International Youth Internships in Community Forestry

SFF's international youth internships provide young university graduates an experience of a lifetime working with NGOs and communities on community forestry related projects in countries such Nigeria, Indonesia, Ecuador and Panama. It is an opportunity for Canadian youth to learn and apply practical skills in their field, and to share experience with rural communities in other parts of the world. Inevitably they are inspired and humbled by working side-by-side with NGO workers and community members who face their severe economic and environmental problems with dedication, perseverance, resourcefulness, and even joyfulness.

The program is also a great way for SFF to build and maintain our connections to community forestry organizations in other nations and our awareness of community forestry issues around the world.

Currently (2002/2003 program), there are ten interns abroad: five in Nigeria, three in Ecuador and two in Panama. Projects they are involved in include: ethnobotany, ecotourism planning, mapping for land rights, analog forestry, medicinal plant cultivation, participatory forest inventory, and participatory mapping and land use planning.

Of the five interns in the 2001/2002 program, three were very disappointed to be required by the Department of Foreign Affairs to return home from Indonesia for security reasons following the events of September 11, 2001. In their two months in Indonesia, they had just a glimpse of the interesting work being done there. One of them will return to work in West Kalimantan in February, sponsored by CUSO.

The other two interns in the 2001/2002 program, Kelly Rodenkirchen and Sheri Lim, spent six months in Nigeria. Kelly worked with the Nigerian Conservation Foundation at the Becheve Nature Reserve on the Obudu Plateau. She coordinated the work of the park wardens, conducted training workshops on mapping skills, and mapped forest cover and hydrology of the Reserve. Sheri assisted the NGO Coalition for the Environment in a process of restructuring and organizational development, including a 5 year strategic plan, and work plans for two new community forest projects.

International Partnerships

SFF has maintained a partnership with the Indonesian Tropical Institute (LATIN) since 1996. LATIN is the primary NGO acting as a community forestry resource and training centre in Indonesia, and is also involved in community forestry projects, mainly in Java. We have been assisting LATIN to adapt a methodology for ecosystem-based mapping and to apply it in their community forestry projects in Java. With a number of Indonesian NGOs we have also organized exchanges and workshops to share knowledge and experience about community forests, ecosystem-based planning, and indigenous land rights issues in Canada and Indonesia.

Working with NGOs in Cross River State, Nigeria

Silva Forest Foundation is part of the Environmental Capacity Building Project in Cross River State, Nigeria. The project is funded by CIDA and coordinated by One Sky - The Canadian Institute for Sustainable Living and it includes 5 Canadian ENGOs and 5 ENGOs in Cross River State. In Cross River State, 70% of the population lives in forested areas and depends on land use systems which combine farming and forest use. There have been some initiatives towards community control of local forest resources, but there is a need for skills and capacity building at the village and NGO levels. We will be working with one primary Nigerian NGO partner to organize a series of village-based workshops on participatory community mapping and land use planning.

For more information on the International Program, contact Alix Flavelle via email: marlix@netidea.com.