Federation of community forestry users of Nepal - FECOFUN

Description

Established in 1995, FECOFUN is an autonomous, non-profit national federation of forest users which advocates for the rights of community forestry user groups. FECOFUN’s membership stands at about 8 million people from almost all of Nepal’s 75 districts, making it the most important civil society association in Nepal.

Major activities of FECOFUN include support to forestry user groups in the preparation and revision of constitution and operation plans, NTFP development and income generation, empowerment of women and disadvantaged groups, and advocacy on community forestry related issues.

Some outcomes of volunteers’ work:

The Uniterra Program provides organizational capacity building support to FECOFUN as well as technical support in areas of FSC certification, NTFP enterprise development and marketing. In 2010-2011 the strategy of FSC certification for forestry cooperatives is continuing as 10 new cooperatives joined the 20 existing ones. Women now account for 50% of the membership in Forest Users Groups, a remarkable milestone in terms of gender equality.