The Governing Council of the African Forest Forum (AFF) and its committees met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during March 17-21, 2014.  The following committees met prior to the meeting of the Governing Council on March 20-21: Task Force on Resources Mobilisation, Finance Committee, Working Group on Climate Change, Working Group to Promote Forestry in African Initiatives, Technical Support Team (TST) to International and Regional Negotiations and the Executive Committee.
The Governing Council meeting was opened by  His Excellency Ato Kebede Yimam, State Minister, Ministry of Environments and Forests. Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources , Hawassa University, was the local partner institution in organising the meetings in Addis Ababa; and AFF is very grateful for this support. AFF thanks the Government of Ethiopian for the various forms of support extended to it, and including an invitation to join the Ministry of Environment and Forests in activities to commemorate the International Day of Forests.
The business of the Governing Council started by receiving four new members as follows: Prof Gerald Monela, Vice Chancellor of Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania, is the new representative for Eastern Africa, while Mr Ibro Adamou, Director of Forestry, Niger, will represent the West African region.
The 10th AFF Governing Council Meeting
Dr. Ms Marie Louise AVANA TIENTCHEU, Coordinator of the Regional Centre for Specialized Training in Agriculture based in Yaoundé, Cameroun will represent Central Africa while Dr Aissetou Yaye, ANAFE’s Executive Secretary, will be the second representative from civil society organisations.
Under Article 7 of the AFF Constitution, voting members of the Governing Council and the Executive Committee shall, in principle, hold tenure for a maximum of five consecutive years that can be extended by the Governing Council when necessary.  The 21 voting members are the fifteen (15) representatives from the African continent, equally and equitably drawn from the five geographical sub-regions, two members from civil society organisations, two from the private sector, and two from outside the African continent. At the end of the first five years, a number of members of the Governing Council and the Executive Committee, not exceeding one-third, shall retire from office.  This being the sixth year of AFF, the GC approved replacement of four GC members. 
The Governing Council received and approved various reports and recommendations from its committees.  These included approval of the 2014 Plan of Work and Budget for the SDC and Sida supported projects; new members to AFF and other operational matters of AFF.
The SDC project focuses on three working areas:
1) Policy and advocacy,
2) Capacity building and skills development and
3) Knowledge management; while the Sida supported project focuses on six components as described earlier.
The meeting of the Governing Council coincided with the International Day of Forests that is celebrated on March 21st every year. On this day, all members of the Governing Council joined their colleagues from Ethiopia to celebrate the event at Menagesha Suba Forest located some 55 KM west of Addis Ababa. The event was well attended by government and non-government institutions working on forest related issues.