September 23, 2022
Civil society organisations in Jamaica are calling on government agencies to involve them in the budgeting process for the forest sector, given the important contribution that CSOs are making to forest management and their on-the-ground understanding on what are the priority needs.
This call was made at a meeting of the CSO Coalition for Forests held in Kingston on September 16th, 2022, as a part of the project ‘Participatory budgeting and financial management for the forest sector in Jamaica’ which is being funded by the European Union (FED/2021/428-620). Under the project, 25 CSOs in the Coalition are working together to enhance their capacity to engage in strategic budget formulation, budget analysis and debate, budget execution and reporting, and evaluation for accountability in the forest sector.
André Fache, Programme Officer at the Delegation of the European Union to Jamaica, Belize, The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and The Cayman Islands, told the CSOs gathered that, “You, as civil society, can be the voice and the eyes of the people of the country” to input into planning budgets, to assess implementation of budgets from the previous year, and for transparency in evaluating how well budgets are addressing priority forest issues.
The meeting included a panel discussion on existing budgetary processes for the forest sector with presentations from Mr. Conrad Russell, Principal Director of Corporate Services in the Forestry Department and Mr. Andre Edwards, Acting Coordinator of the Protected Areas Branch in the National Environment and Planning Agency. Both the Forestry Department and NEPA emphasised their continued commitment to strengthening partnerships with CSOs. Lively discussions explored how these agencies and CSOs had a common interest in increasing the budget allocation for forests, especially to address key problems of deforestation and sustainable community livelihoods.
Building on this initial awareness raising, the meeting launched a technical study which will be conducted under the project to identify potential opportunities for development of mechanisms to engage civil society and citizens at various stages of budgeting for the forest sector. The Coalition will also work with stakeholders at three key forested areas in Jamaica – the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, the Portland Bight Protected Area and Cockpit Country – to explore what are the opportunities, mechanisms, capacities needed, and strategies to enable forest stakeholders to have a voice in the budget cycle.
A major output of the meeting was the development of a capacity building strategy to enhance the Coalition’s knowledge of the national forest management priorities, skills in budget analysis and skills in conducting advocacy. Ultimately, the CSOs want to have a seat at the table in decision making for forest governance and management.
The project is being co-implemented by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), the Caribbean Coastal Area Management (C‐CAM) Foundation, and the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT).