1.1 Project Summary
The project is submitted under the GEF/SGP Capacity Building and Knowledge management grant. The project which is a joint partnership between ZERO Regional Environment Organization (ZERO) and International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR). The project seeks to support capacity development for GEFSGP grantees and partners through conducting Stakeholder workshops and knowledge fair. The project will address problems of limited capacity among development practitioners in knowledge management which include knowledge generation, production of appropriate knowledge products, packaging and dissemination. Furthermore, it will address issues of lack of coordination and collaboration thereby addressing problems of duplication of efforts and avoid falling in the danger of reinventing the wheel. ZERO will initially conduct a rapid capacity needs assessment to identify and validate the capacity gaps that exist in the target group made up mainly of grantees supported by GEF SGP program, stakeholders that include government departments and communities.

One of the most important objective of SGP country programme is to help build the capacity of the civil society to engage and respond to key environmental challenges. Given that capacity is frequently limited among the target communities of SGP, support for capacity development is critical for SGP. There will be strengthening of capacities of communities to implement and manage global convention guidelines, to monitor, evaluate environmental impacts and report on results achieved. Gender mainstreaming which is also one of the Strategic objectives will be supported through conducting gender analysis/assessment for the country programme, producing knowledge and guidance materials on how to mainstream gender and coming up with gender mainstreaming strategy and action plan.

The other key element is development of knowledge products and conducting the Knowledge Fair. The knowledge fair is a platform for SGP grantees to showcase on the work they are doing and it is designed to support networking and knowledge exchange among SGP grantees as well as other CSOs and the public to promote replication and scaling up of projects and best practices together with increasing SGP visibility. It is also expected to strengthen the capacity of civil society to influence policy development processes through participation in events that draw in influential individuals and institutions. The knowledge fair will be reflecting on more than 20 years of work implemented under the GEFSGP in Zimbabwe, hence bringing stakeholders to network, share, whilst beneficiaries/grantees showcase best practices, innovative technologies and lessons learnt. The project will kick start networking and sharing of information amongst stakeholders. This project implementation will ensure prioritization of gender mainstreaming. The project will address four of the GEF O. P6 priorities that include CSO- Government Policy and Planning Dialogue Platforms; promoting social inclusion (women, youth, and indigenous people) and Promoting Knowledge platform (ICT development and digital libraries).

1.2 Organizational Background and Capacity to implement the project

1.2.1 ZERO Regional Environment Organization (ZERO)
ZERO Regional Environment Organization was registered as an NGO in 1987 to facilitate a collective effort of supporting environment, climate and energy development in Southern Africa, paying particular focus of the needs and aspirations of rural women, men and youth. Although ZERO's roots are firmly in Southern Africa, it operates with continental and global vision and perspectives. During the first 10 years of its existence, ZERO worked mainly on energy and natural resources issues and went on to broaden its focus to include climate change (the present challenges to sustainable development in Southern Africa). ZERO has more than 20 years of experience in research and capacity building on sustainable development issues. Over the years, ZERO has built strong internal capacity in advocacy, networking, knowledge generation, and devised innovative means to capacity build CSOs and communities

ZERO?s mission: To promote an enabling policy environment for rural and urban disadvantaged women, men and youth to enable them to manage and utilize land and land based resources to meet their needs in a sustainable manner, through awareness raising, participatory policy advocacy, sharing of information and networking with stakeholders.
ZERO?s Program Focus
ZERO Regional Environment Organization (ZERO)?s core operating values are to be efficient, effective and ethical in its research and development work. ZERO believes in and works for a global paradigm shift, changing minds and promoting prosperity for all. As a development-oriented organization, ZERO functions as a catalyst, facilitator and coordinator in stimulating debate, influencing policy and implementing projects on poverty, energy, environment, sustainable development and climate change.

ZERO's main focus is assisting the poor to speak out with one voice and be heard at global and regional meetings where decisions are made that affect their livelihoods, and to help them cope with poverty, drought and climate change. With that in mind ZERO helps vulnerable communities and CSOs to input into the national/government documents e.g. national policies and strategies. Recently ZERO supported women and youth CBOs, women and youths to input into the upcoming National Renewable Energy Policy. As a regional, non-profit organization, ZERO works closely with like-minded organizations from across the world, governments, United Nations agencies, NGOs, private sector, academic and research institutions. ZERO also collaborates with its partners and sponsors, locally, regionally and internationally.

