case studies undp: village development committee of ando kpomey, togo

7/27/2019 Case Studies UNDP: VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE OF ANDO KPOMEY, Togo

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Equator Initiative Case StudiesLocal sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities

Togo

VILLAGE DEVELOPMENTCOMMITTEE OF ANDOKPOMEY

Empowered live

Resilient nation


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UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES

Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that wo

or people and or nature. Few publications or case studies tell the ull story o how such initiatives evolve, the breadth

their impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practition

themselves guiding the narrative.

To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to ll this gap. The ollowing case study is one in a growing ser

that details the work o Equator Prize winners vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmen

conservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local succto scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models

replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reerence to The Power o Local Action: Lessons rom 10 Years

the Equator Prize, a compendium o lessons learned and policy guidance that draws rom the case material.

Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiatives searchable case study database.

EditorsEditor-in-Chie: Joseph Corcoran

Managing Editor: Oliver HughesContributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding

Contributing WritersEdayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Sean Cox, Larissa Currado, David Godrey, Sarah Gordon,

Oliver Hughes, Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma

Mary McGraw, Brandon Payne, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding

DesignSean Cox, Oliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Amy Korngiebel, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis, John Mulqueen, Loren

de la Parra, Brandon Payne, Mariajos Satizbal G.

AcknowledgementsThe Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude the Village Development Committee o Ando Kpomey and theAssociation Togola

pour la Promotion Humaine (ATPH), and in particular the guidance and inputs o Mr. Koto Koku Agbee o Ando Kpomey, and Mr. Ko

Mawuko Modzi, Executive Secretary o ATPH. All photo credits courtesy o the Village Development Committee o Ando Kpomey. Ma

courtesy o CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia.

Suggested Citation

United Nations Development Programme. 2013. Village Development Committee o Ando Kpomey, Togo. Equator Initiative Case StuSeries. New York, NY.
http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=747:10years&catid=189:2012-eventshttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=747:10years&catid=189:2012-eventshttp://equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=casestudysearch&Itemid=858http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=747:10years&catid=189:2012-eventshttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=747:10years&catid=189:2012-events


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PROJECT SUMMARYAter a devastating bush re in 1973, the village o AndoKpomey created a green belt buer around its communitythat has grown into a 100-hectare orest. A participatorymanagement committee has been established to monitorthe orest and its resources and to regulate its use. Thecommunity authorizes limited resource extraction tomeet livelihood needs and manages revenues generatedrom the sale o orest-based products. Local womenare authorized entry to the community orest to accessrewood, signicantly reducing the average time neededto orage or cooking uel. Various crops are grown in theorest, including a range o medicinal plants which haveserved to meet local healthcare needs.

Neighbouring communities have been enlisted to protectthe orest, and have beneted rom knowledge sharing onnatural resource management, participatory planning andorest conservation. The village hosts peer-to-peer learningexchanges to share lessons learned, and has done so withcommunities and organization across Togo and Burkina Faso.

KEY FACTS

EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2012

FOUNDED: 1973

LOCATION: Maritime Region, south-western Togo

BENEFICIARIES: 1,000 residents of Ando Kpomey

BIODIVERSITY: Community forest

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background and Context 4

Key Activities and Innovations 6

Biodiversity Impacts 7

Socioeconomic Impacts 7

Policy Impacts 8

Sustainability 9

Replication 9

Partners 10

VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEEOF ANDO KPOMEYTogo


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Persistent threats to orest cover and biodiversity

he total orested area in Togo is around 287,000 hectares. That

umber, however, is rapidly shrinking. The annual deorestation

ate is 5.75 per cent and rising. Decades o socio-political crises

nd poor resource governance have resulted in severe degradation

protected areas. Between 2005 and 2010 alone, Togo lost an

verage o 20,000 ha o orest cover each year. The combination o

eorestation, bush res, and hunting has resulted in the widespread

oss o orests and the biodiversity they support. Deorestation has

ed to land degradation, which has in turn let towns and villages

ulnerable to ooding, bush res and other extreme weather events.

A green belt to buer against bush fres

Ando Kpomey is a small town in the Maritime Region o south-

western Togo, located 70 kilometers northwest o the capital, Lom.

he community which has a modest population o 1,000 residents

was ormerly surrounded by dry shrub savannah; bush res would

ten break out, devastating housing, local inrastructure, crops and

ood stores. On two occasions, the entire town was burned to the

round.

When one particularly devastating re occurred in 1973, a group o

own elders proposed a solution: establish a green belt o orested

rea around the perimeter o the community that would eectivelyuer against bush res. It was proposed that, in addition to

rotecting the town rom bush res and, by extension, mitigating

ll o the social, economic and environmental costs associated with

ecovery a green belt would allow the community to diversiy the

rops under cultivation and would harbour biodiversity. The proposal

was accepted and since 1973 Ando Kpomey has maintained and

xpanded a community orest that surrounds the village and now

overs an area o more than 100 hectares.

