BRUNEI and other ASEAN states will benefit from a new funding mechanism for projects that address food security, poverty and climate change.
The ASEAN Social Forestry Network (ASFN) Flexible Funding Mechanism will be launched at the Eighth ASFN Annual Meeting on May 27 to 28 at the Sabah Forestry Department Office in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
Philippines-based Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) has been tasked by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation to manage the ASFN funds.
As a new supporting partner of the Asean Social Forestry Network, the Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture will implement the ASFN Flexible Funding Mechanism.
The Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture signed an agreement with Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and joined in implementing the programmes of the ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) Phase II.
Funded by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, ASFCC aims to integrate social forestry into climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies of ASEAN and its member states. It promotes the inclusion of communities, women, and vulnerable groups in social forestry and climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.
The flexible funding under the Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture will support in-country initiatives that enable AMS focal points to quickly respond to emerging issues and challenges, increasing their ability to articulate policy recommendations and directions.
Also called ASFN Strategic Response Fund (ASFN-SRF), it will finance projects relevant to the ASFCC and ASFN objectives as well as priority themes and address gaps or issues related to food security, poverty and climate change.
These projects may be quick “turnaround” studies, exploratory reviews, meta-analysis/analytical studies and “think” pieces, study tours, dialogues/roundtable discussions, position or background papers as input to policy debates and decision-making, and strategic training scholarships.
The other implementing partners of the ASFCC Phase II are the Center for International Forestry Research, Non-Timber Forest Product-Exchange Program South and Southeast Asia, Center for People and Forests, and World Agroforestry Centre. - Rabiatul Kamit
Source: The Brunei Times
20 May 2014
