Poverty Dimensions of Public Governance and Forest Management ...

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This element is likely to take place later in the year, ideally when some fairly firm indications can
be given of the likely follow-up envisaged by the NRSP. It will involve the two research leaders
(Ghana and UK), and a range of partners. A formal one-day workshop in Accra was originally
envisaged, to present to, and review findings with, key national makers (senior Ministry staff,
academics, parliamentarians, international partners active in the Brong Ahafo region and/or in
other aspects decentralised development, etc.). However, the research team now favours an
approach tailored more to the interests of particular constituencies, with a view to strengthening
the voice of each. This would help diminish the risk of suppressing certain opinions in the interest
of consensus, where diversity of opinions may be of greater value to the project design.
The following series of three separate workshops is now proposed (6/02):
! Workshop One: National government agencies including Ministry of Local Government,
Environmental Protection Agency, Ministry of Lands and Forests, Forestry Commission,
Ministry of Food and Agriculture, etc. and agencies which are central to coordinating the
GPRS.
! Workshop Two: Donor supported initiatives in decentralised management and natural
resource management and NGOs;
! Workshop Three: District Authorities including representatives from district administration,
Environmental Committees, decentralised departments, Assembly Members Area Councils
and Unit Committees, sand other local level environmental management including Fire
Volunteers and Chiefs.
c) Dissemination activities:
Three sets of dissemination activities will be undertaken:
" Those involving national and local radio, NGO fora, etc.
" Policy-oriented publications suitable for work in progress such as the ODI Natural Resource
Perspectives and ODI Working Paper series, and web-postings, on the ODI Forest Policy and
Environment Group Website, of the annexes to this report.
" Academic research seminar presentations and publications.
The first of these will need to be handled with particular care, given the ease with which
environmental messages can be ‘hijacked’ by particular interests, to convey messages which may
be quite at odds with those intended. But there are a number of innovative possibilities, all of
which may help to assert the ownership and authority of the small farmer community over their
own development processes.
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