policy development and planning (i.e. Forest governance)

Forest inventories and carbon accounting

Calculating reference/reference emission levels

Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV)

Benefit sharing

Social safeguards

Environmental safeguards

REDD+ finance

Analysis of key drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and strategies for reducing deforestation and degradation

How to develop REDD+ or Afforestation/Reforestation Projects

Greenhouses gas inventories (i.e. IPCC guidelines)

Other

Respondents were asked to select all that applied and to provide additional details if they selected “Other”.

2.2 Structured Interviews

Respondents to the online survey were invited to participate in a detailed interview, either by telephone or email. Interviews were performed with representatives of organizations that have provided REDD+ training and also with some individuals familiar with REDD+ training activities in Indonesia but whose organizations had not led them. The complete set of interview questions is in Appendix 2.

The structured interview contained questions addressing the ‘Supply of Training’ and ‘Interviewee Perceptions of Supply and Demand’. The ‘Supply of Training’ refers to the target audiences, training formats, subject matter, geographies where training was implemented, and training materials. ‘Interviewee Perceptions of Supply and Demand’ summarizes the opinions and perceptions of interviewees regarding the adequacy of supply of training as well as any additional requests made of their organizations for future training events.

Participants from organizations that conduct REDD+ training were asked for detailed descriptions of the training provided, including the place where the training was conducted, the source of funding, and the cost. They were also asked to describe the demand for training as indicated by the number and types of requests that their organizations had received. In addition, these interviewees were asked to describe the barriers that limit their ability to expand the supply of training.

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All interviewees were asked to list the audiences known to have received REDD+ training in their country, and to identify ones that need additional training or that had already received an adequate supply. They were asked if the country as a whole still required additional REDD+ training, and if particular geographic areas had been underserved.

Participants were asked about which training formats had been used in the country (using the same categories presented in the online survey). Among these, they were asked which had been most successful, and to identify the formats which are underused.

The list of thematic areas presented in the online survey was also used in the interviews to identify the areas that had not been covered by trainings. Interviewees were asked to list the priority themes that need additional attention in future REDD+ training initiatives. They were also asked to provide general recommendations for how training in the country can be improved.

Finally, participants were asked to identify any specific training materials that are being applied in their country, and to describe if and how these materials were being made available to the public.

2.3 Countries surveyed

This study focuses on three countries each in the Africa and Asia-Pacific regions. In each region, we included the country with the greatest amount of forest cover and emissions from deforestation, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. Because of their size and the potential emissions reductions to be achieved, each of these countries has received considerable investment in REDD+ from the international community, and could be expected to be among the countries with the greatest supply of REDD+ training. We also selected smaller countries, with varying amounts of investment in REDD+. In the Africa region these include Liberia and Madagascar, and in the Asia-Pacific region they include Cambodia and Papua New Guinea (PNG). This study is not comprehensive of all REDD+ countries but we believe that the countries sampled are representative of the varied social contexts and investments made in REDD+ around the world. This initiative originally aimed to include studies of three countries in Latin America but these could not be included for logistical reasons.

3. Results

For the ‘Training Supply’ section, the results present data gathered from the online survey, and quantitative and qualitative perceptions gathered during the interview process. A sub-section under ‘Training Supply’ describes the training materials identified during the interview process. The ‘Training Demand’ section includes quantitative and qualitative perceptions gathered from the interview process only, as questions in this area were not covered in the online questionnaire.

3.1 Supply of Training

3.1.1 Overview of online survey findings

The following section provides an overview of the on-line survey results regarding REDD+ training supply.

Audience groups

NGOs are unsurprisingly the group most commonly targeted by REDD+ training service providers. However local communities are almost equally targeted, indicating a shift in focus for training providers from the

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‘capital cities’ towards field-level activities. Government is the third most popular audience group, which is consistent with statements by donors about the importance of government capacity building.

There is a drop off of nearly 25% to the next most popular audience group, REDD+ project developers. Indigenous peoples and academic institutions follow closely behind, before another substantial drop-off in popularity for land-use industries, the general public, donors and ‘others’. The low attention paid to the general public and land-use industries is a cause for concern, being two stakeholder groups with a sizeable influence on the success or failure of national REDD+ implementation.

