STEP 3-Management Constitution & Election

Step 3. Community Forest Management Group Formation (CFMG) – election of office bearers and recognition of group by the Director of Forestry

Purpose: Transparent and democratically selecting a merit-based Community Forest Management Group (CFMG) and attaining recognition of that group by the Director of Forestry

Overview of the step

This step involves a process of developing a constitution for a CFMG, identifying roles and responsibilities, then conducting a transparent and democratic process for the election of office bearers in the CFMG. Then follows the application for recognition of the CFMG which is one of the two key applications that a community make in the Community Forest process, the other being the application for the Community Forest Agreement (See step 5)

Summary Process

a) Forest user groups and all affected stakeholders in the target community confirmed.

b) Organise a general assembly of the village ensuring invitations for all identified groups to develop a constitution for the CFMG, which includes roles and responsibilities of office bearers.

c) In general assembly hold an election for office bearers.

d) Put together the requirements for the application for CFMG recognition including consent of the Chief and submit to the DFO.

e) The PFO reviews the application before submitting to the Director- if more information is required the application is referred back to the community to revise and resubmit.

f) Internal review and processing of the application by the Forestry Department Headquarters

ActivityDescription
a)Forest user groups and all affected stakeholders in the target community confirmed.Conduct a forest user and enterprise group analysis (See Annex 9) for guidance in the community to ensure all affected and appropriately skilled user groups are identified to build the CFMG on existing users and skills. Note that this should include highly forest dependent stakeholders and currently illegal/informal users and enterprises within the community who wish to formalize under CF
b)Organise a general assembly of the village ensuring invitations for all identified groups to develop a constitution for the CFMG, which includes roles and responsibilities of office bearersOrganise a community general assembly with broad representation of forest users (based on user analysis exercises), especially most forest dependent sections of the community and women who often rely heavily on forest products such as collecting firewood and mushrooms. Take care to ensure good representation of all geographical sections of the community. Use the guidance constitution (See Annex 10), as a basis for discussion and develop this to suit the specifics and needs of the community. Additions may be required, for example if the community is made up of several villages, a requirement that office bearers should come from different villages can be added. Develop the roles and responsibilities for different office bearers to fit the specifics of that community and the forest. Explain the roles, responsibilities and application process for the Honorary Forest Officer (HFO) (See Annex 11.).
c)In a general assembly hold an election for office bearersReview guidance/process for conducting CFMG office bearer elections (See Annex 12) and if required revise until there is agreement on the process to follow. Let community members nominate candidates for each executive committee position, either self-nomination or peer nomination. This can be done verbally – with a justification given by the nominator of why that person fits the role. Ask for other people to ‘second’ the candidate’s nomination and for the candidates willing acceptance of the nomination. For committee members ask the user groups to nominate their heads/representative, if there is more than one candidate per user group a secret ballot can be held within the concerned user group to determine the representative. Honorary forest officer can be elected by the executive committee and can have a dual role of head of protection/development. Have secret ballot voting system for when there is more than one candidate (e.g. baskets/boxes for each candidate in a separate room, and people are given a piece of coloured paper (or some other material not readily available in the village) which they drop in the basket they prefer) so that most suitable people for positions are selected freely and fairly. Inform community of the results of the election and provide opportunity for appeal. Ideally place the results of the election on a flip chart or circulate on an A4 paper so that all community members who did not attend the general assembly are involved. If there are any appeals made against the result of the election process that are valid, consider holding a second election
d)Compile all documents for the CFMG recognition application and submit to the DFO for review, the Chief for signed consent, then back to the DFO for onward submissionAll documents for the application (See Form I of the Statutory Instrument in Annex 1 and text box that follows) for recognition of the CFMG are compiled by the CFMG with the assistance of the DFO. The DFO checks all documents are in order and complete, if not they are returned to the CFMG for completion. The CFMG recognition application is then passed to the Chief for review, and if all is in order the Chief gives written consent in Form 1 of the Statutory Instrument. The DFO submits to the Provincial Forest Office (PFO).
e)The PFO reviews the application before submitting to the Director- if more information is required the application is referred back to the community to revise and resubmitThe PFO conducts a verification process and fills the required checks and remarks in Form 1. These include:
a) The applicant has consulted all local users and other rights-holders of the proposed forest area and has received consent of the local traditional leaders to agree a defined area of responsibility with due consultation with adjacent communities and land owners, with signatures on the submitted sketch map signifying consent to the proposed area.
b) The applicants are:
• members of a village in or near a forest;
• managing a forest or part of a forest; or
• desirous of managing a forest or part of a forest, and
• citizens residing in the community area for a minimum of 2 years.c) The intention of the group conforms with the principles set out in section twenty nine of the Forests Act, 2015.
d) The Sketch map of the proposed location and area to be established as a community forest is suitable to be a community forest area and has sanction of neighbouring communities/ users/ owners (as appropriate) and is attached to this application form.
e) The intention of the applicant for the area achieves a balance between forest protection and management, development, utilization and forest enterprise development.
f) External stakeholders and issues for attention (eg GMA etc) and consultation are identified and action identified.
f)Internal review and processing of the application by the Forestry Department
Headquarters
Form I is then submitted to the Director of Forestry who must within 21 days of receipt in writing on the provided section in Form 1, either recognise the CFMG or reject the application. If the application is rejected, form III of the Statutory Instrument (See Annex 1) should be filled by the Director of Forestry stipulating reasons for failure and delivered back to the CFMG with their application. If there is the need for any missing information this is then sent as a request (See form II in the CF Regulations in Annex 1) back to the CFMG who must revise the application accordingly and resubmit. In accordance with the stipulations in the Regulations, if the Director fails to respond within 21 days from the time it was lodged, the application will be considered approved and the group recognised

