A shared vision: Evaluation of the collaborative community forestry initiative for northern Ghana

SUMMARY: The goals of CCFI were to instill community forestry in selected locations, establish tree nurseries, train community members in nursery and project management, and promote communities' self-reliance. It was envisioned that people trained for these projects will be capable of managing or initiating other projects in their community without perpetual assistance. This project involved the collaboration of the US Peace Corps, the USDA Forest Service and USAID and local partners. Accomplishments in the first three years included establishment of eleven community nurseries and production of almost 700,000 seeds in 1990. The enthusiasm of participating groups, communities and associated individuals and ongoing workshops are credited for this performance and may be a result of assessments of communities that were made to find those that were interested in hosting project activities. In addition, collaboration was boosted by joint training of partners, regular meetings, clear roles, and good project monitoring. The project established as solid basis for addressing management problems and increasing its impact and effectiveness. Training was viewed as the most pressing issue.