The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) is an innovative interagency partnership that fosters increased cooperation and coordination on forests in response to an invitation issued in the resolution of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) that established the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF).

Juha Hautakangas a Systems Analyst said the mission of the CPFs was to promote sustainable management of all types of forests and to strengthen long-term political commitment to this end.

He explained that the CPF Network was established to facilitate collaboration and communication between the Partnership and other interested parties. It provides an informal mechanism for international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, indigenous peoples’ organizations, private sector entities and other major groups to channel their support to the work of UNFF and to enhance cooperation. The CPF Network brings together a broad range of expertise, resources and perspectives that enrich the dialogue and enhance collaborative action to promote sustainable forest management.

CPF aims are  to interact with a wide range of partners and stakeholders that are fostering sustainable management of all types of forests. The CPF Network has been established to facilitate collaboration and communication between the Partnership and other interested parties. It provides an informal mechanism for international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, indigenous peoples’ organizations, private sector entities and other major groups to channel their support to the work of UNFF and to enhance cooperation. 

The CPF Network brings together a broad range of expertise, resources and perspectives that enrich the dialogue and enhance collaborative action to promote sustainable forest management.

It is quite obvious that wiki software is changing communication, since the success of wikipedia and since many organizations use wikis to collaborate and share knowledge openly. It is interesting to see how organizations in the field of internal cooperation are starting to use these new tools as well. Some examples are the United Nations experimenting with the wisdom of wikis, and the World Bank with its blogs: Poverty and Growth and Private Sector Development. I wonder whether web2.0’s enable communication will lead to a change of the interaction of these organizations with external actors. Might it be that these organizations become, themselves, part of an open network for knowledge sharing in the future?
What fascinates me is that the web develops, pressures for own concepts of knowledge sharing, and affects more and more “real life”. Take a look at events or concepts like “JAM” or “unconference“. From what I know, both approaches are web rooted and rely on the web’s open and transparent culture. Both concepts are open for everyone interested. They are mainly organized online, but some unconferences such as barcamps take place worldwide to discuss web2.0, wine, local development or e-government. By the way, a book about how to do an unconference is currently collaboratively being written.
UN Habitat organized a JAM prior to a conference, which allowed people to participate and articulate their opinion.

During a three-day digital discussion, hundreds of thousands of people from 191 countries engaged in issues ranging from safety and security to improving the lives of slum dwellers. In India, women participated through moderators who went into communities to seek their views, while in Kenya, people waited hours for computer access so they could have a say. The results of the discussion were included in the forum’s agenda. (Newsweek)

It enthralls me that web2.0–its communication, community, participation behind it, etc.–gives rise to new models of collaboration, which questions the traditional ones. At unconferences, everybody is a listener and a presenter at the same time, and they are organized over a wiki. As mentioned in my last post, at our conference, we also want to experiment with this kind of approach in our open sessions.

Thanks to Michael, Peter and Lawrence for giving interesting answers to my questions some while ago. Let’s face it, web2.0 is just a concept, but there is a lot more behind it and even more perspectives on it. I am still curious, so here are some more questions:

1. Can web2.0 really work on grassroot level or does it need intermediate organizations such as NGOs?
2. Is “user generated content” of high value for development?
3. If so, what kind of user generated content could or already does have impact on social change?
4. What are the challenges to motivate people to engage in networking and creating social media?
5. Is web2.0, in the context of development, so far only a thing for and between organizations?
6. Will web2.0 promote transparency and feedback (evaluation) to development projects?
7. Will the collaborative web be trully multilangual, or will English be again the lingua franca?
8. Is this networking and aggregation of information giving us more knowledge when needed?
9. What are and will be the tools of the web2.0 buzz which could really help the people get involved in development?

Please contribute also some questions. Everybody’s questions are welcome.