April 29, 2022 — The Annual Technical Workshop 2022 was successfully held in Seoul, Republic of Korea. With more than 60 participants from AFoCO’s Member Parties, the workshop marked the beginning of the 15th World Forestry Congress, as all the participants gathered at Oakwood Coex Center on the morning of the Workshop.

The participants were glad to be able to gather in person after such a prolonged period of remote meetings and discussions. The ATW commenced with congratulatory remarks from AFoCO’s Executive Director, Mr. Ricardo L. Calderon, where he also expressed sincere delightedness to hold an event in person and hoped that the face-to-face event will be the first of many to come in the post-pandemic era. His remarks were followed by an introduction to the workshop and the workshop participants by the National Focal Points of each country.
The first main session addressed project implementation and management concerns, where each project manager presented the project profiles, progress and outcomes for 2021, success factors of projects, challenges and lessons learned, and way forward, especially in terms of project sustainability. This was followed by an active discussion where project managers could raise relevant concerns. They mainly expressed improvements in the COVID-19 situation, which was the biggest obstacle impeding project implementation in 2021, future prospects of the projects seemed to be much brighter. Despite the many challenges posed by the pandemic, most of the projects were able to reach their respective physical targets and many were able to successfully and effectively implement project activities by taking COVID-19 adaptive measures and methods.

AFoCO Executive Director

AFoCO Vice Executive Director

National Focal Point of Indonesia

National Focal Point of Mongolia

National Focal Point of the Philippines

National Focal Point of Viet Nam

National Focal Point of Thailand

National Focal Point of Lao PDR

Project Manager of AFoCO/028/2022

Regional Project Manager of AFoCO/004/2014

Regional Project Manager of AFoCO/011/2016

Project Staff of AFoCO/005/2014

Project Staff of AFoCO/006/2014

Project Manager of AFoCO/008/2014

Project Staff of AFoCO/012/2019

Project Manager of AFoCO/023/2021

Project Staff of AFoCO/023/2021

Project Manager of AFoCO/024/2021

AFoCO Capacity Development Division Director

AFoCO Cooperation and Project Division Director

Local Project Coordinator of Lao PDR

AFoCO Planning and Budget Division OIC-Director

Forestry Department Official, Lao PDR

Project Manager for AFoCO/027/2022

Senior Researcher, Indonesia

National Focal Point of Kazakhstan
The presentations from project managers were followed by a panel-led discussion with relevant experts and professors from the field, where comments and feedback on the project implementation and progress were addressed. The panels focused on the project


Seoul National University

Director of Korea Forest Service

Former NIFoS Director current AFoCO Regional Project Manager

Kongju National University


Regional Project Manager of AFoCO/010/2016

National Focal Point of Timor-Leste

National Focal Point of Cambodia

Contributed by Cha Jiyea, Assistant Program Officer