Evaluation of the work of the Forest Governance Learning Group 2009-13

An informal alliance of in-country teams and international partners across Africa and Asia, the Forest Governance Learning Group (FGLG) aims to improve forest governance through a range of approaches and methodologies. A first phase began in 2003 and a second phase, entitled ‘Social Justice in Forestry’ began in 2009 and closed at the end of 2013. This report gives the findings of an independent evaluation of the work of the initiative from 2009-13 with some additional assessment of its overall impact since 2005. It assesses the approach, performance and impact of the initiative, drawing out lessons from the experience over the years.

IIED will use this comprehensive evaluation to guide future work on forest governance and beyond, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses identified. New projects will benefit from mitigating the identified constraining factors and putting more emphasis on the approaches that contributed to the effectiveness of the initiative, such as the autonomy of country teams and the informality of approach, enabling future forest governance work to have an even greater impact.