The genesis o a community orest

The initial creation o the green belt was based solely on

initiative and voluntary eorts. Family heads and community e

agreed on the proposal and devised a plan or how to move orw

As the rainy season drew to a close, community members c

together to clear a re break, a 14-meter strip o bush around

town. Beyond the re break, they planted a 10-meter strip o t

Every year since, the community has planted an additional 10-m

strip to expand the green belt. Little by little, the green belt

grown to become a community orest, which now surrounds

town to a depth o between 350 and 850 meters and is a great so

o pride or Ando Kpomeys residents. For 18 years ater the prbegan, the community maintained and expanded the orest wit

Background and Context


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utside help. In 1991, the community initiative came to the attention

the Togolese NGO Association Togolaise pour la Promotion

Humaine (ATPH), which, in 1992, began providing support. Several

ears later in 2000, the community orest came to the attention o

nother NGO, Inades-Formation Togo, which also began providing

upport and technical guidance shortly thereater. With the support

both partners, Ando Kpomey developed ormal regulations or

management o the community orest in 2003.

Management, participation and fnancing

While management o the orest is entirely community-based,

ssociation Togolaise pour la Promotion Humaine provides occasional

echnical support and helped to establish management and

watchdog committees in the hopes o ensuring accountability,

transparency and good governance. The management appr

taken is largely participatory in nature, and the regulations that

been put in place concerning the use o and access to the ores

widely respected by local residents. The community orest in A

Kpomey is nothing short o a regional anomaly. The majori

surrounding towns have entirely cleared their orests. As such, A

Kpomey has reached out to neighbouring villages in an eo

engage a larger population in the protection o its orest and

biodiversity. The community orest has become an attractiovisitors to the region and rom adjacent municipalities. A visito

is collected or entry to the orest, which has provided a valu

source o revenue to nance local inrastructure needs and ong

conservation and tree-planting eorts. The management comm

provides the wider community with regular updates and repor

how this revenue is being spent.


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Key Activities and Innovations

he primary activity o the Village Development Committee o Ando

Kpomey has been the establishment and ongoing maintenance o

ts community orest. Thanks to the eorts o volunteers every year,

he orest now covers an area o more than 100 ha. Rather than

ocusing on continued expansion, however, the organization is now

oncentrating its eorts on orest maintenance and monitoring to

nsure that existing tree cover stays intact and is not deorested or

egraded.

o eed community tree-planting and reorestation eorts, village

urseries were established in which tree saplings were cultivated

nd nurtured to maturity beore being planted in the annual orest

xpansion. With the support o its partner organizations, the VillageDevelopment Committee o Ando Kpomey has developed a simple

management plan. The plan was drawn up in open consultations

with community members. Both the Department o Environment

nd Forest Resources and the UNDP-implemented GEF Small

Grants Programme (SGP) have provided the village with resources

nd support to help establish ormal rules or community orest

management. Support with this resource governance ramework has

been complemented by training in sustainable orest management

echniques.

he management committee is composed entirely o elected

ommunity members. It holds responsibility or ensuring that

ommunity orest regulations are complied with, and or regulatingnd authorizing the elling o trees and other orms o resource

xtraction within the orest. When a member o the community

eeds timber or a construction project, they must submit a request

o the management committee which authorizes the type and

uality o wood that should be used as well as the location in the

orest where the tree(s) can be harvested. Through this process, the

orest is able to meet the needs o the community without risking

overharvesting. Women are also permitted entry to the orest

o collect allen branches or rewood. The rules governing the

orest are strictly enorced. Because pressures on orest resources

are not limited to inside the community, the Village Developm

Committee o Ando Kpomey has also made eorts to inv

neighbouring communities in the protection o the orest. Resid

o adjacent communities are invited to participate in tradit

hunts and sustainable resource extraction events, with the inten

o demonstrating the value o the orest, the ecosystem goods

services it provides, and to discourage people rom degradin

setting re to the orest.

In recent years, the Village Development Committee o A

Kpomey has expanded into alternative livelihood activities tha

to both raise local incomes and reduce pressure on orest resou

The project again unded by the UNDP-implemented GEF SGrants Programme has trained 25 women in snail arming an

men in apiculture and the marketing o honey. Project benec

were provided with hives, brood snails, construction materia

snaileries, and honey harvesting and storage equipment.


