GDA bases its work around 04 strategic axes which serve as a basis and support to guide the work of the organization. These are: support to indigenous peoples and local communities, sustainable management of forests and other natural resources, climate change, training and capacity building.

Axis 1: Support for indigenous peoples and local communities

Green Development Advocates (GDA) intends to promote the respect and recognition of traditional rights and knowledge as well as the improvement of the livelihoods of local and indigenous communities around the objectives below:

• Promote the protection and recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities;
• Contribute to securing the traditional spaces of local and indigenous communities;
• Contribute to the establishment of community initiatives aimed at supporting sustainable means of subsistence (regenerative economy, agroecology);
• Promote the effective participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in the decision-making process;
• Revitalize traditional and ecological governance systems.

Axis 2: Sustainable management of forests and other natural resources

For GDA, more participatory, equitable and objective management could be more effective, as could increasing the forest area, not to mention sustainable supply chain management. The objectives assigned to this strategic axis are as follows:

• Contribute to the improvement of forest governance;
• Promote better participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in forest management;
• Promote inclusive management of community forests (men, women, youth);  
• Promote restoration of degraded forests;
• Promote valuation of NTFPs;
• Influence national and international policies / projects / programs that will impact the forest and other natural resources.

Axis 3: Climate change

To achieve this axis, GDA’s mission is to:

• Promote the consideration of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in the development of climate policies;
• Contribute to the fight against deforestation and forest degradation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
• Improve adaptation capacities indigenous peoples and local communities;
• Promote the inclusion of traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities in policies and projects to combat climate change.

Axis 4: TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING

In order to succeed in this training and capacity building component, GDA has set itself four main objectives for the next three years, namely:

• Improve the process of capitalizing on acquired knowledge and experiences;
• Improve the efficiency of GDA, through better professionalization of its operation, communication and capacity building of its staff on relevant emerging themes;
• Improve the skills of civil society executives, administration at local and national level, leaders of indigenous peoples and local communities in order to make them agents of development;
• Contribute to improving the involvement of society civil society in the management of natural resources and the promotion of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities