Forest and Farm Facility Phase II

The goal of Phase II of the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) is to strengthen the organisations of forest and farm producers to deliver climate-resilient landscapes and improved livelihoods.

Project
March 2019 - ongoing
Contact: 
Duncan Macqueen
,

Director of forests, Natural Resources research group

Collection
Locally-controlled forestry
How IIED supports just transitions towards locally-controlled forestry that safeguard biocultural heritage, enhance entrepreneurship and improve prosperity within diverse and resilient landscapes
The Forest and Farm Facility is now working with Ecuador forest farm producers such as this bamboo production business

The Forest and Farm Facility is now working with Ecuador forest farm producers such as this bamboo production business (Photo: copyright Duncan Macqueen/IIED)

More than 1.5 billion smallholders around the world depend on forest landscapes for their food and livelihoods. Collectively the gross annual value of their smallholder production of food, fuel, timber and non-timber forest products is between US$0.8 and 1.5 trillion, making them the world’s largest private sector.

They have defining significance for the world’s poverty reduction, food security, forest management, biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration and climate change adaptation. But enabling them to make a positive contribution requires investments in organisation and inclusive capacity development such that women and men, young and old can play their part.

The Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) is a partnership hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that strengthens forest and farm producer organisations (FFPOs) to secure their rights, organise their businesses, sustainably manage their forests, and provide social and cultural services to the poor and marginalised. 

FFF Phase I (2012-18) exceeded all expectations as FFPOs themselves leveraged more than $100 million in additional finance, pressed through 51 policy changes (including long-stalled handovers of forest land rights), and attracted 158 new financial investments in the 262 business which diversified or added value through FFF support.

Phase II (2018-23) will build on this success by scaling-up activities in nine core partner countries: Bolivia, Ecuador (Latin America), Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Zambia and Togo (Africa) and Nepal and Vietnam (Asia).

FFF's annual report from 2021 shows how the programme is continually improving, learning from its experiences, and adapting in the face of rapid change.

Additional network countries for which FFF is actively seeking funding include Guatemala and Nicaragua (Latin America), Gambia and Liberia (Africa) and Indonesia and Myanmar (Asia).

Co-managed by FAO (management and in-country operations), IUCN (regional and global work), IIED (knowledge generation, monitoring and learning), and Agricord (FFPO organisational support) and guided by a steering committee, FFF continues with its unique focus on FFPOs including women, youth and indigenous peoples as primary agents of change.

It seeks to position them as the main implementers of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Indeed, it will strengthen FFPO contributions to at least 11 of 17 SDGs by supporting them to pursue: 

  • Outcome 1: more enabling policy and legal frameworks for FFPOs (SDG16 and 17)
  • Outcome 2: increased entrepreneurship, access to markets and finance through gender equitable value chains and business incubation within FFPOs (SDG1, 5, 8 and 12)
  • Outcome 3: improved delivery of landscape scale mitigation, adaptation and climate resilience by FFPOs (SDG2, 13 and 15), and
  • Outcome 4: improved and equitable access to social and cultural services through FFPOs (SDG3 and 10).

What is IIED doing?

IIED will be supporting FFF Phase II through synthesis of monitoring and learning, and new demand-led knowledge generation surveys that will help us be more innovative in co-producing new knowledge in the service of real FFPO needs.

IIED has already begun to develop guidance in new areas such as women’s entrepreneurships, access to finance for FFPOs, managing food-forest trade-offs, and ensuring meaningful work for youth to address issues such as rural outmigration.

Publications

Additional resources

Project: Forest and Farm Facility Phase I

Video: From risk to resilience: incubating adaptive climate-proof businesses (day 5), series of training modules (January 2022)

Video: From risk to resilience: incubating adaptive climate-proof businesses (day 4), series of training modules (January 2022)

Video: From risk to resilience: incubating adaptive climate-proof businesses (day 3), series of training modules (January 2022)

Video: From risk to resilience: incubating adaptive climate-proof businesses (day 2), series of training modules (January 2022)

Video: From risk to resilience: incubating adaptive climate-proof businesses (day 1), series of training modules (January 2022)

Event recording: Stories from the frontline: nature-based solutions delivering for people, climate and nature, Resilience Hub, COP26 (December 2021)

Video presentation: Strengthening women’s voices in public and private governance (April 2021)

Forest and Farm Facility 2020 annual report (PDF)

Video: Organisational innovations that make community forestry prosperous, FTA Science Conference 2020

Forest Farm Facility – initiative for climate-resilient landscapes and improved livelihoods 2018-22, FAO (2018), Forest Farm Facility Phase II Brochure

News: Building stronger, climate-resilient farming and forest communities, July 2018

Forest business incubation: Towards sustainable forest and farm producer organisation (FFPO) businesses that ensure climate resilient landscapes, Duncan Macqueen, Anna Bolin (2018) Research report

Democratic forest business models: a harder but more rewarding path, Duncan Macqueen, Anna Bolin, Geraldine Warren (2015), IIED Briefing Paper

Stronger forest and farm producer groups can reduce poverty in the Gambia, Grazia Piras (2013), IIED Briefing Paper

Landscapes for public goods: multifunctional mosaics are fairer by far, Duncan Macqueen (2013), IIED Briefing Paper

Stronger forest and farm producers' groups can help deepen Myanmar democracy, Duncan Macqueen (2013), IIED Briefing Paper