Project Detail

Mitigating Land degradation through gully reclamation, agro forestry and organic farming for sustainable livelihoods.

The project on Mitigating Land degradation through gully reclamation, agro forestry and organic farming for sustainable livelihoods is located in Kapembere Communal lands, Muzarabani District of Mashonaland Central and it lies approximately 16±20 S latitude and 30±58 E longitude. Muzarabani District lies on the leeward side of Mavuradonha Mountains in the Lower Zambezi Valley which is classified under ecological region 5. The climate is semi arid receiving the mean annual rainfall of 600 to 800mm, with short rain season from November to March and a long dry season from April to October. Maximum temperature ranges from 30 degrees Celsius to 40 Celsius in summer while the minimum ranges from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius in winter. The soils are Sodic with a few patches of Kalahari Sands. Three major rivers Hoya, Utete and Musengezi are the main sources of water for communities during dry seasons.

The major environment problem is land degradation mainly caused by natural factors such as floods, type of soil, nature of the terrain, lack of vegetation cover as well as human induced factors such as deforestation and poor methods of farming. Other environment challenges include climate change and biodiversity loss. Communities in Muzarabani derive their livelihood from small grain (sorghum, groundnuts and cowpeas), cotton and livestock production. Besides the aforementioned environment problems, Muzarabani is one of the most vulnerable District in terms of food security owing to the climatic factors, climate change and land degradation. Every season communities get humanitarian assistance from NGOs in form of food aid to cushion against food insecurity.

Kapembere Ward (Ward 8) has a total population of 5710 (2805 males and 2905 females) from 1397 households drawn from 15 villages; 2 registered primary schools with a total enrolment of 562 and 706 respectively and 1 secondary school with a total enrolment of 441. (Census 2012)The project is targeting five villages namely Mwanza, Manhango, Mutunda, Musiiwa and Bangura of Kapembere ward with beneficiaries totaling 1810 (682 males, 1138 females); children/OVC; 524 adults elderly and widows and 6 disabled.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Methodist Development and Relief Agency

Country:

Zimbabwe

Area Of Work:

Land Degradation

Operational Phase:

OP5-Y3 (Jul 13 - Jun 14)

Grant Amount:

US$ 50,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 35,000.00

Project Number:

ZIM/SGP/OP5/Y3/STAR/LD/13/11

Start Date:

11/2013

End Date:

9/2015

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Gender Focus

Gender mainstreaming will be incorporated in the project implementation plan. This will be done to address the issue that women, girls and boys are usually marginalized in most projects and do not have access to the benefits of such projects. This is in the view that women and youths are affected by environmental challenges more than men hence the strong link them and natural resources. This is more pronounced in the rural areas and to some extend in the urban areas in the case of Zimbabwe where women have to fetch water and harvest firewood for cooking. The project implementation plan also ensures balanced gender attendance and participation at workshops and people?s forums. Mainstreaming gender will also be ensured by collecting gender disaggregated data in research and all project documentation. Reports will disaggregate data according to sex and age since all have to have access to resources and services offered in this programme. Sensitization on gender mainstreaming will also be done during the mobilization of communities and stakeholders so that all participants are aware of this component. Messages on t-shirts and flyers will also be gender sensitive. Besides, the demographic set up of Kapembere Ward shows that it has more women than men hence the need for equitable distribution of resources in favour of women. As a result, for every project to be carried out in this programme the number of women participants will be more.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

It is hoped that the communities will realize their global environmental citizenship and their global responsibility in the fight against biodiversity loss and land degradation. The development and implementation of by laws will also help the communities realize the link between forests and Biodiversity loss and land degradation. Through the fusion of indigenous knowledge systems with some of the interventions, the community knowledge base and capacity to deal with localized biodiversity loss challenges will be enhanced. Lessons learnt and best practice will be shared on the Agency website and during seminars and workshops on climate change mitigation and adaptation and the climate change working group .Information will also be shared through testimonials, photo stories, posters, signage and videos which will be posted on the Agency website and on You tube. Reports and power point presentations will also be shared during the water and sanitation cluster meetings and other partner and donor forums.

Policy Impact

Strategy for influencing policy will include advocacy, dissemination of the Project information to policy and decision makers through the local media, MeDRA website and newsletters to raise awareness on the two subjects. Gender mainstreaming advocacy component will influence implementation of NGWESAP, the strategic plan on gender mainstreaming while awareness raising will speed up knowledge on the national environment policy and speed up achieving of MDGs. Again the SADC Action Plan, recognizes that desertification is a major global economic, social and environmental problem, the United Nations Conference on Desertification adopted a Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD) in 1977.Despite this, by 1991 the problem of land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas had intensified. At the UNCED (Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, a new integrated approach emphasized sustainable development at the community level, with the Conference calling for a Convention to Combat Desertification, especially in Africa. National Action Programmes (NAPs) are one of the key instruments in implementing the convention. These are developed using a participatory approach at local levels, providing practical measures for combating desertification. NAPs are strengthened by Sub-regional and Regional Programmes (SRAPs and RAPs). The SADC SRAP has as its objectives the strengthening of the policy, legal and institutional foundations for environmental management, enhancing public awareness and mobilizing their active participation in combating desertification, land degradation and the effects of drought. The SRAP focuses on seven priority programmatic areas of intervention ? Capacity building and institutional strengthening ? Strengthening of early warning systems (food security) ? Cooperation in the sustainable management of shared natural resources and ecosystems ? Information collection, management and exchange ? Development and transfer of appropriate technology to the community level ? Development of alternative energy sources ? Socio-economic issues And the programme wishes to address most of these issues

Policy Influence

Replication of project activities

The chances to replicate this project to other local communities are very high especially in the adjacent wards in the valley where the challenge of biodiversity loss through gullies is also quite evident. The documentation of project activities will help when the project is replicated. The developed training materials will also enhance awareness through dissemination.

