A community of practice forms when individuals come together for a common goal. Members represent stakeholders that would typically not have the opportunity to collaborate. The group exchanges knowledge, inspiration, and solutions for shared challenges. As a result, members of our Forest Allies community of practice will gain innovative partnerships and confidence that their investment in forests will result in a better future for people and nature.
“Networks connect; communities care.”
Henry Mintzberg, author and Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at McGill University
Collaborative workshops
Our Forest Allies community of practice comes to life when we collaborate. We’ll get together twice a year to come up with solutions to shared challenges, collaboratively develop thought leadership pieces, and learn from each other’s knowledge and experiences within the group. The coalition uses the Rainforest Alliance’s model of Integrated Community Forest Management to further build a foundation of mutual respect and trust between forest communities and commercial markets.
During each of the bi-annual Forest Allies meetings, the Rainforest Alliance will facilitate several workshops. During these workshops, the members will focus as a group on the following activities:
Finding solutions
We come up with innovative solutions to common challenges to realizing more sustainable supply chains and forest landscapes. Each workshop focuses on a specific theme that benefits both forest communities and markets. Thematic examples may include, for instance, ecosystem services, gender equality, or access to finance.
Thought leadership and advocacy
Forest Allies is a powerful coalition of forest community representatives and companies that are leaders in responsible sourcing. These leading brands go above and beyond their own supply chains to invest in positive environmental and social impacts on forests. Together, we are thought leaders and influencers of public policy with a vision to create a better future for people and nature.
Above all, our goal is for Forest Allies to become a powerful voice in discussions around forests and sustainability. Ways in which we’ll demonstrate our leadership may include lobbying local policy makers; writing opinion pieces and pitching them to media outlets; or speaking at conferences about our impacts.
Sharing knowledge
Respect and trust between local people and companies are the key to mutual learning. Members of Forest Allies commit to sharing knowledge and experiences on protecting forests in their sectors and supply chains. This shared knowledge will then become best practices. These best practices will be shared in a non-competitive and collaborative way to benefit all Forest Allies members. After that, members are expected to share these learnings with their own networks, expanding our reach beyond the community of practice.
Join our Forest Allies community of practice
The connection between Forest Allies members will be the foundation for innovative and successful partnerships. For forest communities, these partnerships are important for building trust and gaining direct access to markets. For more information, visit the Forest Allies page. Please contact us at forests@ra.org to become a member.