From November 21 to 22 a technical workshop was held in Douala (Cameroon), to validate the methodological tools and structure of the revised COMIFAC Convergence Plan. The meeting was organized by the Executive Secretariat of COMIFAC, with financial support from GIZ, which is COMIFAC’s Support Office, the ADB through its regional programme, PACEBCO, the World Bank (MSP project) and IUCN. It brought together representatives of the COMIFAC Executive Secretariat, national experts, NGOs, national institutions, COMIFAC national coordinating bodies, technical and financial partners of COMIFAC and CBFP members.

 
The organizers hosted the important workshop with the following objectives in mind:

, • to identify priority and emerging themes in the forestry and environmental sector in the subregion;
• to review and validate the assessment report on the current and potential relevance of the Convergence Plan;
• to review the structure of the future Convergence Plan.

 
Over two days of intense and in-depth deliberations, participants formulated and adopted strong recommendations aiming to strengthen the Convergence Plan review process in the following ways:

 
1. 1. As a strategy and technical document, hence:

• Strict adherence to the prescribed approach and methodological tools for the review of the PC ;
• The strategic axes must be designed ​​to solve problems or meet needs;
• Planning (from Global to detailed) vs. Operationalization ( Detailed to global) ;
• The PC belongs to the member countries , which will inform it and propose, expantiate upon and modify the Expert Group’s proposals of Experts;
• ...

1 . 2. A document for enlisting national, regional and international support:
• Concise, clear, brief (" 270 words of Pdt Lincoln "), easy to understand;
• Translated into COMIFAC’s official languages ​​;
• Brief overview;

1. 3. Implementation of the Convergence Plan will be done essentially at national level so :
•
• Precision is required in identifying key stakeholders in national ownership of the PC and integration of their aspirations;
• Capitalize on the National Consultation Workshop as a powerful tool for entrenching COMIFAC at national level ;
• Avoid the Top Down approach;
• Team spirit and facilitator approach / mobilize facilitators of the process (CNC, National Experts and National Consultant) ;
 
 
Available below for download is a summary of the Douala deliberations:
Synthese Generale de l'atelier tech de Validation PC.pdf (143.8 Ko)