FOPER
Forest Policy and Economics
Education and Research
FOPER is a project supporting
capacity cevelopment in South
East Europe region
•
•
•
•
Funded by the Finnish Government (grant 3,3 M €)
EFI contribution (0,6 M €)
Duration 2004 - 2008
Geographical focus:
• Croatia
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Serbia
• Montenegro
• Macedonia (FYROM)
• Albania
Objective of FOPER
To strengthen the capacity of modern
forest policy and economics education,
training and research in the South East
Europe region
In practice FOPER will aim to:
1) Establish a long-term training programme for
SEE on forest policy science and forest
economics consisting of:
•
an international MSc. course
•
short professional training courses
•
support research capacities
2) Strengthen the policy-science interphase in
the region
MSc. course on Forest Policy
and Economics
•
Startet in 2006, duration 2 years
•
Location of the training (Sarajevo and Belgrade)
•
24 students from region
•
Internationally and nationally recognised degree
•
Twinning Teaching (leading teacher internationally
recognised experts and one from the region)
•
Contents – modern forest policy and economics,
international forest policy (+ supportive courses)
Science – policy interphase
 Forest research should provide usefull information for
ongoing forest policy processes.
 Forest policy makers should promote research which is
usefull for policy formulation.
Promotion of the interphase– sometimes do not work
optimally in SEE either
Research projects on conflicts in each country
Symposium in March 2009, in Croatia, Dubrovnik
Why focus only on forest
policy and economics?
 SEE has a respectable tradition in technical
forestry sciences
 However, there is a significant lack of
academic and professional capacity on modern
forest policy science and modern forest
economics
• previous political regime
 The societies are in transition: market economy,
integration into Europe and EU
FOPER partners
• EFI - coordination
• Faculties of forestry
• University of Belgrade
• Agricultural University of Tirana
• University of ”Sv. Kiril i Metodij”, Skopje
• University of Sarajevo
• University of Banja Luka
Forest research institutes
• Institute of Forestry, Belgrade, SR
• Forest Research Institute, Jastrebarsko, HR
• Forest and Pasture Research Institute, Tirana, ALB
• International partners: United Nations University and
University of Joensuu/Silva Network
Strategic approach of FOPER
 Strong involvement of SEE partners in the
implementation
 Work through partnerships:
• Established: IFSA
• Potential: FAO, World Bank, others
 Sustainability of training – search for a stable host
and external funding beyond 2008
• Commitment of local organisations
Calendar of activities
 MS course
• Second semester is ongoing in Belgrade
Professional Training
• Regional courses scheduled for B&H, Macedonia,
Serbia, Albania and Croatia
• Four general courses for training coordinators
Research projects (5)
• Project proposals ready for contracting
• Two trainings for researchers finished (methodological
and SPSS)
For more information on FOPER
Project Management Team
Tomi Tuomasjukka and Mari Pitkänen
[email protected] and [email protected]
or log on to:
www.efi.int/projects/FOPER