From 17th to 19th August 2021 the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) conducted in Buchanan a three-day regional workshop to refresh field staff responsibilities of Nimba, Rivercess, and Grand Bassa Counties (together these counties make up FDA Region-3 administrative unit). FDA regional brush-up workshops seek to revive the tasks of the field staff of the Commercial Forestry Department on work planning, reporting, and several other practical topics to enhance performances for the forthcoming logging season. Furthermore, the workshops aim to improve staff capacity on key topics, provide update on regional activities for the past logging season, set priorities for the forthcoming harvesting period, and develop a technical training plan for the regional staff. The workshops are annual events facilitated by the VPASU in its previous and actual project phase.
Topics covered in this year’s event included the revised Code of Forest Harvesting Practices, the Non-Compliance Registry, the Chain of Custody System, FDA’s regional administration set-up including work planning and reporting among others. Participants were also informed about responsibilities of the newly established Liberia Licensing Department, the proposed Annual Operation Plan Template, and other technical updates on the VPA Legality Matrix review and the Forward Planner. Clarification of the roles and responsibilities of field staff of other FDA departments/ divisions to foster teamwork and to avoid duplications of tasks was also an important topic of the agenda.
The event was attended by the Deputy Managing Director for Operations, the National Authorizing Officer, the Technical Managers of the Commercial Forestry and the Liberia Licensing Departments, the Regional Forester, Contract Administrators, several Chain of Custody Rangers, and others including representatives of the VPA-SU2.
Written by James Kollie and Wolfgang Thoma
