Objective
GIRAF is an acronym for Governance Initiative for Rights & Accountability in Forest Management. The project has as its overall objective to contribute to sustainable exploitation of Ghana's forest resources to the benefit of the poor population of the country. This will require a halt to the widespread illegal overexploitation of timber resources. The project aims to inform the public about the conditions in the forestry sector and to establish dialogue forums between NGO's, community-based organizations, the timber industry, as well as local and national government authorities.
Target group
The project is assisting 45,000 people living in 90 communities to participate in Forest Forums with local authorities. The project also works with traditional institutions (chiefs), mass media, NGO's and their networks. It builds in particular on the strong collaboration in the NGO coalition Forest Watch Ghana. In the long term, the project is expected to benefit up to 3 million people, or about one-fourth of the natural resources-dependent people in Ghana.
Activities
The activities of the GIRAF project consist in building capacity among NGO's and communities for more effective monitoring of compliance with national legislation for forest resources. The project supports regular Forest Forum dialogue meetings between the local population, organizations and authorities. There is a special focus on strengthening monitoring and compliance mechanisms in the context of the agreement between Ghana and the EU to limit exports of illegal timber, or the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) program. Awareness of the agreement is increased through public media. Finally, the project also pushes for the introduction of community-based forest management in Ghana.
Area
The GIRAF project simultaneously works at the national level and locally in 90 local communities in six regions of Ghana (Brong-Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Northern, Volta and Western Region). NGO's exchange experiences with peer organizations in the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Duration and budget
The project began in January 2009 and will continue to the end of 2012. It has a combined budget of 1.2 million Euros (about 9.4 million Danish kroner), of which 80 % is funded by the EU and the remainder from CARE Danmark's framework agreement with Danida.
Partners
CARE is implementing the project in close collaboration with three Ghanaian partner organizations: Civic Response, Friends of the Earth, and the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD).
Contact
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Programme Coordinator
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