TREES/SmartWood Collaboration Guide

November 2009

Objective: Strengthen and systematize TREEs/SW collaboration in order to ensure

achievement of RA Forestry Division programmatic and conservation goals.

Areas of potential interactions:

 Training:
o FM clients, potential or current
o CoC clients, potential or current
o Stakeholders, govts, NGOs,
o Auditors
o Technical service providers
o Financial agencies and groups
o Community and indigenous groups

 Promotion: educational materials, trade shows, fair conferences etc.

 Public policy outreach: procurement, forest management incentives, community
forestry, biodiversity, regulatory relief
 Research and Evaluation: Monitoring, HCVF, environmental service payments,
biodiversity conservation.
 Project development: concept papers, strategies and proposals

SmartWood commits to supporting TREEs in meeting project targets through:

• Organization of annual planning and ongoing coordination with TREEs:
o Sharing of work plans with identification of overlapping and complementary
scopes in terms of geographic areas, technical activities and SW business plans
o Review financial contributions for shared activities.
o Regular (quarterly) T/SW planning and coordination meetings.
o Monthly reporting on T/SW collaboration in 30-30 reports
• Participation of SW staff or consultants on TREES project activities.
o SW contribute SW time where there is clear direct financial or strategic return to
SW annual plans
o SW to identify and help manage consultants who can deliver required TREEs
services.
o SW delivery of non-certification activities such as client training in relation to
TREES projects SW will consider these activities as “non-billable”, and only
direct costs of SW staff time and associated costs of travel, etc. will be charged
to TREES.
• Direct financial support for shared activities that are strategic to SW regional business
plan (e.g. clients who can achieve certification in
• Technical assistance to TREEs staff/consultants on HVCF, trademark usage,
certification standards
• Collection and sharing of information regarding certification clients (as permitted by
confidentiality rules)
 • Collaboration on identifying and pursing opportunities to improve access to certification
to SME, small holder, community and indigenous groups and linking these to private
sector operators.

TREEs commits to supporting SW in meeting program targets through:

• Organization of annual and regular T/SW planning and coordination meetings.
• Sharing information on potential clients, relevant public policy issues, stakeholder
issues (stakeholder complaints)
• Promoting SW as Certifier of choice to all parties
• Proactive and regular communication of TREES activities (e.g. training, market
development, technical assistance) involving SW clients (current and potential) to
enhance customer service and avoid COI. When TREES projects fund technical
assistance to a SW clients a potential COI can be overcome if TREES staff do not do the
work but rather TREES funds are provided to the client directly. The client can then
contract and pay for the technical assistance and freeing up SW to provide the auditing
services
• Financial support to SW: Where funding permits, TREES will work to support SW
through:
o Coverage of shared regional costs (office costs)
o Compensation for SW staff time on TREEs activities.
o Support for development or promotion costs of new SW service (e.g. support for
VLO country stds adaptation and stakeholder meetings, development of Norma
Mexicano protocols and or accreditation costs.)
o Direct subsidy of SW client certification costs: To avoid potential COI associated
with TREES paying SW directly for certification auditing fees of clients, TREES
should use other mechanisms to pay for SW auditing services. For example, in
cases where TREES project funds are used to support certification services, this
support will be provided directly to the TREES stakeholder group who would then
contract these services directly. Under such arranges the TREES should not
specify or otherwise condition which accredited certifying body should be
contracted by the stakeholder group.
o Other activities.

For specific tasks and outputs, Internal Program Agreements will be signed between TREES
and SW that details activities, work schedules, deliverables, lead person and budgets

Avoidance of COI: Both programs will work to avoid conflicts of interest, whether real or
perceived. When TREES technical assistance to a current or potential client appears to create a
COI, whether real or perceived, these situations will be discussed on a case-by-case basis in a
timely manner between TREES and SW to decide how to proceed (i.e. SW step aside from the
auditor role or TREEs not undertake problematic technical assistance). The main criteria for
such decisions will be: 1. Which inputs to a specific operation – TREES support or SW services
– are most advantageous to the Forestry Division and to accomplishing RA’s mission overall
and; 2. Avoiding COIs, whether real or perceived.