The new envisaged strategic plan for ZERO from 2018 to 2022 will be on four key areas i.e. Climate Change, Sustainable Energy (Energy Efficiency, Energy access, renewable energy) Trade and climate and the Post 2015 Agenda in Zimbabwe. All these will have a strong networking, capacity building and knowledge base.

Housed on its premises or property, ZERO has six staff members, of whom four are dedicated to programming. Within the team there is excellent capacity in Finance, administration, Climate change adaptation/Resilience, Sustainable Energy and Environmental issues. Interns are always available to support our work. It has been its nature to have ZERO associates who are called in to perform certain specialized tasks. As such it has about 6 experts who are mostly doing consultancies, but ready to re-converge to work when there is need. At any given time, in keeping up with limited resources, ZERO staff has remained steadily lean and never exceeded 12 in total.
Relevant Past Experience
Currently ZERO is coordinating a number of advocacy initiatives and networks namely CSOs Climate change working Group, Power for All, Green and Inclusive Energy program and Sustainable energy for all. ZERO has vast experiences in coordinating meetings of different stakeholders from citizens, CSOs, CBOs, media, private sector, donors, development partners and government Ministries. These meetings include capacity building workshops for CSOs, general citizens and media in areas of climate change and environment management. Capacity includes that of knowledge generation and management. As such, robust tools for this purpose have been developed. ZERO in collaboration with Practical Action and SNV organized an Energy Fair at Show grounds in Domboshawa. This was meant to show case renewable energy products and also facilitate meeting between consumers, producers and distributers.

ZERO has vast experience on generating and managing Knowledge. As a think tank, since 1991 ZERO has published and printed more than 60 working papers 30 magazines and 5 books on Energy, Land, Climate change, Natural Resources Management. The organization boasts of an information resource Center with a searchable database of 6000 publications. It has a state of the art website that has information like sustainable development, economics, environment, energy and climate change. It has also developed knowledge management tools on Energy, land and climate change

Between 2012 and 2016, ZERO organized a number of national exchange programs for women in rural and urban areas to share their experiences on Sustainable Energy, Climate change mitigation and adaptation. This program helped different communities to learn from implementation that other communities were practicing.

ZERO is the coordinator of the Government recognized Climate Change Working Group and has experience in community and organizational capacity building on Climate Change. It has a legacy of organizing successful events due to its power to convene. With the support of ZCCWG, ZERO has been coordinating pre- and post COP meetings since 2010. In 2017, ZERO produced a position for CSOs and private sector companies which was submitted to the MoEWC. The position feed into government?s position which feed into regional position towards COP 23. The position helped CSOs to speak with one voice towards COP 23.

In 2017, ZERO with support from other CSOs submitted a paper to the Clerk of Parliament advocating for more budgetary resources towards renewable energy from the treasury.
Experience and expertise of ZERO Staff
Name Professional Qualification Experience Position
Sherpard Zvigadza MSc in Agro meteorology (in Progress
BSC Special Honours ?Geographical Bio-geosciences
Higher National Diploma in Information Science
18 years? experience in Climate, Land Energy and land sectors
Eight years? experience in Information science, Knowledge Management and Documentation Programmes Manager
Wellington Madumira MSc in Tropical Resources Ecology
Honors in Agriculture 6 years? experience in the Environment Land and Energy sector including knowledge management
Project officer
Tendai G Moyo BA (Humanities and social sciences) degree in Environmental studies 3 years experience in the environment and Energy sector Assistant project officer
Jevison Gwariwa Diploma in business management
Diploma in management for executive
Higher national diploma in accountancy
13 years? experience in the accounting sector Accountant


1.2.2 International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR)
The International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with international presence in nine countries in Asia and Africa but registered locally in Zimbabwe. It has over 95 years of experience in empowering communities to overcome poverty. Guided by the philosophy of our founder Dr. Y.C. James Yen, since early 1920s, our predecessor the Chinese Mass Education Movement was responsible for changing, for better, lives of over 200 million Chinese peasants through the power of literacy. IIRR has continued to empower the rural poor to end poverty in Asia, Africa and Latin America since its formalization as an international development, training and research organization in 1960. IIRR started operating in Zimbabwe since 2013 and was registered as a Trust in 2016 while pursuing registration as a private voluntary organization.

