Step 2: Visit the Site and Hold a Proper Village Meeting

Action: Upon receipt of the letter, we send between one to four project staff (the area technical assistant plus a forester, trainer, and/or community development officer) to visit the village and hold a meeting with all residents. We typically go to the village a couple of days prior to the meeting to get to know the key players and for them to develop some sense of trust in us. Meetings are typically scheduled for Sundays after church or on village workdays when people are generally around. If not all people in the village can attend, then we reschedule another meeting for a time when everyone can be there.

In general, meetings last from two to four hours depending on the size of the village and the amount of translation required. We usually start by telling them that we received their first letter. We then inform them how our program runs and go through the steps of the process. We also tell them about the forestry act and what their rights are. There is typically a lot of discussion and questions - people are still very confused about the new land reform laws and tend to mix us up with the World Bank or other donor agencies. If the meeting goes well, then our forester will subsequently conduct a quick survey of the size and condition of the village's forest.

Rationale: The single largest difficulty we've encountered in doing these projects are social problems that occur when residents of a village are not united behind the enterprise. We've also had problems with communities having overly large expectations about what the project will do for them, especially in light of the promises made by commercial timber companies. Holding a meeting up front helps us to:

1. Determine whether all members of the community support the proposed enterprise.

2. Check for potential problems such as agreements with logging company agents, individuals operating privately owned chain saws, or land-disputes that have not yet been resolved.

3. Spell out what the community should expect from us in terms of training and support - and more importantly, what they should not expect from us (tractors, office buildings, cash handouts).

Examples: In one instance, we received an initial letter that was signed by only one person. When we arrived in the village, we found that he had not told anyone else in the village about his proposed ideas. Everyone was very suspicious of us and of him and the meeting involved only a lot of argument and shouting. This village was clearly not ready for an enterprise. Similar problems have also occurred at villages where one clan has already signed an agreement with a logging company. In both cases, we politely told the community members that they were not ready and told them to contact us again when they felt they were better organized.

At a good meeting, by contrast everything is generally pretty smooth. There are usually a lot of questions and then the community members organize themselves into clan or family groups and discuss the issues involved.

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