ADVOCACY AND POLICY INFLUENCE. In an effort to enhance visibility of the OVC issues and leverage necessary support with different actors, WSN supported/participated in activities and forums to raise awareness highlighting various OVC problems/challenges.
ADVOCACY AND POLICY INFLUENCE. Activity 3.1:
ADVOCACY AND POLICY INFLUENCE. The other important aspect of a successful association is their advocacy work on behalf of its members to advocate for the issues important for rural communities that depend on forest and natural resources. Three of the main advocacy focus areas are to lobby for an enabling environment for small forest producers, to lobby for access to natural resources through tenure, and to lobby for collaborative forest and watershed management. DFE and its partners develop trainings to educate the target groups on their rights and they work on building relationships with relevant government authorities through meetings. In addition, advocacy campaigns are used to raise awareness about NR issues through e.g. radio, brochures, rallies, and TV.
ADVOCACY AND POLICY INFLUENCE. The partners will work closely with the associations on building their awareness and knowledge about the laws on NRM, including land rights so that they can represent the interests of the target groups in relation to government and the private sector. The main areas of advocacy work for our partners in relation to NRM is to influence the policy framework for establishing and operating farmer associations and networks and to improve access to natural resources for rural communities, including land rights. The methods partners use are building strong relationships with government, private sector, and other civil society actors through meetings; gathering evidence for advocacy interventions by collecting data from target communities; developing training packages on the relevant laws and policies and equipping associations to engage in advocacy work; using radio, theater, conferences and workshops to raise awareness about relevant laws and policies on NRM. Business Opportunities: The other aspect of a functioning association is that it leads to income generation for the target groups and members. How the target groups can gain income is based on the local circumstances but the main method so far have been to generate income through growing trees and non- timber forest products. The associations learn how to establish and manage nurseries for income and how to link to business partners so that they can sell their products. DFE and partners focus on helping associations get access to markets, cut out middlemen, and develop marketing and business plans and strategies that they can implement.
