Teddy's Energy outreach has started!

Teddy’s Energy outreach has started!:)

We have just arrived back from the second village under participatory forestry. Thanks to Vincent and Moshy’s excellent facilitation of discussion and translation of the research findings, the first two workshops went well (apart from a small hick-up with poster printing). It was clear that the participants of the workshop found the research findings interesting and that it provided them with new insights. By identifying action points together and asking the workshop participants to find ways to tackle them, potential solutions were found for the problems the villages face. Additionally, the process of identifying action points and discussion them together, seemed to bring people closer together, in particular in the first village we visited. In this village, the village leaders and charcoal producers had very different views and opinions on our research findings. It was clear that there were many issues that charcoal producers and the village leaders had not talked about with each other. By working together towards solutions using the research findings as input, the charcoal producers and village leaders finally agreed on a good way forward.

Through the workshops, we have received valuable feedback on the research findings. Our research showed that charcoal is not always produced in line with the forest harvesting plan that was developed by Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG) together with the villagers and the District of Kilosa. For example, charcoal was not always produced in the designated area for charcoal production and within this designated area, charcoal was not produced in the blocks that were meant to be harvested in the year charcoal was produced. After presenting these findings, charcoal producers in both villages indicated that, if they would have followed the guidelines exactly, they would actually have destroyed parts of the forest and that they would have ignored other important guidelines of the harvesting plan. In the first village, charcoal producers found steep hills and rivers in the designated area for charcoal producers. In these places, forest cutting should not take place and hence the producers decided to move to other regions in the designated area. In the second village, charcoal producers decided to change the location of charcoal production altogether because they found the soil to be too shallow to create kilns on (ovens in which charcoal is produced). It turned out charcoal producers had carefully considered the changes in harvesting plan; yet not communicated them to TFCG and the District. Therefore, we find that harvesting plan developed with TFCG has vital shortcomings. It is indeed the case that there are mismatch between the forest harvesting plan and reality. Yet this is not necessarily due to charcoal producers not following rules; rather it is the case that the combination of rules in the plan does not fit reality.

There is much more to tell, such as about the reasons behind the challenges charcoal producers face to obtain income, but I will save this for the next update!:) To conclude this one. It is already clear that an outreach project like this is mutually beneficial for both the communities in which the research took place and the researchers. Today, Vincent indicated that it is a pity that this feedback was not included in the PhD thesis. I could not agree more.