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7

Impacts

BIODIVERSITY IMPACTSBush res and deorestation have resulted in the clearance o tree

over rom the vast majority o neighbouring towns. The community

o Ando Kpomey, however, has created a community orest that is

ocally managed and conserved in a participatory manner. Resource

extraction rom the 100-hectare orest is regulated by a local

management committee, thereby regulating and limiting the extent

o orest degradation. A orest surveillance committee has also been

established and operates year-round, though it is activated more

egularly during the dry season. These eorts have had positive

pill-over eects or the environmental health and biodiversity o

he area.

ncreased orest cover has improved biological diversity around

he village. Many o the trees and vegetation that now thrive in

he community orest are endangered or threatened in the larger

egion. The orest is also home to various species o vines, medicinal

plants, edible mushrooms, and wildlie, including many species o

birds, rodents and deer. The livelihoods projects that are now being

dvanced by the Village Development Committee o Ando Kpomey

provide the local population with income-generating alternatives to

unsustainable extraction o orest resources and illegal logging.

mportantly, and in addition to its biodiversity benets, the

ommunity orest contributes to healthy ecosystem unctioningnd, by extension, the provision o ecosystem goods and services.

Among the more important services that have been restored

hrough the planting and expansion o the community orest has

been the regulation o water cycles. Other towns that have cleared

heir orests suer rom irregular rainall and constant ooding, as

he lack o tree roots compromises soil integrity and subsequent

and degradation. Anecdotal reports rom villagers claim that the

ommunity orest has also improved air quality in and around

he village, and that the trees planted around Ando Kpomey have

reated a microclimate that produces regular rainall, which has

benets or local reshwater access and agriculture.

SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTSThe primary socioeconomic impact rom the Village Develop

Committee o Ando Kpomey initiative has been ullment o

original motivating objective: protecting the village rom bush

By creating a re break and green belt around the perimeter o

village, the community has eectively made bush res a thin

the past. No bush res have occurred in the town since 1973

year the initiative began. Previously, these incidences would c

a great deal o damage to local homes and village inrastruc

which had detrimental eects on the local economy and requ

large investments o time and resources to rebuild.

Regulating and provisioning services

The role o the community orest in creating a local micro-clim

and thereore potentially increased rainall, has beneted

agricultural production and, by extension, local ood sec

Water or irrigation is a precious commodity in the region, w

is characterized by arid land and water shortages. These clim

and geographic realities have been exacerbated by deoresta

land degradation and climate change. In the early 1970s, when

decision was made to establish the green belt, there was suf

tree cover in the surrounding region to maintain regular

seasons and sufcient rainall. Since then, however, due to al

complete deorestation, rainall is now rare in the surrounding Ando Kpomey has been somewhat protected rom this, owin

large part to the community orest. Although harvesting wood

the orest is restricted and tightly regulated, community mem

no longer have a difcult time obtaining wood or constru

projects and inrastructure needs. Another socioeconomic be

o the community orest has been improvements in both

diversity and abundance o the natural resources that are avai

or community use. The orest contains edible mushrooms, ani

that are sustainably hunted (during organised and regu

traditional hunts), and medicinal plants that help to meet s

basic community healthcare needs.


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Associated benefts o the community orest

One perhaps unanticipated benet o the community orest has

been in respect to land tenure securitization. The orest which now

encircles the village is actively monitored and maintained in a way

hat the surrounding bush and scrubland never was previously. The

ree line created by the orest boundaries provides a clear marker

and delineation o Ando Kpomey land. This has been benecial in

trengthening community identity as it relates to the stewardshipand ownership o communal land, as a way o grounding the villages

collective spatial sense o territory, and protecting the village rom

land grabs, which are not uncommon in the region.

The Village Development Committee o Ando Kpomey collects

entrance ees rom visitors to the community orest. This revenue

tream has been eectively directed towards village development

projects. The majority o the unds have been used to construct and

hen operate a local school. The school has been recognized by the

Togolese government and was allocated teachers, beginning in the

2010-2011 school year.

Notably, the community orest has given the women o AndoKpomey a stronger voice in community lie through representation

n all decision-making processes and in the management o the

orest. The participatory management approach employed by Ando

Kpomey gives men and women equal roles and equal representation

n orest governance. Community members have reported that

women are increasingly inclined to voice their opinions at t

meetings, especially during exchange visits when other commun

come to visit the orest. Women also benet rom being given ac

to the orest to gather rewood, reducing the distance they w

otherwise have been orced to travel to collect uel or house

consumption.

POLICY IMPACTSThe success o the community orest stems in large part rom

choice to prioritize community leadership in resource govern

planning and orest management. This success has not g

unnoticed. The Togolese Government has been inuenced by

community-based stewardship and management model

importantly, revised legislation text on orest management t

less top-heavy and more amenable to participatory, commu

based action. As one example, the Ministry o the Environm

and Forest Resources adopted a more participatory approac

orest management that directly involves and integrates local t

associations in the management o protected areas. The A

Kpomey community orest provided proo o what local communcan achieve when empowered, and can be credited with inuen

this change in policy. The Ando Kpomey community has opene

the community orest to workshops and events that engage

and national policymakers, giving them a rst-hand experien

the community approach.