Over the past 23 years, IIRR has been a leader in innovative knowledge acquisition, documentation, packaging and sharing process, now globally known as the ?write shop?. The write shop process is an all-inclusive process that allows key participants like farmers, community leaders, development practitioners, extension workers and scientists to write as peers. The participant ?learns-by-doing? to write various types of documents and peer reviewing documents written by fellow participants while at the same time producing documents that are ready for publication and dissemination and uploading onto a website. The documents are written in simple, non-technical language, well-illustrated, and attractively laid-out. Among its many advantages, the write shop process democratizes knowledge by giving credit to all who contribute and ensures that the resulting publication is freely available without copyright restrictions, which contributes to its widespread dissemination and use. Using this unique method, IIRR has produced over 200 written products ? manuals, tool kits, children?s story books, practical guides, case studies, policy briefs, academic text books, posters, flyers, brochures and technical papers for a wide array of clients in Africa and Asia. The most recent publications which were developed in partnership with KIT and the Ford Foundation are a series of 3 books on value chains (Chain Empowerment: Supporting African Farmers to Access Markets (2007); Trading Up: Building Cooperation between Farmers and Traders in Africa (2008); Value Chain Finance: Beyond Microfinance for Rural Entrepreneurs (2010); Gender in Value Chains (2012); Pastoralists Livestock Value Chains. The value chain series consist of practical tools that field-based staff apply to facilitate communities to explore their potentials in the value chain process. In Zimbabwe, IIRR, with funding from the Ford Foundation, through Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development (MAMID) has implemented a Virtual Livelihoods School of Africa (VLSA) program in Zimbabwe from 2013 to 2016. The program has established a functional knowledge hub at Kushinga Phikelela National Farmer Training Centre (KPNFTC) that is interlinked to Knowledge Transfer Africa (KTA) knowledge centers. This complemented the effort of MAMID of turning all its eight agricultural colleges in the country into centers of excellence. The program was targeting local communities, agriculture students, youths, extension staff, lectures, researchers and all other relevant stakeholders. The hub was supported with computers, library literature (books, training manuals, tool kits, practical guides, case studies) and a website (http://www.kushingaphikelelanftc.ac.zw) with VLSA e-learning. Since the hub was established at a national farmer training center, many smallholder farmers across the country will learn from the hub both physically and virtually. IIRR can facilitate sharing of information developed from this project through the VLSA e-learning platform. The other 7 agricultural colleges across the country are prepared to host knowledge hubs and this project can complement that effort to ensure sustainability of knowledge management and sharing

IIRR used the write shop approach and capacitated 10 agricultural college lecturers and 20 extension staff on documentation skills. This resulted in production of joint publications: at least 10 practical guides, 3 training manuals and case study on? Confronting Climate Change by Smallholder Farmers ? A case of Farmers in Umzingwane District, Zimbabwe. These documents are available on demand. The ten lecturers were trained on how to conduct a write shop to ensure their adoption and continued use of the approach in product development and to train agricultural students on documentation. IIRR, through the VLSA platform has facilitated a number of functional linkages between livelihoods promoters, smallholder farmers and markets. These include Bulk SMS, Whatsapp and VLSA app uploaded onto farmers? smart phones. IIRR in partnership with Knowledge Transfer Africa (KTA) linked at least 2000 farmers to the e-Mkambo call centers who are currently enjoying the access to market information. IIRR will use this approach and make use of the existing VLSA structures to boost knowledge documentation and dissemination.

IIRR is therefore going to use the ?write shop? approach to build the capacity of GEFSGP grantees and partners on documentation, packaging, publishing and dissemination of knowledge about development in a way that is easy to understand for a range of readers, including farmers, extension workers, NGO staff, government officials, youth and others whilst ensuring production of the project required documents.