Notable Community Participation

The community is going to be involved on every stage so as to ensure community ownership. The local community leadership (Chiefs, Headmen and Village Heads) and the Rural District Councils will be used as entry points of the project to ensure that the community participates. The involvement of these offices will ensure communities buy in since they command a lot of respect from the local communities. Active community mobilization and their involvement in the project from the initial rollout phase would also help in ensuring community ownership. The communities where consulted in the development of the proposal and gave the statistics that were used. The communities will take the lead through the committee in the implementation of all the activities. The project seeks to raise awareness on biodiversity conservation and land use management. This knowledge will directly result in the reduction of activities that exacerbate biodiversity losses and land degradation. The project will, therefore strengthen community participation in the proposed interventions by making them take the lead in the implementation of the activities. Their participation will equip them with the knowledge to continue with such interventions when MeDRA leaves the area.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

The community will contribute to the project in form of labour and tools. The project will plant trees seedlings and sell them to augment the small grant funding for the project. Donations from well wishers will also help in funding other project activities. Churches will provide venues for workshops at reduced rates. Honey from the bee keeping projects will be sold to raise income. Local business persons will be approached to assist and compliment by providing fencing and garden equipment. Fruits from the orchard will supplement income and nutrition for PLWHA.

Linkages gef projects

The project links very well with other GEF larger projects which address most Millennium Development Goals. The project links to the Millennium Development Goals (especially number 1) which seek to eradicate extreme poverty by 2015. Millennium Development Goal number 7 aims to ensure environmental sustainability which seeks to integrate sustainable development principles into national policies. It also supports Goal Number 6 which aims at combating diseases. This project also seeks address MDG no.6 by promoting health through supplementing the community?s diet with fruits from the orchards. Provision of clean water and fresh air from the trees will promote good health in the community.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The project will have positive impact on livelihoods. Education on the causes and effects of biodiversity loss and land use management challenge will also include awareness on the need for sustainable natural resource management for sustainable livelihoods. Food security is also addressed by the project since it will train the communities in woodland conservation that is linked to bee-keeping and sustainable agriculture. The orchards will also produce fruits that will be sold by the communities and also supplement their dietary requirements. The communities will be trained in seeding the tree seedlings, transplant them and on how to maintain their orchards by fumigating and grafting. The seeds will be sold to other initiatives or organizations such as Safire who are doing similar projects in Mashonaland Central. Every registered beneficiary will be responsible for the maintenance of the orchard.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

There are no indigenous people

Planning gef grant

There are plans to scale up the project to GEF medium size funding or scale up using other mobilized resources. In medium size GEF funding, biodiversity and land use management awareness raising will be expanded to other areas in the valley including areas where flooding is the order of the day and to other stakeholders. The Agency will also seek for funding from other partners so that the project can be replicated in areas such as Midlands and Matebeleland which fall under region 4 and 5.

Capacity - Building Component

Training workshops and meetings will be conducted to improve and increase the level of awareness and appreciation of biodiversity and land use management by the communities. Community based approach will enable the transfer of knowledge and skills to improve output. Capacity will be built on conservation agriculture/organic farming, gully reclamation, biodiversity conservation and bee keeping. The community will gain knowledge through exchange visits with some communities who have done similar projects e.g Muzavazi Permaculture in Mhondoro. Resource persons will be called from various organizations that have done similar projects before e.g Fambidzanai Permaculture, Conservation farming network, Mhondoro Permaculture, EMA and forestry commission to train the community in their areas of speciality on the various projects it intends to embark on. The community has some knowledge about these projects to some extent so there is need to capacitate them fully. For example, there is evidence that in some areas they have attempted to fill the gullies but lack of technical knowhow made the gullies to resurface or remain very visible. The community will learn how to keep bees from another project in the valley- Muzarabani livelihoods in Hwata ward.

Project sustainability

Youths are incorporated into the project for purposes of sustainability and future of the project while capacity building in various aspects of sustainable environments will promote continuity of projects when partners have left. Incorporation of government ministries and local authorities will also increase sustainability. Community ownership of the project results in a sense of responsibility and close relationship hence the programme becomes self sustaining. The entrepreneurship component also increases ownership as people will want to continue earning income from the programme. Attachments will create networking and information sharing among communities thereby increasing sustainability. Use of Local resources and low cost material will make it easy for communities to replicate or replenish their project inputs without external support. Large scale production of fruits , honey vegetables and herbs will make the community realize an income and encourage them to keep working. At the end of two years monitoring of the programme will be handed over to the community and local government for purposes of continuity.

Project Results

-engaged in tree planting activities where 28 trees were planted but 27 survived.
-The group has managed to channel water from a borehole which is the water source to the project site through the use of solar system which pumps water from the borehole into the water tank. From the tank the water travels through pipes which are connected to water tapes.
-variety of vegetables in the garden such as spinach, tsunga.
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Indicators

Empowerment

Number of women participated / involved in SGP project 269

Livehood

Number of households who have benefited* from SGP project 345

Livehood

Number of individuals (gender diaggregated) who have benefited* from SGP project 1810

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