8


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9

Sustainability and Replication

SUSTAINABILITY

While the project benets rom partner support and receives some

nternational unding it is worth noting that establishment o the

ommunity orest was initiated by the community o Ando Kpomey

tsel. The community maintained and expended the orest without

ny external support or unding or 18 years, rom 1973 to 1991. The

ongevity o the project is testament to the determination and will o

he community to conront the social, environmental and economic

hallenges associated with bush res, land degradation and water

hortages.

he Ando Kpomey community orest remains very much a locallyriven project. All segments o the local populations men, women

nd youth are represented in each o the committees that oversee

he orest. The orest is managed in such a way that all community

members eel involved and have a stake in its stewardship. The

orest remains communally owned and management rules are well

espected. The community members recognize the benets the

orest brings and are happy to continue to invest their time and

nergy in maintaining it. Every year, towards the end o the rainy

eason, residents clear the re break and carry out any necessary

lanting to maintain the quality o the orest. Throughout the year,

ut especially during the dry season, community members monitor

he orest to prevent orest res and deorestation. All o this work

s carried out voluntarily the involvement o the entire village haselped to strengthen the solidarity and cohesion o the community.

he community collects a tax rom all visitors to the orest, which

onstitutes a source o revenue or local development projects.

he majority o the money collected to date has been directed

owards the construction o a local school. A grant rom the UNDP-

mplemented Small Grants Programme (SGP) unds alternative

velihoods projects, which have subsequently reduced pressure on

he orest. Additional unding or reorestation eorts is collected

rom local businesses: any business which extracts resources

the orest must pay a contribution to the Village Developm

Committee, which then goes towards maintenance o the ores

other village development activities.

REPLICATION

The community orest has served as a best practice mod

the region and has a high level o potential or replication.

overwhelming majority o villages in the region have cleared

orests, and now suer water shortages, irregular rainall and

degradation as a result. The Ando Kpomey orest has to a large dehelped the village address these issues, although certain prob

are endemic to the region and persist. Ando Kpomey has t

steps to ensure that other villages respect the rules and regula

o the community orest and undertaken outreach to demons

the benets that come rom reorestation and environme

stewardship. Residents o neighbouring communities have

invited to tradition hunts in the Ando Kpomey orest as a wa

sharing benets across villages, or instance.

The Ando Kpomey orest management model has

promoted through educational visits, peer-to-peer learning

knowledge exchanges, and awareness-raising workshops. Vis

have included a range o arming organizations rom the neighbouring preectures, and researchers rom the Universi

Lom, government agencies, and NGOs. These exchanges

paid dividends, as the community orest project model has b

replicated in the communities o Nyamssiva, Kpenyuie, Z

Setekp Klgbkop and Akpuive to date.

The community has also employed awareness-raising works

and mass media to disseminate inormation about the ores

2011, representatives rom Ando Kpomey held a workshop


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1010

orest management in the neighbouring village o Akpuive. Over

00 people attended, including members o seven neighbouring

illages, while the event was promoted on local radio stations. Inades-

ormation Togo, an important partner to the village committees

work, published a booklet in 2006 titled Creating and managing a

ommunity orest: the Ando Kpomey project.

PARTNERS

ssociation Togolaise pour la Promotion Humaine (ATPH) was the

rst NGO to become involved in the project. Since 1991, ATPH has

rovided technical assistance to help the community establish

watchdog committee and a management committee: the

ntroduction o these bodies has helped to ensure transparency and

ccountability in the management o local unds.

Inades (Institut Aricain pour le Dveloppement Economique et So

- Formation Togo has worked with the Ando Kpomey commu

since 2000, advising on the development o orest managem

methods, and promoting the community orest as a model

could be replicated elsewhere. This NGO also published a boo

highlighting the Ando Kpomey model or use in replication.

In 2009, Ando Kpomey successully submitted a project to the UN

implemented GEF Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP) or undThis project involved the development o alternative livelih

activities in the village and capacity development or the Vi

Development Committee to improve management o the ores

date, community members have been trained in snail arming

bee keeping, and a simple management plan or the commu

orest has been drated with GEF-SGP support.


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perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.

The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and grassroots organizati

o recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions or people, nature and resilient communities.

2013 by Equator Initiative

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FURTHER REFERENCE

Presentation on the work o the Village Development Committee o Ando Kpomey (PowerPoint) http://www.equatorinitiative.org

ages/stories/Community_Aldeia/Day_4/Togo_PRESENTATION_MODZI_A_RIO_togo.pd

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case studies undp: village development committee of ando kpomey, togo

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