Abstract

Many CONSOLE partners are themselves involved in designing and testing of novel contract solutions at local level, either in the position as scientists, as key stakeholders and as representatives of practitioners who engage in contracts for the delivery of agri-environment- climate public goods (AECPGs). At case study level the focus lies on one specific contract solution for the delivery of one (or a limited number of) well defined AECPGs, while in CONSOLE the overarching objective is to co-construct an end-user led contractual framework and a practical contract solutions catalogue covering the four contract types result-based/ result- oriented, collective implementation/ cooperation, value chain and land tenure based as well as combinations or hybrids of them. The solution catalogue is foreseen to be usable by a wide range of end-users and actors and therefore needs to undergo a ground truth real-life testing to be organized by WP5. The CONSOLE Community of Practice (CoP) with its local, regional and/or national subgroups has therefore been set up. In order to enable a harmonized approach across all CONSOLE partner countries these guidelines provide a roadmap for the engagement with the CoP members throughout the project with particular emphasis on certain phases where a specific feedback or input for the task fulfilment is required. CoP members are core actors for the iterative process designated for the co-development of the contractual framework and solutions catalogue. Thanks to their involvement they can on the one hand directly benefit from insights gained from the diagnostics of existing experiences with AECPGs (WP2), from feasibility assessments (WP3), and from simulations and performance modelling (WP4). On the other hand, members of the CoP may themselves participate in the WPs 2, 3 and 4 in their countries and can here contribute to practicable solutions, besides through their involvement in dedicated feedback rounds. This document provides guidelines for partners for testing the framework and solutions catalogue, including indications about approach, planning and reporting. It outlines the organization of the feedback process to be organized in a harmonized way across CONSOLE partners and how to take advantage of ongoing case study activities at national level. Furthermore, it provides guidance on the tasks to be carried out by the national focal points. The contact persons of the focal points play a key role to facilitate the CoP process at national level, to report outcomes of feedback loops and to keep track of the actors involved in the CoP. Finally, first insights into planned training activities targeted to practitioners involved in the CoP back-to-back with the framework testing will be provided. It is important that training is of mutual benefit – for CoP members and in particular farmers, but also a way of gathering valuable insights for CONSOLE work itself. With the help of the CoP, the CONSOLE framework will develop into a supporting tool for actors in the field, enabling a better delivery of AECPGs by agriculture and forestry.