Background
The community forestry concept in Nepal is a courageous, innovative and future oriented approach towards participatory forest management by local people. Community Forestry Program is widely celebrated as one of the most progressive policy examples of devolving control over forest resources to community based user groups, which has established a viable procedure for handing over the forests to actual groups of users with a legal status as autonomous and corporate institutions with perpetual succession.

Genesis of FECOFUN and its status:

Federation of Community Forest Users, Nepal (FECOFUN) emerged out of the idea that forest users from all parts of the country should be linked in order to strengthen the role of users in policy making process. And since its inception in July 1995, it has grown into a social movement organization with about 8 million people- all of whom are forest users. It is a national federation of forest users of across Nepal dedicated to promoting and protecting users’ rights. The memberships of FECOFUN are categorized into two types according to user-groups' involvement in natural resource management and use rights. Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) organized under the Forest Act-1993 of Nepal (provision relating to formation of CFUG) are eligible to become general member of this federation and any other user groups based on forest resources at grassroots level  are qualified to become elementary member. The structure of this Federation is comprised of three tiers like Village or Range post, District, and Central level committees. Furthermore, FECOFUN works to strengthen the institution of users groups and to increase their awareness to reduce poverty of local people through forest resource management.

To date, more than 11,200 CFUGs from across Nepal are affiliated with FECOFUN and it is towards a growing trend. FECOFUN has become an effective mechanism for developing a dialogue between policy makers and users and also, a learning center for user groups to take advantage from forest management.

Vision Statements 2007 - 2010

As a representative organization FECOFUN is inclusive, institutionally effective, self reliant and exercises absolute democracy.

Forest User Groups sustainably manage their natural resources are self reliant and practice social justice and inclusive democracy.

Mission

To promote and protect rights of community forest users through capacity strengthening, economic empowerment, sustainable resource management, technical support, advocacy and lobbying, policy development, and national and international networking and to uphold the values of inclusive democracy, gender balance, and social justice.