The responses varied substantially by country. Notably, the trainings in PNG were much more heavily targeted at local communities (90%) and indigenous peoples (80%), with lower figures for NGOs and government. In contrast, 94% of the trainings reported for Indonesia were targeted at NGO’s, 88% of trainings in Cambodia were aimed at government representatives, and 90% of trainings in Madagascar were aimed at private project developers and academic institutions.

Table 1. Target audience groups for REDD+ training. The results represent an average of the six country-level results.

Audience groups Average % of responses

Low result % (Country) High result % (Country)

NGOs 82% 50% (PNG) 94% (Indonesia)

Local communities 80% 50% (Madagascar) 90% (PNG)

Government 76% 50% (PNG) 88% (Cambodia)

REDD+ project developers 53% 10% (PNG) 90% (Madagascar)

Indigenous peoples 52% 20% (Madagascar) 80% (PNG)

Academic institutions 51% 25% (Cambodia) 90% (Madagascar)

Land-use industries 34% 10% (Madagascar) 50% (Liberia)

General public 33% 12% (Indonesia) 50% (Liberia and PNG)

Donors 33% 17% (Liberia) 50% (Madagascar)

Others 21% O% (Cambodia) 40% (Madagascar)

Training/awareness raising formats

Interviewees estimated that posters and flyers reached the highest audiences at an average of nearly 6,000 per country. Radio/TV and the distribution of introductory guides were also estimated to have reached similar numbers. The fact that Radio/TV was not the most far-reaching format sugggests that it is not being used to its potential, and is restricted to localized rather than national broadcasting.

The drop off in audience numbers reached by training manuals can be explained by the narrower focus of training manuals towards technical staff, rather than general users.

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Internet-based training does not appear to have taken off in the countries studied. This may be explained by the upfront investment and technical know-how needed to design online courses, combined with concerns that most of the target audience would not have access to, or be interested in them. Long term mentoring unsurprisingly reaches the lowest number of people per country, but is likely to have a greater impact on the knowledge and skills of the smaller groups it reaches.

Details about the use of different training formats in each country can be found in the separate country-specific reports.

Figure 1. Average estimates of the number of people reached per training/awareness raising format per country (September 2010 to present) (Average of the six country level results)

Thematic areas

The most common thematic areas reflect the fact that most countries in this study are still in the early stages of REDD+ readiness, in which the most pressing task at hand is to raise broad awareness on the basics of climate change and REDD+. Most countries are progressing with REDD+ policy development and planning, which explains its popularity as a training theme, along with analyzing deforestation and degradation drivers, the REDD+ readiness process and international climate policy, amongst others. The surprising popularity of forest inventories and carbon accounting reflects a high level of engagement by training service providers in field-based training activities.

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There was also country to country variability in the coverage of themes. Some themes were included at a low rate in some countries. For example, only 20% of the training initiatives in Madagascar directly covered methods for awareness raising and knowledge dissemination. Only 17% of the training initiatives in Liberia covered forest inventories and carbon accounting. Conversely, 100% of the training events in Liberia covered issues of forest governance, and 90% of the trainings in PNG covered awareness raising and knowledge dissemination.

Table 2. Thematic areas addressed in training. The column showing the Average % of Responses is an average of the six country level results.

Thematic area addressed in training Average % of responses

Low result % (Country)

High Result %(Country)

The basics of climate change science (i.e. what is climate change, what causes it) 78%

70 (Madagascar)

88% (Indonesia)

Awareness raising and REDD+ knowledge dissemination 66%

20% (Madagascar)

90% (PNG)

Government REDD+ policy development and planning (i.e. Forest governance) 65%

38% (Cambodia)

100% (Liberia)

Forest inventories and carbon accounting 62% 17% (Liberia) 88%(DRC)

Social safeguards 61%

40% (PNG) 71% (DRC and Liberia)

Analysis of key drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and strategies for reducing deforestation and degradation 61%

50% (Liberia and PNG)

71% (DRC)

Supporting the REDD+ readiness process 60%

38% (Cambodia)

83% (Liberia)

International climate change policy and UNFCCC processes 59%

30% (PNG) 83% (Liberia)

Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) 54%

25% (Cambodia)

80% (Madagascar)

Benefit sharing 51%

38% (Cambodia)

67% (Liberia)

Environmental safeguards 50%

20% (Madagascar)

75% (Cambodia)

Calculating reference/reference emission levels 38%

10% (PNG) 80% (Madagascar)

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REDD+ finance 32%

17% (Liberia) 50% (Madagascar)

How to develop REDD+ and-or Reforestation/Afforestation Projects 32%

20% (PNG) 40% (Madagascar)

Greenhouses gases inventories (i.e. IPCC guidelines) 16% 0% (Cambodia) 33% (Liberia)

Others 14%

0% (Liberia and

Madagascar

30% (PNG)

3.1.2 Perceptions of training supply

In-depth interviews complemented the quantitative data collected by the online survey. The following sub-section summarizes the opinions and perceptions of interviewees regarding the supply of training across the study countries.

