RECOFTC’s 104 team members based in seven focal countries partnered with 188 organizations and 63,164 households in 2019–2020. As COVID-19 hit our region, we worked together throughout the year to strengthen community forestry and resources rights. Our support to communities and countries bolstered their efforts to achieve sustainable development and climate change goals.
Our collaboration increased people’s resilience to the shock of the pandemic-related restrictions by enhancing the human and social assets that underpin sustainable livelihoods. Preliminary research we conducted in 2020 in seven Asian countries and expanded in this year showed that communities with the rights to use and manage forests were more resilient to the crisis. To cope during the lockdown, more than 3 million community forest members across the lower Mekong region depended significantly on the savings they accrued by selling community forest products.
Our teams organized more than 600 events and reached more than 20,800 people through study tours, in-person and online training, learning events, workshops and technical support. Participants included women, Indigenous Peoples and other marginalized groups. Around 600 of them were women who held leadership positions within community forest user groups.
Our partnerships included multilateral institutions, governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and local communities. As a trusted broker in the Asia–Pacific region, we combined diverse funding sources to implement 27 flagship projects and many other initiatives.
We continue to be financially sustainable, providing secure jobs for employees, secure investment for donors and reliable services for partners and communities. During 2019–2020, we received total revenue of US$9.28 million from core donors, projects and other income sources.