IIRR has a Project Manager and a Livelihood Expert based in Zimbabwe. These have extensive experience in livelihood promotion and Zimbabwe development landscape and will oversee this project implementation. IIRR has developed a VLSA institution arrangement in Zimbabwe and Africa regional level as networks for collaboration, research, documentation and dissemination of livelihood best practices and approaches. The Zimbabwe team will be supported by Africa regional team members who are based in Kenya. These include the Regional Food Security and Wealth Creation Manager, Regional Communication Manager, Regional Gender expert and Applied Learning Manager and M & E Manager. At country level, IIRR has a team of trained editors based at agricultural colleges who were capacitated on documentation during the VLSA program implementation. IIRR Zimbabwe will work closely with GEF SGP thematic/landscape working groups to ensure prioritization of needs for different geographical landscapes. IIRR communication interns will be based at the village level in target districts in conformity with IIRR credo ??go to the people and live among them.? in order to adequately help them document their experiences in success stories, video clips and or audio clips.
Experience and expertise of IIRR Staff

Name Professional Qualification Experience Position
Zwanyadza Soroti MSc in Horticulture,
BSc Agriculture Hons degree in Crop Science, National Diploma in Agriculture
20 years? professional experience in agriculture, food security and climate sectors and in facilitation, training and capacity building of various target groups. At least 10years experience in knowledge management, documentation and packaging, and gender mainstreaming and advocacy. Programme Manager
Soil Muzenda Master of Philosophy in Agriculture, BSc. Agriculture Hons in Crop Science, National Diploma in Agriculture 15 years in capacity building, training and provision of extension and advisory services, agro-enterprise, climate smart agriculture, development. Expert in write-shops and knowledge management and community managed disaster risk reduction.
Project Officer
Nancy Ruhode Master of Science in Psychology

Bachelor of Science (Hons) Psychology 15 years of progressively responsible professional work experience within the Non-Governmental Organizations sector in Gender responsive programming and assessment, gender budgeting, gender auditing and analysis, gender programming tools designing and use. Gender Officer
1.3 Project Objectives and Expected Results
GEF SGP prioritizes grant making to poor and vulnerable communities as well as sectors such as those of women, local communities and youth. As such, most of these grantees lack the requisite capacity to effectively implement their programmes for achievement of the desired results. To this end, the capacity building grant seeks to build and enhance capacities for SGP grantees and partners not only in project implementation, but also in ensuring that they actively engage in influencing policy and make a positive contribution to the implementation of UN Environmental Conventions that the Zimbabwe government is signatory to. Gender mainstreaming which is one of the topical issue worldwide and thus, will be considered throughout the project.

The main areas with capacity gaps include general understanding of environmental issues and conventions, project design, proposal writing, project management and implementation, participatory monitoring, evaluation and reporting. The other areas include budgeting, financial management, communications and knowledge management. The workshops will help strengthen capacities of communities and stakeholders to implement and manage global conventions.

On another front, a lot of excellent work has been done by GEFSGP grantees as well as other CSOs in environment and sustainable development work; however most of them are often in the remote areas and still lack visibility. As a result, such projects have not got attention by the public, fellow communities and CBOs as well as decision makers. They miss opportunities to share their results in the form of knowledge and experiences and products from their hard work. The knowledge fair will therefore give priority and opportunity for such projects to be recognized by all stakeholders if they are documented and shared. This will facilitate knowledge exchange and sharing among project beneficiaries and other stakeholders.

Moreover, experience working and interacting with CBOs and CSOs have revealed that there is lack of networking and knowledge exchange platforms among these stakeholders and the public at large to promote replication and scaling up of projects and best practices. Most CSOs and CBOs carry out their activities in isolation, hence, the need to have coordination amongst these actors. The Knowledge Fair will provide CSOs and CBOs with a platform that brings them together for joint learning on different environmental issues but with specific focus on GEFSGP thematic areas.

The Knowledge Fair is a key activity designed to support networking and knowledge exchange among SGP grantees as well as other CSOs and the public to promote replication and scaling up of projects and best practices. It is also expected to strengthen the capacity of civil society to influence policy development processes through participation in events that draw in influential individuals and institutions. It is a time to inspire and be inspired.

Exchange visit for grantees that will be conducted after the Capacity Building workshops would enhance learning by doing for communities. This situation creates a conducive learning environment since the exchange of knowledge would be peer to peer.

Communicating project results is fundamental to any sustained effort for environmental conservation and poverty eradication. Production of various consolidated information materials and knowledge products to be distributed at different platforms is key for learning and replication. Through this project, SGP will generate and share information and knowledge generated through its portfolio by documenting different case studies, identifying best practices and lessons learned from SGP?s portfolio and promoting its exchange among SGP staff, grantees, policymakers and key stakeholders as a basis for decision-making on policies, strategies, program management, and to improve knowledge and performance.

Overall project goal/primary objective
To strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations, SGP grantees and institutions to address global environmental challenges through conducting GEFSGP Stakeholder workshops and enhance networking and knowledge exchange through documentation of activities and the knowledge fair.
Specific objectives
? To enhance the capacities of SGP grantees and partners to address global environmental challenges as well as monitor and evaluate environmental impacts and trends
? To strengthen networking and knowledge exchange among GEF SGP stakeholders
? To promote lessons learning through conducting of exchange visits for the NSC and partners to GEFSGP projects
? To generate, access and use information and knowledge for learning and sharing through production of various information materials and knowledge products to be distributed at different platforms
? To conduct gender analysis for the country, produce knowledge and guidance materials on how to mainstream gender and come up with a gender mainstreaming strategy.
? To enhance understanding of CSOs and GEF SGP stakeholders on COP process and Government policies for coming up with COP 24 position.
1.4 Rationale/justification of the project
According to the GEFSGP Country Strategy, SGP Zimbabwe considers capacity building and knowledge management as key-programming requirements and this project fits and addresses the GEFSGP focal area of capacity development. The purpose of GEFSGP?s Capacity Development Grants is to ?enhance and strengthen capacity of communities and civil society organizations to address global environmental challenges? which is in line with the overall goal of this project. The success of all environmental endeavors by the communities, CBOs, CSOs, the private sector and the government lies in the knowledge and capacity to design implement and monitor their initiatives hence this is an important area to be addressed. This capacity needs to be backed up by sound policies in which these stakeholders need to able to participate in the consultative processes during policy formulation.

Capacity building is essential for SGP grantees and partners. In Zimbabwe, stakeholders lack capacity building especially on global environmental issues that include biodiversity, climate change adaptation and mitigation, land degradation and chemicals. Organizations lack capacity to address environmental challenges, mainstream gender issues as well as track and monitor changes within these discourses.

Lack of networking and knowledge exchange among stakeholders as well as other CSOs has limited replication and scaling up of best practices. The project is expected to strengthen the capacity of civil society, CBOs to influence policy development processes through participation in events that draw in influential individuals and institutions.

To this end, the Strategic priorities to be addressed include:
1. Government Policy and Planning Dialogue Platforms
2. Promoting social inclusion (women, youth, indigenous people)
3. Promoting development of Knowledge materials


Table: Objectives, outputs, outcomes, activities
Objective 1: To develop the capacity of GEF SGP grantees and partners to address global environmental challenges in line with GEF SGP thematic areas, acquire skills for knowledge generation and management through conducting Stakeholder workshops
Activities Outcomes
Output 1 Three GEF SGP multi-stakeholder training workshops are conducted and attended by at least 110 participants.
- Carry out rapid training needs assessment for grantees and identify and validate areas for training
- Conduct training on GEF SGP thematic areas, UN Conventions
Gender mainstreaming, M&E conducting baselines as well as results based management. In the area of knowledge management, areas covered include how to write case studies and articles. -
Outcome 1
Empowered development practitioners with improved skills, capacity and knowledge on how to contribute to the implementation of UN conventions and GEF programming aspects, including Gender.

Indicators Number of Community Based Organisations who participated at workshop
Number of Civil Society Organisations who participated at workshop
Number of people whose capacities were improved and gender segregation
Number of workshops conducted
Output 2 One exchange visit for SGP grantees and one exchange visit for NSC members respectively conducted.

