Project Detail

Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) and the community combating land degradation in Chidazembe area of Penhalonga through sustainable agriculture.

1.0 PROBLEM:
OVC in Chidazembe community have been struggling to survive, especially having lost their parents to the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Their lives have been characterized by various socio-economic deprivations which include lack of parental care, inadequate food, lack of clothing, deteriorating housings standards, reduced chances of attending school, loss of production assets, ill health, stigma, abuse and exploitation. In the struggle for survival the OVC, and the community at large have engaged in stream bank cultivation and the former has been engaged as labour in pine plantations. This has led to massive siltation and destruction of water sources like the wetlands that are a common feature across the communities. The ever-increasing number of OVC in the community has also put considerable pressure on the environment to regenerate itself, and this has resulted in some wetlands drying up and disappearing. Thus what lies at the scope of this project is to mitigate the effect of ?the effects of the HIV and AIDS pandemic?, which is the state of orphan hood which has brought with it desperate surviving strategies at the detriment of the natural environment.

2.0 PROJECT GOAL:
The project is set to contribute to improvement in the income levels of OVC households in Chidazembe community. This will lead to the overall improvement in their social welfare and security in the face of the growing effects of the HIV and AIDS pandemic first of which is the state of orphanhood and vulnerability that they find themselves in. The idea is to understand the environmental implications of farming activities and be able to employ measures that do not degrade it in communities? attempts to survive. There is going to be an increase in knowledge and application levels on organic farming, combating land degradation with communities being mobilised to establish composts in their gardens and ploughing down grain stalks after harvest, as well as the adoption of the Musha concept as a sustainable resource utilisation mechanism at community and household level.

3.0:PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
1. To strengthen the OVC and community initiatives in sustainable agriculture in Chidazembe by 2015
2. To increase the knowledge of communities in Chidazembe on conservation farming by 2015
3. To strengthen the Musha system among OVC households in Chidazembe community by 2015

4.0:PROJECT ACTIVITIES
1.1Establishing of low input organic demonstration nutritional gardens.1.2.Established fish ponds 1.3. Embarking on bee keeping 1.4. Embarking on rabbit keeping
2.1. Training on the principles of conservation farming 2.2.Combating stream bank erosion
3.1. Promotion of indigenous poultry production 3.2. Trainings on the Musha system 3.3. Conducting exchange learning tours on the Musha system 3.4.Promotion of seed rotation

5.0 PROJECT RESULTS
-Increase in the use of organic matter in nutritional gardens
-Increase in the making of composts in gardens
-Increased income from the sale of vegetables
-Increased consumption of vegetables within OVC households
-Increased knowledge on water preservation
-Increased income for OVC from the sale of fish

-Increase in the number of bee hives
-Increased income for OVC from the sale of honey
-Increased consumption of vegetable by rabbits
-Increase in income from the sale of rabbits

-People trained in conservation farming
-Increased number of people applying conservation farming techniques
-Increase in the number of contours constructed to combat stream bank erosion
-Increase in the number of community members applying stream bank erosion prevention technology

-Increase in the production of organic waste for gardens
-Increase in income for OVC households from the sale of poultry products
-Fully functioning Musha households
-Increase in the number of musha households in the area
-Increase in the number of people retaining seed for use the next season

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Mutare Community Based Child Care Trust

Country:

Zimbabwe

Area Of Work:

Land Degradation

Operational Phase:

OP4 - Y3 (Jul 09 - Jun 10)

Grant Amount:

US$ 23,750.90

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 7,680.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 35,500.00

Project Number:

ZIM/SGP/OP4/Y3/CORE/2009/10

Start Date:

1/2010

End Date:

12/2012

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Policy Impact

At local level the success of the project in Chidazembe will challenge local authorities like the district councils to use Chidazembe as a working model to community based conservation techniques to meet community livelihoods needs. In this way the myth that conservation could not be met with development would have been answered, and even the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) would adopt the approach for use to other communities elsewhere. It is a rare approach, which is bi-focused on combating the effects of HIV and AIDS through environmentally friendly agricultural practices

Policy Influence

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

It is clear that maintenance of the global environment starts from local initiatives, thus the success of the project in Chidazembe indeed will have local positive attributes to the environment. In much the same it will assume a global approach since the world over efforts to combat climate change, land degradation, pollution of international waters is being done and appreciated within local contexts, and it will only become global when more communities are mobilised to action as would have been expressed by the Chidazembe community.The success of the project in Chidazembe will be exported to other areas in Zimbabwe and afar in similar circumstances.

