National REDD+ Consultation and Participation Plan, 2016.

The Plan is made on the background that the current trend of climate change leads to significant economic loss in countries whose economy is mainly dependent on climate sensitive activities, particularly agriculture. The overall objective of this Plan is to provide a framework and platform for multilevel dialogue among all stakeholders to ensure ownership, transparency, effective and informed consultation and participation of the relevant stakeholders in the process of REDD+ Programme in Ethiopia. The specific objectives of the consultation and participation plan are to: i) Guide dialogue and access to information among stakeholders (governments-all levels, communities, civil societies/NGOs, implementing agencies) to ensure their engagement in the programme from the design to implementation and monitoring phases; ii) Ensure that REDD+ activities and implementation frameworks are informed by local stakeholder’s views and contributions by providing opportunity through which the voices and experiences of key stakeholders are captured and incorporated in decision making at all levels; iii) Ensure transparency in all aspects including in costs, risks and equitable access and share of benefits by all stakeholders and sectors at all levels; iv) Improve the quality of decision-making process by capturing the experience of civil society organizations, and the initiatives of other similar groups; v) Integrate the contribution of REDD+ to the national development priorities by guiding development of regulatory frameworks that are socially inclusive, transparent and support improvements in forest governance; and vi) Comply with the international laws on human rights and other relevant policies on social and environmental safeguards. Furthermore, the design and implementation of the Plan is guided by the following core principles; i. Inclusiveness: target a broad audience of stakeholders both at national, regional (state) and local levels including those which are directly or indirectly affected by REDD+ activities (various social groups such as disadvantaged groups, women and youth); ii. Transparency: all aspects of the Programme at all stages shall be discussed and communicated in a transparent manner to all stakeholders at all levels. The outcomes of all consultations and participation shall be properly recorded and reported, disclosed to the public timely in culturally appropriate form and languages. All stakeholders shall have full and equal access to all information about the programme; iii. Participatory: the programme shall involve stakeholders in a truly participatory manner. It shall incorporate voices and concerns of all stakeholders at all stages of decision making processes from design to the implementation phase of the programme taking into consideration the existing participatory platforms, on-going interventions and earlier C&P initiatives conducted during R-PP formulation (if any); iv. Consensus building: the process shall facilitate dialogue and two-way exchange of information taking into consideration all the views of community level stakeholders, their existing institutional structures, and cultural diversity, with the ultimate aim of building consensus and broad community support for the programme; v. Flexibility: the program implementation should learn by doing, and be flexible enough to incorporate new ideas, approaches and stakeholders as they emerge and found necessary to include; vi. Effective communication: Information shall be tailor made for specific audience/stakeholders and shall follow a robust communication strategy, with a clear feedback mechanism; and vii. Grievance and conflict resolution: the programme shall have mechanisms for stakeholders to reflect their concerns and grievances at any time and be heard. Any conflict arising in the process of implementing the programme shall also be resolved and redressed immediately using an established and transparent system. The Plan also understands that stakeholder engagement is crucial for the sustainability of policy, strategy, program and project design and implementation. The Plan identifies the stakeholders and their roles, and some of these stakeholders include, sectoral government institutions at various levels, private sector, academic research, communities, etc.