Capacity Assessment for Hutan Kemasyarakatan (HKm) Extension Workers in Lampung Province

Social forestry or Hutan Kemasyarakatan (HKm) has been practiced in Lampung Province since 1997. Many organizations have contributed to its acceleration, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and universities. Assistance in the field has mostly been provided by NGOs. Later in its development, some NGOs encountered problems in sustaining their involvement in HKm, as some district government institutions initiated policies that required a license or permission from government before any organization could be involved in HKm. This led to major setbacks in the implementation of the project, which was exacerbated by the declining number of government extension workers and their capacity to perform the various program tasks.