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Summary:

This paper presents a study on organisational changes that have taken place between 1996 and 2000 in four FUGs in Chaubas after they jointly established the Chaubas-Bhumlu Community Sawmill. The FUGs comprise almost 300 households managing almost 300ha of mostly plantation forest. The study is based on a review of documents, individual and collective interviews with FUG officials and users including women and disadvantaged groups, direct observation and formal surveys conducted in 1998 and 2000.

The four FUGs, over many years, have undergone a distinct evolutionary process. They have evolved from a stage where emphasis lay on plantation establishment and protection, to one where active forest management and income generation has led to an emphasis on investment of FUG funds in community development and a realisation that organisational development, equity and gender balance are key to further strengthen internal development processes. Major organisational changes the FUGs had undergone between 1996 and 2000 included:

•	An increase in the efficiency of committees by reducing their size and, in a number of cases, electing skilled individuals to key positions. In some cases women were added to committees to increase gender balance.
•	A significant increase in users' level of awareness about important community forestry policy matters.
•	An increase in users' interest in the functioning of FUG committees; the way in which committees functioned and their decisions were no longer always accepted without question.
•	Networking between the four FUGs developed to a great extent.
•	FUGs developed significant skills in forest and group management and had started to share their expertise with other FUGs.
•	FUGs managed to create substantial local employment opportunities, benefiting the poorest households and some disadvantaged groups. Between 1996 and 2000, the total value of local employment generated by the FUGs and the sawmill totaled almost two million Rupees.
•	FUGs earned substantial income, resulting in improvements in accounting practices. Between 1996 and 2000 the four FUGs and one other FUG supplying the sawmill, together earned nearly two million Rupees from the sale of logs alone. Auditing of the accounts took place for the first time, and FUGs have started to systematise record keeping.
•	FUGs started to invest in their own organisations by payment of allowances and daily wages, as well as funding operational plan revision. They also invested in their communities by funding infrastructure development and, to a lesser extent, human resource development.
•	Linkages were established with a variety of government and non-government organisations to enlist support for development activities.

The results of this study have shown clearly where the challenges facing the FUGs in their organisational development, in the year 2000, lay.

•	Leadership urgently needed to be diversified to change the current situation where leadership and decision-making was limited to a very few individuals. Representation of women, the poor and the disadvantaged needed much improvement.
•	Quality of meetings needed improvement by creating awareness about the significance of meetings, discouraging habits of late arrival, early departure, attendance of non-representative people and presence merely to sign attendance registers. An atmosphere needed to be cultivated to encourage meeting members (and especially women, the poor and the disadvantaged) to participate in discussions and decision-making.
•	Improvement in internal communication was needed to ensure user information about such matters as FUG income and expenditure, rules and regulations, committee decisions and development planning. Special mechanisms needed to be identified to inform women, the poor and the disadvantaged.
•	Further improvements in account keeping needed to continue to be made and annual audit of accounts instituted.
•	Much further concerted efforts were needed to ensure gender and equity perspectives in decision-making and benefit sharing. To move forward in this area, it was imperative that FUGs and the sawmill adopt participatory processes in the fulfillment of their tasks.
•	Development planning was generally done by a few privileged individuals. With a view to the size of financial resources being generated by the FUGs, and the potential to use these for poverty alleviation and local development, it was of the greatest importance that here too, participatory processes be introduced.

This study has shown that given secure rights, skill development and advisory support, FUGs can effectively protect, manage and utilise their forests, allowing them to meet subsistence needs, develop management skills, generate local employment and earn a sizable income for investment in, and development of, their communities. It is evident that the Chaubas experience has great implications for poverty alleviation in FUGs nation-wide. It must be borne in mind that the majority of the organisational changes in the communities are very new and many aspects of organisational management have yet to mature over the coming years. It is clear that the quality of changes can be greatly increased by the adoption of participatory processes, but it is not clear how to realise this seen existing power structures and the demands participation puts on the time and skills of FUG leaders. It is suggested that a workshop to discuss the results of this study with the Chaubas FUGs could be a way of renewing the discussions on quality of development and participation, and lead to the identification of methods and tools to carry through reforms. However, while assistance can be given, it is the communities themselves that have to make the decisions and ensure subsequent implementation and application.