Ongoing research and capacity building activities

This section tables the research and capacity building activities as implemented in the project. The subject is described briefly, references are given to preliminary or final results and contact details of the respective researcher/project partner are made available.

1. The PhD student Kwame Oduro has finalised his research proposal ‘Scenarios analysis for sustainable management of Ghana’s High Forests’ and elaborated the research approach and techniques. One of the scenarios that will be analysed is the VPA. Data collection and modeling started in 2008. Output update. Contact: Kwame Oduro.

2. An MSc study The role of timber-trees in the livelihood strategies of farmers in Ghana’s high-forests zone was completed by Bernd Slesazeck BSc, Wageningen University. Output update. or the Final document.

3. An MSc study was completed by Prosper Kwame Antwi in May 2009: Assessing the livelihood dependence of local communities on ecosystem services in the Bobiri forest area of Ghana. The fnal document can be read here.

4. The PhD thesis on: ”Tools and advices for improvements of the VPAs in terms of (further) including local livelihood considerations” started in 2008. Contact: Chris Beeko

5. As part of the MSc ‘Management of Agro-ecological Knowledge and Social Change programme’ in Wageningen University, Bossman Owusu has undertaken research in 2008 on ‘The dynamics of multi-stakeholder processes in the negotiation of voluntary partnership agreement in Ghana". Final report can be found here. Output update.

6. Wageningen International (WI) designed and conducted a tailor-made training for facilitators who are engaged in facilitating a policy dialogue on finding alternatives for illegal chainsaw lumbering in Ghana. The multi stakeholder dialogue is a governance mechanism that is expected to deal with illegality and contribute to sustainable forestry use (and poverty alleviation). As such this EU-funded Tropenbos project is closely linked to the VPA-related policy discussion in Ghana. Where the VPA debate is largely linked to forest use for export, the chainsaw lumbering debate is largely linked to the local market. The local market absorbs an estimated 50% of the annual forest harvest (illegally). Demand and supply of the local market has serious livelihood considerations, and as such implications for the further implementation of the VPA. Output update. Contact: Nico Rozemeijer.

7. In facilitating a policy dialogue on finding alternatives for illegal chainsaw lumbering in Ghana it was suggested by Tropenbos to apply a landscape approach in facilitating the dialogue. In 2008 a paper was prepared by Wageningen International to test a landscape approach as tool for multi-stakeholder process approaches in the context of the Tropenbos project. Paper can be found here. Contact: Nico Rozemeijer

8. In 2009 Wageningen Internation designed and conducted a tailor-made M&E training for the staff and facilitators engaged in facilitating a policy dialogue through a multi-stakeholder dialogue (MSD) on finding alternatives for illegal chainsaw lumbering in Ghana. Part of the training were reflection sessions on the design of the MSD and lessons learnt so far. Project staff translated the learning and reflection in a paper: "Designing a multiple stakeholder dialogue - initial lessons learnt in navigating through conflicts in the Ghana forestry sector" (August 2009). This 15-page paper can be downloaded here.

9. An MSc Thesis was completed by Marta Dabrowska in 2009: "Access to timber trees for commercial purposes in off-reserve areas in Ghana". The study aims to contribute to better understanding of the legal context in which timber exploitation takes place in Ghana. This knowledge is expected to provide for development of legislation that effectively addresses existing problems and provide for the good governance of timber resources. The full thesis can be downloaded here.

10. In 2009 two groups of students (from the Netherlands and Ghana) were asked to research the (expected) effects of VPA-related law enforcement on forest fringe communities in Ghana. The study was conducted in two forest fringe communities and amongst people with forest dependent livelihoods in one urban community (Atiemo Nkwanta, Krofofrom and Obogu respectively) in the Juaso Forest District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Data for the research was obtained through interviews, focus group discussions and administration of questionnaires. This research has been done in the context of a trans-disciplinary student project organized and supervised by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) of KNUST, Tropenbos International- Ghana (TBI-Ghana), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Wageningen University and Research Centre (Wageningen UR), International Centre for development oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA) and Nuffic. The educational model is developed by the University of Amsterdam. The members of the research team are from different departments of KNUST in Ghana and various universities in the Netherlands. The research project was partially funded by Tropenbos International under the IoI? project. The students produced two reports that can be downloaded on the "publications" page.

11. In October 2009 TBI Ghana organised a workshop on the IOI project in Accra, Ghana on the theme, ‘Social safeguards in the Ghana-EU VPA: Jointly developing a research and development agenda for improved forest governance’. The objective was to facilitate information exchange and dialogue among forest stakeholders on the possible impacts of VPA on livelihoods. A paper based on desk research was produced on the extent to which "social safeguards" as mentioned in the VPA was elaborated in the Agreement. The 16-page paper of Arend Jan van Bodegom can be downloaded here.