ACTIVITIES AND PROJECTS CALENDER FOR YEAR 2010
CIKOD'S VARIOUS ON-GOING-PROGRAMMES IN VARIOUS RELIGIONS FOR YEAR 2010

 GIRAF
The Governance Initiative for Rights & Accountability in Forest Management (GIRAF) is an EU Project being coordinated in Ghana by CARE Gulf of Guinea  

BACKGROUND
Distortions in forest stakeholder power relations in Ghana have led to systemic abuse of community resource rights and undermined achievement of official policy objectives.
Currently, Ghana’s forest cover is disappearing at 65,000 ha per year with annual reforestation /plantation development over the last 10 years averaging 10,000 ha and threatening the survival of the domestic wood industry.

ECONOMICALLY, the timber sector accounts for 6% of GDP but costs 3.5 % of GDP in environmental damage leaving a suboptimal net contribution of 2.5% compared to land uses
like agriculture.
Secondly, companies avoid or evade Timber Rights Fees and Stumpage Fees to the tune of US $100 million per year.
Thirdly, state officials and the rural elite capture the bulk of revenue that should accrue to communities.
Fourthly, industrial concessions provide only temporary, poorly paid and unskilled employment to forest communities.
Finally, the degradation of forests disrupts bio-diversity, water and soil quality and thus affects agricultural productivity of forest communities.

IN TERMS OF SECURITY, there is an increase in resource-related conflict within communities, between communities and between communities on one hand and companies and the state on the other. Some of these conflicts have turned violent posing a serious long-term threat to national stability

INTRODUCTION:
In recent years, State and Industry leaders in line with global trends, have recognised that the Forest sector suffers from governance and not just technical, managerial, financial or ‘law enforcement’ problems.
They have shown greater willingness to recognise community tenure, management and enterprise rights. In the last 6 years, this thinking has reflected in official policy positions. Ghana, for example, was the first country to commit to FLEGT-VPA negotiations (2003) and signed agreement in September, 2008.

Ghana’s FLEGT process has enabled unprecedented stakeholder participation in policy processes, legislative and institutional reforms that strengthen community tenure, management and enterprise development rights and ensure transparency in the forest sector and in forest fringe communities.

Forest Governance, Transparency and accountability reformers must now taking on a number of clear challenges.

  1. They must build the capacity of community-stakeholders to participate effectively in policy, law and governance debates and press for community forest management.
  2. They must build platforms for such direct engagement and dialogue.
  3. They must increase general public awareness on natural resource governance.
  4. They must use this space to conduct policy advocacy for community forest management

DURATION
The project will last for 4-years. It started in January 2009 and will end on December 2012.

OVERALL OBJECTIVE
Forest resources in Ghana are sustainably managed and contribute to poverty reduction

PARTNERS:
CARE Gulf of Guinea works in partnership with the following local NGOs as implementers of the project.

  1. Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD)
  2. Civic Response (CR)
  3. Friends of the Earth (FoE)

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS:
The GIRAF Project is being implemented in Ghana 6 regions; 3 districts in each region (3x6=18 districts) and 5 communities in each district (5x18=90 communities).

The six regions include Brong-Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Northern, Volta and Western Regions.

TARGET GROUPS:
The project primarily targets 45,000 forest-dependent people living in 90 communities in 18
rural districts.

FINAL BENEFICIARIES:
Up to 3,000,000 citizens of Ghanaian forest communities (i.e. 25% of Ghana’s forest dependent community) whose livelihoods are challenged by the deforestation, degradation and exclusion from Ghana’s forest resources are alleviated from poverty through improved incomes and livelihoods from better forest governance. It will improve the prosperity and stability of their communities as well.

In addition, there will be sharing of experiences with civil society networks in Ivory Coast, Liberia, Cameroon & Democratic Republic of Congo.

CIKOD’S ROLE
CIKOD’s roles in the implementation of the project are:

  1. To sensitize Traditional Authorities on modern concept of accountability through:
  2. Reconnaissance visits as a baseline survey to assess why some people have negative perceptions about Traditional Authorities and what could be done to redeem their image.
  3. Training workshops to strengthen Traditional Authorities (TAs) in modern concept of accountability.
  4. Follow-up visits to know how best TAs have implemented their action plans to enhance Accountability and Transparency in their respective communities.
  5. Training of Trainers to enhance capacity of selected NGOs, CBOs and DFFs to dialogue/engage key stakeholders to ensure good governance in the forest sector.
  6. Contributing to the development of the training kit
  7. Facilitating the model on “how to work with traditional authorities” of the training kit’

ACTIVITIES THAT HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED

  1. There have been reconnaissance Visits to Brong-Ahafo, Western and Eastern regions.
  2. A sensitization workshop on modern concept of accountability has been conducted for TA in 3 districts of Brong-Ahafo region namely; Sunyani, Techiman and Goaso.

WHAT COMMUNITIES SAY HAVE CHANGED / IS CHANGING
There has not been any follow-up yet to the TAs or communities to assess change(s) due to the sensitization workshop.

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PREVENT

(TRADITIONAL AUTHORITIES AND POSITIVE PEOPLE PREVENTING HIV/AIDS)
Traditional Authorities and positive People Preventing HIV/AIDS- PREVENT is the title of the Project. PREVENT is being implemented by three partners CIKOD, CARE and NAP+. The project covers 36 communities in 6 districts in 3 regions; Brong Ahafo, Ashanti Region, and Western Region. It is aimed at developing an environment with reduced stigma where communities in partnership with key stake holders will engage in activities on the continuum of prevention, care and support.
CIKOD’s role is to build capacities of traditional leaders to play leadership roles

ACTIVITIES IMPLEMENTED
CIRM- CIKOD trained 180 community volunteers to conduct a community institutional and Resource Mapping exercise in all 36 communities. Each community had representatives of 5 members. The volunteers were trained in mapping of community resources, institutions, perception of people about AIDS and plan of action towards eradicating HIV/AIDS.

THE OUT PUTS SO FAR

STORIES OF CHANGE
Nana Bema, the Nanahemaa of Hansua community in Techiman,   explains that “ the training has given me a lot of insights into HIV and now I can also call my people and openly discuss issues on HIV”
Pastors and church leaders now hold talks around HIV/AIDS every teaching day in some communities as compared to the fact that Doctors used to visit the church to do that.
Nananom are now engaged in discussions around HIV and openly discuss sex as this was not the case.
A great number of the Youth are involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS. According to a youth in the Peace fun club in Ahwiankwanta “ I did not know that we in football clubs have something to do with discussions around HIV , now we have some education and we also talk to our fellow friends”

IMPACT
-      Increased use of condoms in communities