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Community leaders in some forest-fringed communities in the Krokosua and Tano-Offin Forest reserves have called on the government and Non-profit Organizations in the Natural Resource Sector to support them to undertake development projects in their communities. They made this appeal when a team from EcoCare Ghana donated some building materials and computers to support development projects in the 14 communities where the  Monitoring of Cocoa and Forest Initiative Commitments through Participatory Approaches (MoCCPA) project is being piloted. Donation to support the construction of a police station at Sereso The team used the opportunity to remind them of the Cocoa and Forest Initiative commitments by the government of Ghana and License Buying Companies and entreated them to continue to monitor its implementation at the community level.  Mrs Patience Olesu Adjei assured the communities members that even though the  MoCCPA project is ending in 2020, the Cocoa and Forestry Initiative will be implemented over a 50 years period. She  admonished them to use the knowledge gained through their engagements with EcoCare Ghana to continue monitoring the CFI process since they are the direct beneficiaries. She urged them to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the CFI to directly engage government agencies…

CSO’s DEVELOP COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR GHANA’S FLEGT VPA EcoCare Ghana organized a communication working group meeting to discuss the communication strategy to be adopted by civil society when communicating Ghana’s FLEGT VPA. EcoCare launched the ATUMPAN project which seeks to effectively communicate the FLEGT VPA process, milestone and outcomes towards EU market actors and other stakeholders in preparation towards FLEFT license issuance. As part of the ATUMPAN project, a communication working group must be convened to discuss the communication strategy civil society will use in communicating Ghana’s FLEGT VPA process. A few selected civil society representatives participated in the meeting to discuss the agenda for the meeting. The meeting commenced around 9:30am prompt with a prayer and round the table self-introduction of participants. Mr. Samuel Mawutor started the meeting with an opening remarks and set the context for the meeting. He gave a brief presentation of the FLEGT-VPA process, how and where it started and where it is currently. He also stated that FLEGT was in its late stages for the license to be issued. Rossa from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO) which is the funding partner for the ATUMPAN project gave a short presentation at…

Cocoa Farmers Bemoan Unfavourable Land Tenure System Cocoa Farmers in the Sefwi Juasobo and Atwima Mponua Districts have called on the government of Ghana and other stakeholders to review the Tree Tenure System for them to own the rights to trees on their farms.  This, they intimated will serve as an incentive to nurture naturally occurring tree as well as plant new ones in their cocoa farms.  They made this known when  Ecocare Ghana team accompanied by the Country Director for Rainforest Alliance/UTZ , Mr. Kwame Osei visited some communities in the Districts, as part of the MoCCPA project.The purpose of the visit was to assess the work done so far by EcoCare Ghana on the MoCCPA Project and how far the Cocoa and Forest Initiative (CFI) implementation process is unfolding in the project communities. Communities visited included Adwumam, Nkwanta, Abrokofe, Seniegyakrom in the Western North region Juaboso district and Akantanso, Chirayaaso, Bofaaso in the Ashanti region Atwima Mponua district).Farmers wanted to know the benefits from planting the trees on their farms since most of them have been victims of timber companies coming to fell trees on their farms without their consent and in the process destroying their crops.The farmers…

3RD DISTRICT LEVEL STAKEHOLDERS MEETING FOR THE MoCCPA PROJECT EcoCare Ghana team together with Henrietta from Rainforest Alliance/UTZ visited the MoCCPA project districts and communities to access how the MoCCPA project is going and what community members are doing to support the CFI and lastly how community monitors are monitoring the CFI commitments in their individual communities. The visits were followed up with a district level stakeholder’s engagement at JUABOSO and ATWEMA MPONUA districts. These districts are part of the Hot Spot Intervention Areas in Ghana where is mostly grown and is a great contributing factor to deforestation in Ghana. There are seven communities in each district where the MoCCPA project is been implemented by EcoCare Ghana. Each community was visited and a brief discussion went on about the CFI and how community monitors are working. In all, fourteen communities were visited and each community shared their observation, experience and expectation about the CFI. EcoCare team together with Henrietta from RA/UTZ took turns to further educate community members present about the CFI, the need to protect the forest reserve, effects of deforestation etc. community monitors were also asked about the monitoring work. They shared their experience, observations and challenges with…