Audience groups and thematic areas

Government departments were most commonly identified by service providers as the priority stakeholders to receive additional REDD+ training. There was also a strong emphasis on the need for more awareness raising amongst local communities and indigenous peoples, focusing on the basics of climate change and REDD+. In particular training on community carbon accounting was brought up as a practical and useful tool for raising awareness of REDD+ and carbon rights. However there is an underlying concern that the purpose of carbon accounting needs to be clearly communicated, as to not unduly raise local expectations for forthcoming carbon finance.

Training/awareness raising formats

The delivery of in-person training workshops was most frequently identified as a successful training format across the study countries. This is likely because it is a tried-and-tested method, and one of the more intensive forms of training delivery. Long-term mentoring and study tours were also highlighted as successful formats for training, which again reflects a focus on intensive and focused training, rather than broader awareness raising for larger audiences.

Despite the focus on more intensive training, respondents did recognize that broader awareness raising was a neglected area, observing that Radio/TV was the most under-utilized format, along with other forms of popular media such as newspapers. For example one DRC respondent highlighted that comic strips in newspapers would be a useful avenue for delivering the REDD+ message in a style and format suitable for the general public. The production and use of introductory REDD+ guides was also singled out as an important area where more could be done.

Barriers to training supply

The most common barrier to training supply reported was a lack of resources to organize trainings, an interesting finding in light of the broader increases in funding support for REDD+ from the international

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community. This indicates potential problems with distribution and access too REDD+ training funding at a national and sub-national level. The relative newness of REDD+ may explain the lack of in-country experts to provide training and the low number of dedicated training materials developed to date. The view that there is a lack of training materials in a local language could reflect an increase in training providers working at a sub-national and community level, in areas with a very wide diversity of local languages. Table 3. Barriers to training supply

Barrier to training supply Average % of responses

Low Result % (Country)

High Result % (Country

Resources to organize trainings – pay instructors, house participants, pay for space, travel to communities 68%

50% (Indonesia and PNG)

100% (Madagascar)

In-country experts to provide training 59%

33% (Madagascar)

83% (Indonesia)

Training materials in local language 59%

25% (PNG) 83% (DRC, Madagascar, Indonesia)

Dedicated training materials 49%

33% (Madagascar)

60% (Liberia)

Human resources to organize more trainings

28%

0% (Madagascar and Indonesia)

83% (DRC)

Barriers to participation in training

Inadequate background knowledge and skills to make use of training available is the only barrier reported by the majority of respondents. This indicates that the training themes being delivered are perhaps misaligned with the knowledge and skills of participants. The findings reported in Table 2 support this, whereby the majority of training providers reported delivering training in relatively advanced subjects such as MRV, carbon accounting and international policy processes. Cost to participants is another significant concern, particularly with increased engagement with local communities who may not be able to afford the ‘opportunity costs’ of attending long training sessions away from their day-to-day activities.

Nearly every one of the listed barriers was cited by a majority of interviewees in at least one country. The high result for each barrier shows the diversity of contexts among the countries, and suggesting that context specific training programs would be more effective than a one-size-fits-all solution.

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Table 4. Barriers to participation in training. The average of the six country results are shown in the second column.

Barrier to participation Average % of responses

Low result % (Country) High Result %(Country)

Inadequate background knowledge and skill to make use of training available 81%

75% (PNG) 83% (DRC, Madagascar, Indonesia)

Cost to participants 42%

17% (Madagascar and Indonesia)

67% (DRC)

Too long a time commitment required of participants 33%

0% (PNG) 60% (Cambodia)

Technology to access training – computers for online training 33%

0% (Cambodia) 75% (PNG)

Topic not aligned with specific needs 28%

O% (DRC and Cambodia) 67% (Indonesia)

Participants not aware of need for training 27%

0% (DRC, Madagascar, Cambodia)

60% (Liberia)

Permission from employer 10%

0% (DRC, Madagascar, Cambodia)

25% (PNG)

3.2 Training Demand

3.2.1 Interview perceptions of training demand

The following sub-section summarizes the opinions and perceptions of the 38 interviewees regarding the demand for training.

