Community forestry for rural development in Nepal : a manual for training field workers : Part 4 : reference material

Community forestry aims to recognise the dependence of rural communities on forests by giving local people who use the forests the responsibility to manage them. By doing this a sustainable supply of forest products for rural communities can be achieved. However, community forestry is not simple to implement. Field workers must be able to fulfill the roles of facilitator and adviser and must undergo a fundamental shift in attitude and a learn a completely new set of skills. This manual and training program seeks to address the first part of the challenge, training field workers. In using a workshop approach which encourages participants to learn through discussion, reflection and group field exercsises, the hope is that other initiatives will flow from the field workers' changed behaviour and attitude. The purpose of this manual is to provide a structured learning program through which forestry field workers can come to appreciate the new imperatives of community forestry and help to make it a reality.