RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests

RECOFTC is an international not-for-profit organization that focuses on capacity building for community forestry in the Asia Pacific region. It advocates for the increased involvement of local communities living in and around forests - some 450 million people in Asia-Pacific - in the equitable and ecologically sustainable management of forest landscapes. RECOFTC opened in Bangkok, Thailand, in March 1987 with support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the Government of Switzerland (through the Asian Development Bank), and Thailand's Kasetsart University.

RECOFTC
TypeInternational non-governmental organization
IndustryCommunity forestry, capacity building
Founded1987
HeadquartersBangkok, Thailand
Websitewww.recoftc.org

Originally a regional training and research hub for community forestry, RECOFTC now works on the ground through a network of strategic partnerships with governments, NGOs, development organizations and local people throughout Asia-Pacific, and has worked in parts of Africa. In 1999, a charter was developed with a proposal to turn RECOFTC into an international organization, which was signed by seven countries (all the Mekong countries and Switzerland). In 2000, the Royal Thai Government (RTG) signed an agreement with RECOFTC that formally recognized the organization as an autonomous international organization.

Training, capacity building and other learning activities remain central to RECOFTC's work, now complemented with on-the-ground projects, policy work, and strategic communications. Since 2020, the organization formalized for public use the name RECOFTC, pronounced with a silent C. RECOFTC is derived from an abbreviated form of the organization's legal name, Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific. Formerly the organization was known as RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests.

RECOFTC works throughout the Asia-Pacific region, with a main office in Bangkok and offices in seven countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Thematic areas

RECOFTC's work is focused on four thematic areas:

  • Expanding community forestry: Through frontline country programs, RECOFTC works to secure rights for forest-dependent communities to manage their forests.
  • People, forests, and climate change
  • Transforming forest conflict
  • Securing local livelihoods

RECOFTC's portfolio currently includes over 40 projects and services, including large capacity-building projects for REDD+ regionally and for community forestry in Cambodia.

Capacity building

Since its inception in 1987 as a regional training institution for forestry, RECOFTC has trained over ten thousand practitioners at all levels in community forestry. RECOFTC's capacity-building program[1] consists of training courses, learning activities and networks, workshops, and study tours. The program seeks to enhance skills in its four thematic areas, listed above.

References
  1. RECOFTC Training Center: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-08-31. Retrieved 2011-09-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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