Posted on September, 05 2012

WWF Forest and Climate Initiative’s (FCI) Learning and Knowledge Sharing programme in July brought together 30 REDD+ practitioners from across Latin American to share their experiences and inspirations working on REDD+ projects. The participants were made up of technical staff, consultants and professionals from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government agencies based in Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Mexico, Paraguay, Guatemala and Ecuador. Given both the innovative practices and unique challenges within the field of REDD+ project management, many practitioners have hidden treasures of experiences that can be mapped and shared to create a richer understanding of REDD+ implementation. The four-day workshop, held in Chinauta, Colombia, was designed to do just that.

 

Hosted in partnership with WWF’s Living Amazon Initiative, the workshop followed a methodology developed by FCI’s Learning and Knowledge Sharing team to draw out innovative practices and lessons learned. Attendees gained insights from different contexts, achievements, partnerships and lessons learned, as well as inspiring and challenging experiences.

 

Among the many experiences shared, Josefina Braña (Mexico government) and Lina Dabbagh (WWF-Mexico) discussed the stages in their successful bid to create a national and regional approach to REDD+ participation and decision making through the Marco REDD+ project. Maria Jocicleide (Grupo Trabajo Amazonico - Brazil) and Antonio Oviedo (WWF-Brazil) provided insights from their partnership in engaging civil society on forest policies in Acre, Brazil.

 

“We project managers know how to implement projects, but it is difficult for us to reflect and build lessons from our experience,” said Jose Argandona (WWF Bolivia) of the learning and knowledge sharing experience. “This workshop taught me how to exactly do this.”

 

The event was a REDD+ practitioner’s capacity building initiative as part of WWF FCI’s REDD+ for People and Nature (RPAN) programme, which is funded by the Government of Norway through a grant administered by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). The knowledge sharing methodology created by the FCI Learning and Knowledge Sharing team will soon be available as a Tool Box for project managers, communicators and other REDD+ practitioners around the globe. The Tool Box will include various methods and clear explanations to be used within and between forest climate projects to draw together lessons and share innovative practices.

 

In addition to hands-on learning initiatives such as this, FCI also offers virtual knowledge sharing opportunities for REDD+ practitioners around the globe through its ongoing Learning Sessions webinars, which are hosted once a month and available online at www.panda.org/forestclimate.

(Reporting by WWF-FCI’s Claire Phillips)