Regional Centre for Development Cooperation (RCDC) evolved as a civil society organization primarily with an objective of consolidating community stake in forest governance. Since its inception in 1993 it has seen many dynamics on the CFM (community forest management) front, and has pioneered initiatives that have been necessary for strengthening CFM activities with the need of changing times. The Odisha community-REDD project was one of the latest in such initiative, but it was a bit different in the sense that RCDC took up this project on a pilot basis for experimental purpose so as to see how far REDD+ appears to be feasible under the local circumstances and also to what extent it can actually help the CFM.