Audience groups

Respondents from all but one of the study countries identified government as the key stakeholder in need of further REDD+ training, including forestry, agriculture, environmental and education agencies. The other stakeholder group frequently mentioned was local communities and indigenous peoples. The DRC was the only country to reference NGOs as the most in need of REDD+ training (specifically those working at local levels). Most other countries found that NGOs already received sufficient training attention.

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Thematic areas

There was little similarity between countries in the thematic areas most in demand, although awareness raising was prioritized by two countries (Cambodia and PNG). In other countries MRV (Indonesia), forest inventories and carbon accounting (Liberia), social and environmental safeguards (DRC) and benefit sharing (Madagascar) were identified. Whilst there isn’t a common pattern across the countries, there is a surprising emphasis on MRV and carbon accounting. This may reflect the relatively advanced stage of REDD+ development and the high number of piloting activities in Indonesia, and the popularity of community carbon accounting in Liberia.

Additional requests for training

In all countries most respondents reported that additional requests for training were being made of them, and in the DRC all respondents had been requested to do so. There was broad variation in the stakeholder groups making these requests but with some repeated patterns. In the DRC, Liberia and Madagascar most requests came from the government; in PNG and Indonesia Community Forestry and Forest Management Units topped the list; whilst in Cambodia and Liberia NGOs most commonly requested training2. The fact that government wasn’t more frequently cited as requesting training is a potential cause for concern, given the findings for ‘Audience Groups’ (see above) where government stakeholders were overwhelmingly identified as the group in greatest need of training.

Overall verdict

In every country the overall verdict was that the supply of REDD+ training does not meet demand. The most common reason given was that the REDD+ training process is too centralized in major cities, or too focused on existing REDD+ demonstration sites and has not been up scaled up to broader areas of the country. Other stakeholders are concerned not necessarily by the quantity but the quality of REDD+ training. As one Indonesian participant put it:

“Nation-wide we have a lot of training on REDD+, but quantity doesn’t mean quality. Often the goal of the training itself is unclear and there is a lot of confusion. For example, there are multiple trainings on REDD+ safeguards, however, a better way to actually deliver the trainings is needed because they’re not effective at spreading knowledge.”

4. Conclusions

In every country the general conclusion of respondents was that the supply of REDD+ training does not meet demand. However there has been important progress in REDD+ awareness raising, training for REDD+ policy development and planning, and surprisingly community carbon accounting.

2 Note that in Liberia the number of Government and NGO requests were equal (5/5 respondents).

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NGOs are the most common audience targeted by REDD+ training, and local communities almost equally as popular, which could be indicating a shift in focus for training providers from the ‘capital cities’ towards field level activities. However other important stakeholders are not being adequately targeted, the most important being government. The general public is not being targeted sufficiently, and whilst there are encouraging signs that radio, TV and newspapers are being used locally to raise awareness, there is an untapped opportunity to scale this up nationally to improve public awareness and understanding of REDD+. The private sector is another key stakeholder underserved by REDD+ training, which is likely to require more in-depth engagement through in-person training sessions with smaller audiences.

The fundamentals of REDD+ and climate change are the dominant themes in REDD+ training, which is appropriate given that most countries are in the early stages of REDD+ Readiness. These countries are progressing with training for REDD+ policy development and planning, alongside analyzing deforestation and degradation drivers and the REDD+ readiness process. However in other areas there appears to be some misalignment between the training given and training demand. The majority of service providers are delivering training on MRV, despite the fact that anything beyond introductory information on the subject is of little relevance to stakeholders not directly involved in the MRV process. Training on benefit sharing is also being delivered by half of providers, but is more relevant to countries moving into the later phases of REDD+ readiness. A focus on benefit sharing runs the risk of contributing to over-expectations regarding REDD+ finance.

Carbon accounting and forest inventory training is delivered by the majority of service providers, suggesting a higher level of field level activity than would otherwise be expected, as only a minority of providers are involved in the REDD+ demonstration process. Interview findings reveal that much of this activity is focused on community carbon accounting, viewed as an effective tool for raising community awareness of the science of REDD+ and their carbon rights. It was however emphasized that the purpose of these trainings need to be well communicated to communities to ensure that they do not contribute further to inflated expectations for forthcoming REDD+ finance.

