Trying On FSC Consultant Role

The significance of cooperation with the local population and respect towards its interests in managing certified areas was discussed by the participants of the advance course in FSC Certification Social Issues. The two-week training course took place in the Finno-Ugric Ethnic Park in the village of Yb in the last decade of January. The participants could also observe consultants at real work.

We remind that it was the third part of the training of FSC consultants facilitated by the Silver Taiga Foundation as part of the joint project between the World Wildlife Fund (WWF Russia) and the Russian Forest Stewardship Council National Office (FSC Russia). The base level course was arranged in Kirov region in summer last year, while in autumn 2015 the course in FSC Certification Environmental Issues was hosted by the Silver Taiga Foundation as well.

The “winter” course featured experts from the Centre for Independent Social Research – Maria Tysyachnyuk and Antonina Kulyasova – and Valentina Semyashkina, Local Communities Project Manager, from Silver Taiga, who generously shared their knowledge and experience. Tatyana Yanitskaya and Elena Tveritinova, FSC Russia representatives, Sergey Slastnikov, Sorvizhi Les ltd. director, and Elena Ray, senior professor, Northern (Arctic) Federal University, were involved into the training course as advisors. 30 participants from different cities of Russia – from Tver to Krasnoyarsk, from Krasnodar to Saint Petersburg – took part in the training course.

Apart from lectures, role games and real cases from the trainers’ experience, the trip to communities located near the leased areas of such certified companies as Mondi Syktyvkar and Luzales impressed many of the trainees. Having defined the stakeholders at first, the participants met the locals and then practiced discussion of hot topics with the residents and representatives of certified companies involved.

Mariam Mattila, FSC Regional Key Account Officer for CIS Countries, shared her impressions:
“The course for FSC consultants served a wonderful platform for meetings and opinion exchange for professionals from various regions willing to apply their knowledge and skills with a purpose to promote FSC principles and criteria among forest users and to improve the quality of FSC certification in Russia. The course is a very successful knowledge integration. The discussions used to give a chance to look at the situation or problem differently, make a reliable conclusion and find an optimal solution. Let me thank in particular WWF Russia and the Silver Taiga Foundation for the course facilitation, everything was flawless from the practical point of view! A big thank you to the trainers for the well performed instruction. These will be grateful memories, when I recall the course!”

“The training contributed to the participants’ plunging into real cases related to the complex certification process”, said Tatyana Ivannikova, Regional Project Manager, WWF Russia. “The content-related part of the training course based on the trainers’ and advisors’ experience on the one hand allowed to understand that there are no single solutions for ensuring efficient interaction of companies with local communities, and on the other hand it revealed the tool package which may give a possibility to comply with the sustainable forest management model, if used. One of the most impressive moments at the course was “immersion” into the real situation – consulting of stakeholders involved. For the second group of trainees it was the settlement of Uryel and the villages of Keros, Ezhol and Laborom. There is no more efficient way to raise your competence, rather than practice. The participants certainly interacted both in solving cases and in performing other tasks, but what needed mutual cooperation, agreement and support most of all were public consultations. I believe, the attendees of the course could really understand it. Moreover, it was a team-building activity promoting formation of the expert community in this field. In addition, such field practice helps understanding the true interests of all stakeholders involved and enables the consultant as a mediator to find a compromise between the parties”.

It was important to find the right balance between social aspects and the economic focus of a company during the course, therefore we were interested to learn what Sergey Slastnikov, a business representative, thought of all that. He stated “there was no distortion. Now the participants realize the importance of what consultants do both for companies and local communities. The seminar was well-organized and useful for knowledge and experience exchange through practical assignments. The trainees made another step towards their expertise build-up; when they understand certification goals and are able to operate the tools for tackling problematic issues, they will be appreciated as consultants, and moreover they will be demanded at state authorities, or as auditors, experts or members of the public forest council, etc. Owing to this training course, as well as to the previous ones, some participants feel ready to establish regional counselling centers, for instance, in Tver or Krasnodar regions”.

To conclude, Sergey underlined the importance of cooperation with the local population, particularly through developing social activism from the young age and interaction with deputies and authorities. He also invited to take part in the following training course to be held in summer this year in Archangelsk region.