Tip Box

  • Minimize overlap between CFMG constitution and Forest Management bylaws. The constitution should focus mainly on organisational matters associated with the CFMG, rules and internal regulations on forest management will be developed in forest management by-laws in Step 4.
  • CFMG office bearers must be representative of all forest users. It is essential to inform and engage all forest users in the process of CFMG elections. This includes any user groups conducting currently illegal/informal activities in the community forest. Bringing these groups into the CFMG not only ensures their skills and knowledge of the forest, forest use and enterprises are harnessed but also helps convert groups engaged in uncontrolled use into legal and sustainable use.
  • Adapt the process to fit the community. It is important to adapt the constitution and election process to fit the specifics of the community. Not all communities are homogenous and therefore sometimes require deliberate representation of different sections of the community. For example, representatives of different clans or geographical sections of the community.
  • Careful quality check of application by the DFO. It is best that the CFMG application requirements are checked carefully by the DFO so that any deficiencies can be rectified locally.

Checklist of CFMG recognition application requirements – See form I the Statutory Instrument in Annex 1

  • Sketch map of the proposed community forest area
  • Constitution of the CFMG
  • Completed application form for the Honorary Forest Officer(s) – See Text box that follows for terms of reference and roles and Annex 11 and 14
  • Filled application form (Form I of the Statutory Instrument (See Annex 1)) for recognition of the CFMG
  • Included in Form I is the need to have a statement of intent indicating a willingness to engage in sustainable forest management practices

Roles for an Honorary Forest Officer – key points

A person appointed as an Honorary Forestry Officer through notice in the Government Gazette shall discharge the functions and perform the duties of Forestry Officer subject to the provisions of the Forests Act No. 4 of 2015, Cap 199 of the Laws of Zambia and to the terms contained herein:

  • An Honorary Forestry Officer shall discharge the functions and exercise the powers of a Forestry Officer within the boundaries of the district in which they are appointed, for a period of three years from the date of publication of this order subject to renewal;
  • An Honorary Forestry Officer shall carry out all duties on a voluntary basis at his/her convenient time and shall report to the District Forestry Officer as appropriate;
  • Honorary Forestry Officers shall attend regular meetings for planning, strategizing and reviewing operations in their area of jurisdiction facilitated by Forestry Department Officers;
  • Honorary Forestry Officers shall, when requested, provide specialist services, material support or any other duties towards sustainable forest management from time to time;
  • Honorary Forestry Officers shall at all times carry the official Forestry Department identity card during operations.
  • Assist the CFMG IN enforcing the provisions of the national law and local rules
  • Working with CFMG members protect and restrict access to the community forest area by persons not part of the CFMG;
  • Working with CFMG members assist to control restricted activities within the demarcated
  • Issue harvesting permits in the CF;
  • To fill in and report forest offences to the DFO;
  • Arrest and take offenders to court;
  • Complete the seizure note where necessary and keep safely the items confiscated to be produce later in court.

Checklist of outputs

  • Full internal stakeholder analysis conducted within the community.
  • Awareness raised on the election of the CFMG among all sections of the community.
  • General assembly called in the community.
  • CFMG constitution reviewed/revised and tailored to the community requirements.
  • Suitable candidates nominated.
  • Secret ballot held.
  • Nominated and elected representative agreed.
  • Filled and submitted forms for CFMG recognition and Honorary Forest Officer.
  • Consent given by Chief for the CFMG recognition,
  • Recognition of CFMG and Honorary Forest Officer

Relevant Annexes:

Annex 1. Statutory Instrument. Forms I,II and III
Annex 9. Forest user group analysis guidance.
Annex 10. Generic guidance constitution for the CFMG.
Annex 11. Guidance and application for the Honorary Forest Officer
Annex 12. Guidance on conducting the CFMG election.
Annex 13. Example of CFMG constitution and committee.
Annex 14. Example of a filled Honorary Forest Officer application.