Low access to funding resources is limiting the extent of REDD+ training globally, a concerning finding in light of the dramatic rise in funding resources for REDD+ in recent years. This may indicate that REDD+ training is not receiving its fair share of funding compared with other activities.

Overall this study reveals that though REDD+ training has achieved much during its limited lifespan, the bulk of the workload remains on the horizon. It is vital that the donor, NGO, government and academic community increase the resources directed to REDD+ training, to balance out the audience groups receiving REDD+ training, improve training coordination and prioritize REDD+ training themes.

5. Recommendations

Interview participants identified a number of potential actions to address key challenges. The following table shows some of the key recommendations. These were drawn from responses in each of the six countries.

Table 8. Challenges and recommended actions

Challenge Recommended action(s)

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1. Audience groups

National government needs further training support

There has been some progress made in awareness raising on REDD+ at the central government level in all countries. However, low government awareness and understanding of REDD+, particularly outside of forestry agencies is still a substantial challenge.

It will be essential to include other sectors of the government such as Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Finance, Planning, Mining and Agriculture.

Local government is not targeted for training.

District and provincial level government officials have not been sufficiently engaged in capacity building activities to date.

It is critical that REDD+ training targets local level government due to the major influence these officials will have on how REDD+ is implemented ‘on-the-ground.’

Private sector is not targeted for training.

There has been low involvement of the private sector in REDD+ training. This is cause for concern as the private sector has both limited knowledge of REDD+ and an important role to play in its success.

Technical assistance and a targeted REDD+ awareness campaigns are needed to help the private sector take REDD+ related opportunities and risks into account in it’s planning.

2. Thematic areas

Trainings do not cover a sufficiently wide range of topics.

Where capacity and funding are sufficient, topics offered by training organizations should be broadened beyond introductory areas such as climate change science and popular themes such as community carbon accounting.

Themes identified as in demand but infrequently included in trainings are:

o For government agencies: land use planning and low carbon development decision tools.

o For local communities: REDD+ justice (including gender issues), the integration of REDD+ and community forestry management, community participation in decision-making and ownership of the REDD+ process, FPIC, and climate change adaptation.

3. Training/awareness raising formats

Trainings do not meet specific needs of participants.

The design of trainings should be informed by locally specific Training Needs Assessments of the target audiences. This can be done at varying levels of detail, from questionnaires to full in-person surveys.

Trainings should be designed to respond to participants in a ‘live’ manner, so that when needs are expressed during the course, the following session takes these needs into account (e.g. through a daily feedback process).

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Trainings should build in ample time for participant reflection, which can help to identify where knowledge gaps and needs lie.

As funding allows, formats identified as both successful and underutilized should be scaled up (longer-term mentoring, study tours and radio/TV).

Training materials are not country-specific or locally adapted.

The training manuals used should be contextualized to the national and local context: simple, user-friendly, and easy to update and adapt in the future. Translating these manuals into local languages should be given priority.

REDD+ training should be integrated into relevant national and local government policies and processes.

Furthermore, REDD+ should be integrated into existing trainings by government agencies and NGOs (such as trainings on SFM and community forestry).

Trainers are not sufficiently skilled.

There is a lack of qualified trainers with up-to-date knowledge of REDD+ who are able to clearly articulate the meaning of REDD+ and the potential role of different audience groups in its implementation. To address this it is especially important to support the ‘Training of Trainer’ (ToT) process at a greater scale.

4. National coordination

Improvements in training coordination are needed.

Enhanced coordination of training activities and materials among training organizations is essential to better target audience groups and not duplicate training activities. There is already an overlap of training materials produced and used by trainers and a generally low level of information sharing between trainers.

Training activities are too heavily focused in and around existing REDD+ demonstration sites.

Areas with low NGO presence and existing project activity should be targeted, prioritizing forest areas under greatest threat.

Dispersed populations and hard-to-access geographies makes scaling up training difficult.

The Training of Trainer (ToT) model may help expand the coverage of REDD+ training rapidly and effectively.

Coordinating with local religious institutions to arrange REDD+ awareness training should help to widely disseminate knowledge to a large portion of the population especially in rural areas.