Forest Sector Transparency Project 2010
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Under this project, Choice Ghana sourced funding from Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD - also using funds from Governance and Transparency Fund GTF) to sensitize traditional authorities, youth groups, women groups and community members at large on forest sector laws and policies. The project sought to enlighten community members to be able to engage loggers and other forest users for a commensurate benefit to the community under Social Responsibility Agreements (SRAs). Thus forest benefits accruing from a collective community decision to sell out forest products should follow the forest policy of SRA for the disbursement. The project was also to strengthen community members to promote transparency and efficient management, and utilization of resources accruing from the forest. This project made some significant achievements.

It has led to the chief Kijewu banning logging and commercial charcoal burning in his area of jurisdiction. This was because loggers were not prepared to pay the right compensation. This project has attracted the attention of the District Assembly and the MP who worked assiduously to bring into the district a forestry officer as a way of helping to manage the situation. The project has led to community participation to ensure judicious use of the forest resources. This project became critical as forest resources in the area came under heavy exploitation. The combined action of logging, lumbering and commercial charcoal burning posed the fear for forest resource depletion with no benefit to the community as whole. This is so because the community people where ignorant of the forest sector policies and therefore all benefits remained at the level of the few influential and powerful individuals to the extent that even the community chiefs were at the mercy of these young men who served as agents.

Among others the project sought to sensitise communities to treasure the forest in terms of ecosystem services, direct services and a major sink zone carbon dioxide emission. These benefits were to motivate the communities to provide maximum protection for the forest for sustainable use and better still improve upon it.

               Charcoal trade in the East Gonja municipality (selling of forest for charcoal)

Choice Ghana seek to empower communities to be capable of accessing opportunities for a better life.