-Selection of sites to be visited basing on agreed selection criteria (Grantees self- assessments, innovation, gender mainstreaming and something unique and worth seeing) Outcome: 2
Peer to peer learning and networking is enhanced
Increased appreciation and knowledge of SGP work by partners

Indicators Number of peer to peer exchanges carried out Conduct site pre-visit for ground-trothing.
Number of linkages established between grantees and Extension workers, NGOs, Academia and Research and private companies Conduct exchange visit for grantees targeting the funded landscapes
Conduct exchange visit for National Steering Committee members to selected sites
Objective 2: To generate knowledge materials that include GEF SGP 25 Years of Action, fact sheets on the GEF SGP 5 thematic areas, gender guidelines and youth participation for sharing among grantees and partners
Activities Outcomes
Output 3 At least 265 copies of five different types of identified documents produced and packaged - Produce case studies for each thematic area i.e. (biodiversity, climate change, land degradation, chemicals and agro ecology)
- Produce 2-page fact sheets on GEFSGP thematic areas i.e.
? Biodiversity ? 20 copies
? Climate change ? 20 copies
? Land degradation ? 20 copies
? Chemicals ? 20 copies
? Agro ecology ? 20 copies
? Gender? 20 copies
? Youth participation ? 20 copies
- Produce brochures on GEFSGP ? 50 copies
- NSC appreciation products
- Production of award certificates for the outstanding grantees and most supportive Rural District Council.
- Facilitate scientific research on fuel saving stoves Outcome 3: Improved generation of new knowledge on best practices, innovative technologies and models that can be scaled up for better adoption by SGP grantees, service providers and partners
Indicators Number of fact sheets and case studies produced
Number of brochures produced
Number of publications produced
Number of videos/photo-stories produced
Target
? 5 case studies with potential for scaling up and replication
? GEF SGP ?25 Years in Action? publication
? Lessons learnt document for SGP
? Article on ?Youth in Action?
? 2-page fact sheets on biodiversity, climate change, land degradation, chemicals, international waters, agro-ecology and agro-ecology and gender
Mainstreaming
? Produce brochures on GEF SGP
Objective 3: To promote knowledge dissemination, sharing and networking
Activities Outcomes
Output 4 One Knowledge Fair conducted and attended by at least 100 participants drawn from SGP grantees, other CSOs, UN Agencies, research institutions, academia and donors - Organize venue for knowledge fair and associated tents, chairs and public-address equipment.
-Publicize the event to potential funding partners.
- Identify presenters for seminar topics and on certain identified practical and innovative processes, methodologies, and technologies
-Adjudicate judging of exhibitors at knowledge and give awards to a) best exhibitors, b) the outstanding grantee and c) most supportive Rural District Council
Filming of Knowledge Fair Outcome 4:
Empowered livelihood promoters in the region with relevant practical skills in order to reach resource poor households.

Increased GEF SGP visibility, improved networking and sharing of experiences. Effective networking and information exchange and sharing amongst communities and stakeholders


Indicators Number of Knowledge Fairs held
Number of participating community members
Number of Civil Society Organisations who participated at Knowledge Fair
Number of Community Based Organisations who participated at Knowledge Fair.
Number of awards issued out
Output 5
Objective 4: To conduct a gender analysis, identify knowledge gaps and provide appropriate capacity building training and tools including a gender mainstreaming strategy.

Activities Outcomes
Output 6 Gender Analysis report produced and knowledge and guidance materials developed Conduct inception meeting with GEF SGP with regards projects and gender mainstreaming expectations.
Outcome 5:
Capacity of grantees to mainstream gender in community-based projects is improved.


Indicators - Percentage of SGP grantees who are mainstreaming gender in their projects Literature review of GEF SGP call for proposals, grantees? project documents and reports and other relevant documents.

Number of participating community members i.e. beneficiaries (Gender segregated) Conduct gender assessment field work/data collection using Key Informants Interviews and Focus Group Discussions from representative sample of GEF SGP projects

Number of youths participating (gender segregated) Data analysis and production of Gender and Youth Analysis report.

Number of gender guidance materials produced Production of knowledge and guidance materials

Number of gender mainstreaming strategies produced Production of gender mainstreaming work plan/ strategy

Number of durable partnerships formed and sustained Facilitate creation of partnerships between sub-grantees and women?s organizations (e.g. Network of African Business women, African Women in Agribusiness, Kunshan Women?s Association, Prowse etc.)





Objective 5: Organize CSO/Get Policy Dialogues in preparation for COP meetings
Output 6 One CSO country position for COP 24 meeting. Organizing half day CSOs, private sector dialogue meeting in preparation for COP 24 meeting. ?CSOs better able to articulate their concerns and position in preparation for COP24.

?Increased understanding by CSOs of gender and climate change issues
Indicator One CSO country position for COP 24 meeting.