...An overview of the general mid-term progress status of the project shows the completion rates below: 61% for all activities related to the fight against illegal logging , 67 % for activities under the technical and financial incentives for sustainable forest management  component, 78 % for efforts related to governance conditions for equal participation of all stakeholders ... 56% for the establishment and operationalization of a monitoring and evaluation system and 89% for project management ...

 
Please download the final communiqué of the meeting below

RA-WRI-Communiqué-final-CPR-projet WRI-PNUE-GEF.pdf (241.9 Ko)

Pointe Noire (Congo) - The Regional Steering Committee of the " Harmonized Regional Approach to Sustainable Management of Congo Basin Production Forests " Project has held its 2nd meeting. Attendees included representatives of National Coordinating Bodies of the Republic of Cameroon and the Central African Republic, National Focal Points of pilot projects from the Republic of Congo, the Republic of Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was also attended by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) , the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC ), represented by the National Coordinator of Congo, the Organization for Development and Environment ( ODE) Amigos de la Naturaleza y del Desarrollo de Guinea Equatorial (ANDEGE ), the National Convention of Associations and Development and Environment NGOs of Congo ( CONADEC ), the implementing agency of the World Resources Institutes (WRI) project and its partner Rainforest Alliance (RA), as well as members of the national steering committee of the pilot project in the Congo: the firm DMI- Consultants and the August 12, 1965 Mixed Technical College (CETM).

 
Following the opening ceremony, the introduction of participants and amendments made to the agenda, the meeting proceeded with a presentation of the overall level of project implementation as documented by the monitoring and evaluation system, initial comments on the mid -term project review, activities conducted in 2013 under the project in pilot countries (Central African Republic, Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea) and at regional level, as well as the annual work plans 2014. To evaluate the project’s evolution since the first steering committee meeting, the participants listened to presentations on the overall level of project implementation from a monitoring and evaluation perspective. It was noted that:

 
♦ for all activities related to the fight against illegal logging , the implementation rate was at 61 %,
♦ for activities under the technical and financial incentives for sustainable forest management component, a 67% completion rate,
♦ for efforts related to governance conditions for equal participation of all stakeholders, a 78% completion rate,
♦ for the establishment and operationalization of a monitoring and evaluation system, a 56 % completion rate,
♦ And overall, project management had attained a completion rate of 89 %.

 
Following the project overview, the beneficiary countries also presented the implementation status of projects in their respective countries, revealing significant progress despite some challenges, namely:

 
♦ insecurity which impedes implementation of activities in the southwest region and lack of material following the looting of ODE premises in Bangui.
♦ delays in the contract award process for the construction of the fence and connection of the August 12, 1965 CETM carpentry workshop to the power grid in Congo.
♦ slowness of stakeholders to meet project demands and bureaucratic red tape delaying the disbursement of funds for studies to be conducted by consultants.

 
These difficulties were at the centre of the participants’ discussions and prompted them to make strong recommendations for improved project implementation strategies.

 
However, it should be underscored here that the meeting was marked by the holding on the previous day, of a project deliverables validation workshop on 10 and 11 March 2014 , and a visit to the August 12, 1965 Mixed Technical College (CETM) by the participants to gauge progress in rehabilitation works on the building housing the carpentry section.

 
It was on a general note of satisfaction that the participants parted promising to meet again in Equatorial Guinea in February 2015 for the 3rd Project Steering Committee meeting, in the hope that significant progress will have been achieved in the meantime.

 
Please download below the final communiqué of the meeting