Coordination between REDD+, FLEGT/VPA, and the larger sector policy has not been very effective in Ghana. This is concluded in the report about the support of the overall forest governance framework in planning and implementing forest-related processes and initiatives in Ghana. Areas for improvement include data collection, stakeholder engagement in addressing key governance challenges, issues of equity and benefit sharing as well as legislative reforms.

The study recommends the strengthening of the Forestry Commission’s monitoring and evaluation of programmes to ensure improved coordination, collaboration and synergy. An alternative arrangement would be to institute a high-level technical position within the Forestry Commission, to handle the technical coordination of all these forest related processes and which reports directly to the Chief Executive. It is also recommended that Ghana moves faster with the efforts to streamline all multi-stakeholder consultation platforms into a single one with the necessary institutional legitimacy and capacity to provide space for effective engagement. Such a platform, e.g. an expanded version of the National Forest Forum - to include other civil society organisations with interest in natural resources management and use - could be helpful for stakeholder engagement in complex multi-sectoral programmes such as REDD+. Finally there is a need to institute or strengthen collaboration among lead officials in Government Ministries and Agencies, for example by formalising periodic joint briefings.

This study is the result of a cooperation between Tropenbos International and the FAO and involved document review, expert interviews and synthesis of stakeholder views from a regional meeting on forest governance organised by the FAO ACP FLEGT Support Programme in Accra, Ghana, in October 2012.