AFoCO has been actively undertaking and promoting action-oriented forest cooperation programs and projects in Asia. Every year, the organization receives proposals targeted at resolving forestry issues in alignment with national policies and strategies. Although project documents are key tools for justifying investments in projects, the lack of well-formulated and technically sound project proposals remains one of the major limiting factors in resource mobilization.
The five-day training on Project Development and Project Proposal Writing aimed to foster a greater understanding of project formulation processes and enhance the project development capacities of member countries. In the opening ceremony, Executive Director Mr. Ricardo L. Calderon welcomed 38 government officials from 10 member countries to the first online regular training organized by AFoCO, and highlighted the need for member countries to “develop skills in project formulation in order to build their capacities in resource mobilization”.
This course consisted of presentations, exercises, Q&A sessions, and discussions. Representatives from the Secretariat provided information on AFoCO’s strategic priorities and project formulation processes. Experts from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) shared knowledge on the formulation of co-financed projects and resource mobilization in the context of GCF’s readiness programs. Also, the Global Evergreening Alliance (GEA) explained project development for international funding mechanisms. Participants were also given the opportunity to draft concept notes using the skills they have learned during the training and share their ideas with other participants.
Through the practices and discussions, participants from AFoCO member countries were able to upgrade their skills in designing aid-worthy project proposals and formulating projects to diversify and increase access to funding sources. Also, potential country-specific and regional projects to be implemented by AFoCO including potential readiness programs for funding by the GCF were also identified.
In his closing remarks, Vice Executive Director Mr. Jin Sunpil emphasized that AFoCO will “continue to support capacity development and action-oriented training programs to benefit diverse stakeholders,” and re-affirmed the RETC’s commitment to empowering member countries to deal with pressing forestry and environmental issues while accommodating their training needs.”
In response to the persisting COVID-19 pandemic, regular training courses planned in 2021 are slated to be held virtually. Click HERE to view the list of training courses in 2021.
Contributed by Hyunjeong Kim, RETC Internship Student
