Building the capacities of small and Medium Forest Enterprises in Ghana and Liberia to supply and trade in legal timber The aim of the project is to contribute to improved forest governance and promote legal timber trade in West Africa. Activities of the project specifically targeted, 
1.	Compliance with Gh LAS
2.	Legal timber in the domestic market
3.	Transparency and accountability
4.	Capacity of Liberia Timber Association Output 1 
Small and medium sized companies using mainly small timber milling machinery such as Wood-Mizers and Lucas for wood processing currently dominate Ghana’s timber industry. It is only by mock audits and on-site training that gaps in their operations can be pointed out and correction demonstrated to them. This output combined mock audits, on-site training/surveillance, wider sector engagements and study tours to build the capacity of timber SMEs to comply with Ghana’s legality requirements. 
Mock audit of 120 small and medium companies exporting and or supplying the domestic market to ensure that they have the capacity to comply with the requirements of FLEGT/VPA. These audits were carried out in the first two years of the project using project staff and trained chain of custody auditors. 
Guided on-site training and surveillance visits/monitoring of 120 small and medium companies already audited to ensure implementation of action plans and closure of Corrective Action Request (CAR). This action was performed in the year three of project implementation and it provided one-on-one support to the beneficiary companies after the mock audits. 
Wider sector engagement: Under this project, staff of 120 small and medium companies benefited from training on specific subject matters including Health and Safety; procedure for accessing small-scale Timber Utilization Contract and complaint procures under the LI 2254 of Ghana among others. There was also gender consideration where specific training of women leaders in 10 trade associations in the wood sector of Ghana was provided.

Output 2
A combined approach of public and private sector engagement will yield positive result by increasing consumption of legal timber in the domestic market. In recent years, many of the small and medium enterprises have supplied major percentage of their production to the domestic market. However, without purposeful effort by government and private sector entities to create market for legal timber and facilitate ease of purchasing legal timber, there will be no incentives to consumers to choose legal timber over illegally sourced timber. Research, trainings in the form of workshops, introduction of technology and advocacy are the main strategies this output employed to promote consumption of legal timber on the domestic market of Ghana. 
Challenges to supplying legal timber on the domestic market of Ghana has been established by the project through research. An online platform dedicated to trading legal timber on the domestic market of Ghana has been developed and launched. The platform is designed to link buyers of wood to vendors of legal wood. The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR), the Forestry Commission of Ghana and the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) have been supported to greatly advance the implementation of the public procurement policy on timber and timber products. The thrust of the policy is that, “No illegally harvested timber should be used for Government works”. The idea is to use the purchasing power of Government procurement to signal the market in favour of legally produced timber. Public Procurement Officers from 4 regions of Ghana were also made aware of the public procurement policy on timber and timber products and their capacity built to implement the policy once passed. 
Members of the Chamber of Construction Industry (ChCI) have been sensitized on the properties, preservation requirements and uses of lesser-known timber species being introduced to the domestic market. Momentum for enforcing national standards on legal timber has also been built through the project. The project has also supported women in the sector to form a group for a voice to contribute to developmental discuss in the sector. 
Output 3
Transparency is a key pillar in Ghana’s VPA/FLEGT implementation. Measures such as studies, publications and trainings were employed under this output. A significant outcome for this project is the development of the industry portal to the Ghana Wood Tracking System (GWTS). The portal interfaces with the GWTS and allows industry to submit their legality data requirements directly into the system thereby adding values to businesses by reducing the transaction time of doing business and avoiding payment of un-prescribed monies to officials for assistance. Industry access to the portal is increasing industry confidence in the Legality Assurance System (LAS) of Ghana. The project also facilitated the signing of more than 60 new Social Responsibility Agreements (SRAs) representing more than 65% of all forest holdings of beneficiary companies. These contribution of TUC holders to the development of the communities in which they work was also documented and broadcasted. Forest plantations have been recognised as the sure way to ensure sustainable supply of raw material for timber industry. As a way of enhancing transparency and accountability, receipts, disbursement and utilization of levies earmarked for forest restoration has been reviewed and published by the project. In collaboration with the Timber Rights Administration Unit (TRAU) of the Forestry Commission and ClientEarth, procedures for accessing small-scale timber rights (TUC) has been developed and published.
Output 4
It is important to mention that there are significant numbers of industry players in Liberia, which are either members of LibTA or LICSATDUN. Their weak capacity is a concern for successful and impactful VPA implementation. 
The project through consultations, publications and capacity building workshops reached out to these companies to enable them have ability to contribute to the successful implementation of FLEGT/VPA in their county.  Achievement under this output is reckoned as follows: In Liberia, knowledge and awareness concerning the rules and requirements of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and VPA programs was significantly increased among members of the Liberia Timber Trade Association (LibTA). The knowledge and capacity built has resulted in a sharp increase in the number of companies that not only completed their LEITI’s annual reporting template but also, there is increase in the number that completed it on time.  The project also supported the secretariat of the LibTA to publish timber species and their properties.  The publication is greatly assisting members of the association to showcase their products with ease.  LibTA published a Grievance and Dispute Resolution Mechanism (GDRM) in the course of project implementation and the GDRM is expected to reduce the number of court cases between members of the association and citizens of their respective operational areas. 
Still in Liberia, executives and members of the Liberia Chainsaw and Timber Dealers Union (LICSATDUN) exchanged knowledge with industry trade associations in Ghana on how to prepare their members for FLEGT licensing compliance. The project also helped develop the capacity of LICSATDUN in sustainable forest management and financial management for fiscal transparency. The project helped to develop the code of forest harvesting practices for chainsaw milling in Liberia in compliance with the Chainsaw Milling Regulation 115-11. Headquarters staff and County Executives of LICSATDUN received training on the code and in return, these trained County Executives and Headquarters staff provided similar training to more than 500 chainsaw operators in four counties. The financial officer was also trained with the usage of QuickBooks accounting which helped to put in place a transparent fiscal financial management system.