In October, the Center for Rural Development in Central Vietnam (CRD), University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University organized 11 meetings to conduct mid-term evaluation of forest management in 11 communities and household groups of Thượng Lộ commune, Nam Đông district, Thừa Thiên Huế province.

The activity was organized within the project “Strengthening CSOs and CBOs to Accelerate Conservation Efforts in the Central Anamites” funded by The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and coordinated World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). CRD and Thua Thien Hue’s Forest Owners’ Sustainable Development Association have cooperated to implement the project.

The mid-term evaluation aimed to evaluate capacity development of forest management communities and propose solutions for community problems to meet their practical needs.

At the meetings, Ms.Trần Thị Hải (WWF expert) and Mr. Phan Văn Hùng (CRD expert) presented the purpose of the evaluation and use of tools and methods to conduct community capacity. The evaluation content included forest management and protection, forest development, market, processing non-timber forest products, finance; gender and participation; conflict resolution and management, etc.

In comparison with the early evaluation in October 2018, there have been positive changes and improvement in community capacity of Thượng Lộ commune in forest management and protection. These changes have contributed to manage and protect forest effectively. It is clearly shown in the decline of forest encroachment and deforestation; regular forest patrols as planned, etc. Yet, many communities still limit their participation in activities like policy advocacy, resource mobilization.

Based on the evaluation, experts will continue to support and motivate the communities to propose appropriate solutions for more sustainable and effective community forest management.