Ecocare Ghana Launches Atumpan Project to Communicate FLEGT EcoCare Ghana on Thursday 17th October launched the Atumpan projet (communicating FLEGT) at the Forestry Commission Auditorium. The purpose of the project is to effectively communicate Ghana’s FLEGT-VPA processes, milestones and outcomes towards EU market actors and other stakeholder, in preparation towards FLEGT licensing. The project is being funded by FAO-EU-FLEGT PROGRAMME (Food and Agricultural Organisation-European Union- Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade). The project is expected to last 12 months. The launch brought together stakeholders from government (FORESTRY COMMISSION), private sector (Timber Industry), civil society organizations and the media.   As Ghana gets closer to issuing Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licenses, it has been established that there is the need for strong and clear precursory information to the trade destinations, particularly the European Union, to be aware of the products that will be delivered and the national overarching system behind the issuance of FLEGT licenses. The Atumpan project therefore addresses the need for effective information sharing on Ghana’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade – Voluntary Partnership Agreements (FLEGT-VPA), which is a priority area for Ghana as the country gets closer to issuing FLEGT licenses. The FAO-EU FLEGT…

District Level Stakeholder Meeting at Juaboso and Atwima Mponua for MoCCPA Project EcoCare Ghana held a district level stakeholder meeting for stakeholders in juaboso and Atwima Nponua district to discuss the Monitoring cocoa and forest initiative commitments through participatory approach (MoCCPA) project.The juaboso meeting was held in the district hospital conference room and the Atwima Nponua meeting was held in the district assembly hall. The meeting was attended by members of forestry commission, cocobod, farmers, chiefs, opinion leaders, licensed buying companies, media just to mention a few.The meeting was organized to build capacity, educate participants and discuss the MoCCPA project and to find out how all relevant stakeholders can contribute to its success in selected districts. Prior to the meeting, a visit was made by EcoCare team to selected farming communities within the juaboso and Atwima Nponua district to inform the community about MoCCPA project and invite two (2) members from each community to participate in the meeting.The lead campaigner for EcoCare Ghana Mr Obed Addai in his presentation in both meetings took participants through the history and inception of cocoa and forest initiative (CFI) and how it lead to the creation of the MoCCPA project. He explained to participants…

Observation Made During the Field Visit for CFI Cocoa is the backbone of Ghana’s economy for a very long time. Cocoa contributes significantly to Ghana’s gross domestic product (GDP) and also a source of livelihood for cocoa farmers. Cocoa is also a driving force of deforestation. The Ghana National REDD+ Strategy identifies agricultural expansion to be responsible for fifty percent (50%) of deforestation, with cocoa as a major contributor.The World Cocoa Foundation and the Sustainable Trade Initiative in collaboration with the Internation­al Sustainability Unit of the Office of the Prince of Wales have partnered with governments of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire and private cocoa companies to initiate the Cocoa and Forests Initiative (CFI). The CFI aims at providing the enabling environment for the cocoa sector players to positively contribute to the preservation of forests in Ghana and the coun­try’s economy.EcoCare Ghana took it upon itself to monitor the CFI commitments made by government and private cocoa companies in landscape levels using participatory approach. This lead to the creation of the MoCCPA project. The monitoring is taking place in two (2) out of the seven (7) Hot Spot Intervention Areas (HIA) in Ghana namely, Juaboso and Atwima Nponua respectively. EcoCare Ghana…

Ecocare Ghana Trains 28 Community Monitors One major stakeholder that can contribute immensely to monitoring activities at the landscape level are the members of the community. As part of forest and community governance, it is the community members themselves who serve as the grass-root stakeholders who benefit or suffer from policies, commitments, national and international action plans etc.Over the past year’s community members have been left out of monitoring, policy formulation and governance of the forest due to low capacity and knowledge in forest governance. However, they can be very effective if their capacity is built in forest policies and governance through training and technological knowhow to aid them in detecting forest illegalities and monitoring policies at the landscape level.EcoCare Ghana through their MoCCPA project seeks to monitor the commitments made by government and the private companies in cocoa and forest initiative (CFI). Government and the private companies made about 8 core commitments under the CFI and in order to properly and effectively monitor the commitments, EcoCare Ghana picked 2 community monitors each from 14 project communities from 2 districts namely Atwema Mponua and Juaboso districts.The community monitors chosen were housed and trained on how to use a mobile device…

Media Training for Journalist on Cocoa and Forest Initiative (CFI) EcoCare Ghana has organized a training program for a cross section of media persons in Accra. The training program was held at Erata Hotel on Thursday 18th July 2019. The training program was organized to inform and build the capacity of Media persons to take active part in the monitoring process of the cocoa and forest initiative because the media is a key stakeholder in the monitoring and implementation process. As part of EcoCare Ghana’s project, which is monitoring the cocoa and forest initiative commitments through participatory approaches (MoCCPA project), it was essential for the media to be trained and their capacity built in order for them to take active part in the implementation and monitoring process. The project which is financed by Rainforest Alliance/UTZ through their sector partnership (SP) program. The program was attended by a cross section of journalist from all media circles like Print, Radio, TV Stations, Online Media and Freelancers. The resource persons for the meeting were Mr Vincent Awotwe-Pratt who is the programs manager on Cocoa and Forest Initiative at the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), Mrs Glowen Kyei Mensah who is also the programs manager…