It got approval and registration by FSC Policy and Standard unit on 7th May. The SDG currently comprises of six persons, two each from the economic, social and environmental chambers. The group is deliberating the need to increase to nine, with one additional member joining each chamber to enhance discussion and active engagement.
To familiarize with content and process of standard development, a kick off meeting was held at the MCDI office in Kilwa from 3rd to 6th August. In attendance were members of the SDG, technical experts as well as FSC East Africa sub-regional coordinator.
Working within the frame of ADOPT, ADAPT, DROP and NEW, the SDG revisited the Transfer matrix and engaged actively on new criteria and indicators where 11 delegates participated in a follow-up meeting that was held from 26th to 29th August at WWF office in Dar es Salaam.
To ensure that lessons from Uganda’s experience in the same process are internalized, and also that cross-pollination of experiences takes place in the East Africa sub-region, the SDG representative from Uganda was invited to a follow up meeting held on 15th and 16th October in Dar es Salaam. Eight participants attended and of importance was the discussion around communication strategy when undertaking consultation with various stakeholders.
With a final meeting this year scheduled on 30th November to work on the Zero draft, mechanism are being put in place to embark on wider consultation in the first half of 2016. Various stakeholders are expected to be contacted in the stage of consultation as well as improve on communication channels among SDG members and stakeholders.
The timeline for activities scheduled in 2016 was scheduled to be reviewed in the November 30th meeting in Dar es Salaam.