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To be country-owned and country-led, NFPs need
sufficient capacity and authority
Countries have identified national sovereignty and
country leadership as key principles of NFPs. Overall,
this principle is being put into practice: most countries
assert that they own and lead their NFPs. This princi-
ple has also been strongly emphasized in the support
through the NFP Facility. Its allocation of grants is
based on a competitive and transparent process, led
by the national multi-stakeholder steering committees.
However, while donors and development partners can
play important roles in supporting an NFP process, there
is a risk that they will undermine its original intent. For
example, institutional arrangements put in place to
implement donor support to NFPs sometimes take a
project approach, with the consequence that the NFP
is considered a project rather than a long-term process.
Although countries have shown initiative in estab-
lishing NFPs, the agencies that head them can struggle
with issues of leadership. NFPs are often led by forest
administrations that lack the power and capacity to
coordinate, communicate, negotiate, mediate and
manage change across sectors. Other important initia-
tives, such as on climate change, governance and tenure
reform, may be housed elsewhere, including in other
ministries. For an NFP to give strategic direction, its
steering body must have the authority, capacity and
determination to lead on forest-related issues at the
national level. Leadership continuity depends on the
globally represents an opportunity to build a commonly agreed
approach. This can strengthen national forest governance frame-
works and accelerate the transition towards SFM. However, few NFP
processes have been able to coordinate all major forest-related initia-
tives in the country through their NFPs. Partly as a consequence,
countries often have parallel structures and processes for different
initiatives and lack effective coordination.
What are NFPs?
NFPs are a framework for developing and implementing compre-
hensive forest policies in pursuit of sustainable forest management
at the country level. The framework is built on specific principles
that can be clustered in three groups: national sovereignty and
country leadership, consistency within and integration beyond the
forest sector, and participation and partnership.
While many NFP processes have led to effective policies, more
emphasis is needed on implementation and monitoring
NFPs have been conceived as long-term iterative processes. This
includes the development of policies, strategies and action plans,
their implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and subsequent
adjustment to new and emerging needs and realities. In many coun-
tries, NFP processes have been instrumental in providing platforms
for related communication, consultation, coordination and collabo-
ration. A key obstacle to successful implementation of many NFPs is
a lack of national budgets for policy implementation, which results
in limited impact and tangible benefits in the field. NFP processes
also need to be forward-looking, incorporating feedback and adapt-
ing over time.
National forest programmes put emphasis on increased involvement of both men and women in decision-making
Image: FAO