Outline of the concept note

Update on the status of the national forest programme and request for a partnership agreement with the National Forest Programme Facility

• COUNTRY
• AGENCY THAT PREPARED THE CONCEPT NOTE
• CONTACT DETAILS (including e-mail addresses)
• SUMMARY OF CONCEPT NOTE (two to three paragraphs)
  A short summary describing the country's national forest programme process including the name/acronym of the process, its coordination mechanism, its main stakeholders and the challenges / constraints to be addressed.

The forestry sector (max. 3 pages)

1. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE FORESTRY SECTOR

• Country brief including total land area, urban/rural population rate, GDP per capita, natural forest area, forest plantation area, annual deforestation rate.
• Overall description of the social, economic and environmental importance of the forestry sector in the country.
• Forest tenure (including state and private forests, protected areas, community forests, etc.), forest management systems applied in the country, existing monitoring and information systems, data bases, national forest inventory and networks.
• Threats to the forest resources and actions taken to mitigate them.

2.  POTENTIAL OF FORESTRY FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION

• Forest sector contribution to the national economy.
• Detailed information on the role of forestry in poverty alleviation in the country.
• Relationship of forestry sector and the national forest programme with the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (if any).

3. CURRENT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT TO THE FORESTRY SECTOR (please add tables, if needed)

• Listing of the national support to forestry in general and the national forest programme in particular, from (i) public sources (governmental at central and decentralized levels), with indications on public budget investment to forestry, and (ii) non-public sources (non-governmental organizations and civil society, and private sector).
• Listing of international partners (multilateral and bilateral), programmes and projects active in the country that support forestry in general and the national forest programme in particular, with indications on donor contributions.

The nfp process (max. 5 pages)

4. FOREST POLICY FRAMEWORK

• Date of last update of forest policy.
• Main priorities (focus areas) set by the country policies in its national strategic planning.
• Chronology of the nfp process (e.g. in the last decade).
• Main targets of the national forest programme.

5. LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK

• Date of last update of the forest law.
• Main focus areas of forest law.
• Main legal instruments and other forestry related legislation supporting Sustainable Forest Management.

6. MAIN STAKEHOLDERS IN THE FORESTRY SECTOR

• Provide a brief description of the main actors and stakeholders (public and non-public) of the forest sector.  Add an overall organigram if available
• Provide a brief analysis of the involvement of different stakeholders in the nfp process (see table below for assistance)

 7. ACTUAL AND DESIRED STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION IN THE NFP PROCESS

• Participatory forestry initiatives and mechanisms supportive to stakeholders' involvement (public sector, private sector, civil society and community-based organizations) in the nfp process at central and decentralized levels.
• Qualitative aspects of stakeholder participation at present, e.g. ranging from full involvement in decision-making, to consultation / information on a case-by-case basis.  
• Existing challenges (if any) to increase / improve stakeholders participation in the nfp process

8. COUNTRY PARTICIPATION IN THE INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE ON FORESTRY

• Relevant international conventions the country is adhering to.
• Detailed reference to the country's participation and follow-up on the proposals for action of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF), the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) and the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF).

Requested Facility support (max. 7 pages)

9. RATIONALE, ACTIVITIES, RESULTS AND COSTS (ten to twenty paragraphs, plus tables if needed)

• Requirements needed to advance towards the overall objective of the national forest programme process, detailing the issues and existing bottlenecks to be addressed.
• Specific objective(s) of the proposed Partnership agreement with the Facility, clearly linked to the overall objective of the nfp process in the country and limited in numbers.
• Description of possible activities to be carried out through the Partnership agreement including expected outputs (results) and indicators to assess achievement
• Foreseen long-term impacts of the Partnership agreement.

In order to clearly present how the proposed Facility partnership will contribute to the nfp process in the country we recommend to include the following (or similar) table:

• Explanation of how the Facility grants will complement the existing national and international efforts.
• Indication of the annual budget required for these activities, under a three-year partnership with the Facility.

10. MANAGEMENT, MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF FACILITY SUPPORT (eight to fifteen paragraphs)

• Indication of the foreseen operational arrangements for the implementation of the proposed activities, including clear description of the expected roles of the various stakeholders.
• Proposed arrangements to manage the Partnership agreement, including a host institution and a communication and reporting system.
• Description of the proposed procedures to publicize and implement the Partnership agreement with the Facility to inform stakeholders’ and to stimulate their involvement in activities developed with the Facility support. The Facility Partnership Agreement (i) request the establishment and composition of a National Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee (NMSC) and (ii) promote the broad participation of stakeholders in the nfp process.
• Monitoring and evaluation will be implemented according the Facility Outcome and Impact Monitoring and Evaluation System (OIMES), with an important role to be played by the NMSC.

Annexes

• List of people, institutions and publications consulted to draft the Concept Note.
• Other annexes as needed to support the Concept Note.