Linkages gef projects

None as yet

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

The indigenous communities in Chidazembe have been running related projects themselves related to environmental protection, which include working as out growers for Mutare Board and Paper Mills in the pine tree cultivation. The communities also exhibit invaluable indigenous knowledge systems on environmental protection, which range from the banning of indiscriminate cutting down of trees, hunting for game in the area as well as the use of fishing nets in the rivers and dams surrounding the area. The community is already engaged in bee keeping which is restricted to some selected households.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

The model of working on low input gardens that are maintained by conservation or organic farming methods will make sure that the communities apply their inherent existing indigenous knowledge systems in running the gardens. It is appropriate for the technology has been available since time immemorial, and now it will be taken to full application. No expenses in financial terms would the community incur in running the gardens, and some of the ancillary projects like fish farming and rabbit rearing.In fact the beneficiaries will get a source of income from selling their farm produce.

Project sustainability

The model of working on low input gardens that are maintained by conservation or organic farming methods will make sure that the communities apply their inherent existing indigenous knowledge systems in running the gardens. The model of the project is sustained within the concept of the Musha concept, which is a traditional model of creating an ideal home where it self sustains itself using the available natural resources found at the homestead. At the end of the day each project activity will feed into the other and the project perpetuates itself into the future.

Planning non gef grant

The objectives set in this herein represents strategic objectives for Mutare Community Based Child Care Trust whose main thrust is to ensure that the project goal is attained. Thus, plans are in place to take the project further even without GEF grants. Resources will be, and are being sought from other sources to further support the attainment of the project goal and vision.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The project is creating a nexus between mitigating the effects of the HIV and AIDS pandemic and depending or working on the environment in a sustainable way .This is an approach that looks at meeting the livelihoods concerns of the most vulnerable members of the community like OVC through the practice of sustainable agriculture, or best practices in agriculture that do not degrade the land for continuity purposes of the lives of the same communities.

Gender Focus

The project is initially set to benefit directly eighty-eight OVC including forty-two males and forty-six females of the age groups that span from three years to sixteen years old. Indirect beneficiaries will come in the form of other family members who are not necessarily orphans from which the OVC belong, as well as the community at large.

Planning gef grant

The project represents a big package to combat land degradation and restore or maintain biodiversity by creating trade-offs with communities? need to provide for their survival through exploiting the same land. As a result plans to scale it up to medium GEF funding and further are there since our success and impact now is not the end in itself. Socio-economic challenges are universal and at times they come in different formats that nevertheless have a negative impact on the environment. Plans are set for more funding as the project is going to expand to other areas since the concern is a national one. It is envisaged that more funding will be unveiled to scale up OVC and community efforts to protect their natural environment whilst making a living out of it.

Replication of project activities

The project will indeed be replicated to other areas, as other communities would derive motivation from the success of the project. No community in Zimbabwe has been spared the menace of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, and development agencies and the government has been grappling to contain the growing challenge of OVC and declining productivity within households. This has also been worsened by relentless attack on the land as people struggle to eke a living of the land through farming. Thus a model that solves the puzzle of providing for the livelihoods needs of communities in an environmentally friendly context is welcome to other communities. An initiative that strives to work on the impact of HIV and AIDS on the OVC and the wider community is welcome.

Capacity - Building Component

There is going to be an increase in knowledge and application levels on organic farming, combating land degradation with communities being mobilised to establish composts in their gardens and ploughing down grain stalks after harvest, as well as the adoption of the Musha concept as a sustainable resource utilisation mechanism at community and household level.

Notable Community Participation

Work on the project is being done through the involvement of local community stakeholders that include village heads, councillors and other community stakeholders of note. The strategy will be for these stakeholders to buy into the focus of the project through community participation and ownership to mitigate on the effects of the HIV and AIDS pandemic

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