What has been the most significant contribution of the NSC (as a group)?

"The NSC is made up of diverse individuals with varying technical expertise that contribute a lot in terms of the successful running of the organisation. They also are people who are from different parts of the country and therefore there is a fair representation of all provinces around the country. This ensures that the organisation is not biased to one part of the country only.

The NSC members are also involved in development work in their Organisations and provided substantive input in terms of experience and lessons learnt that has improved SGP programme. We have provided support not only in project reviews but have also participated in site visits and have been able to appreciate what SGP is doing in a practical way. Having been the ambassador of SGP at meetings, I have been able to raise its visibility. I have also assisted in conflict resolution and resource mobilization for specific projects. [...] The NSC in Zimbabwe played a pivotal role in the negotiation for STAR funds."

In your view, what is the most unique aspect of SGP?

"In my view, SGP deals with the under-privileged of the society who want to make a difference in their own small way but are not able to. Therefore, the SGP provides them with that platform. Each additional small idea incites a significant change for society.

Furthermore, SGP's ability to address global environmental challenges in a local way by tapping the knowledge, capacity and potential entrenched within communities is special. And so is its ability to achieve results despite the lean office staff structure and the small funds/grants given to communities and its ability to build communities' capacity to manage their own development. SGP has also the ability to network, building partnerships and linkages both at downstream and upstream levels with CBOs, NGOs, government staff, and donor partners. Overall, SGP is well defined and has systems to deal with programmatic and administrative issues."

How has the SGP benefitted your organization and/or community?

"SGP has provided financial support to enable us to implement our project activities as highlighted in the proposals. The financial support has enabled us to cover and pay for areas that we cannot fund ourselves. The SGP funds have really helped us bridge environmental deprivation, poverty and sustainable development. SGP has facilitated networks among grantees [...] and this has provided opportunities for learning [...] improving project delivery and project success. This learning has been further strengthened through conducting "look and learn" tours among grantees. GEF SGP stakeholder workshops have also helped develop capacity for project management and a platform for networking.

SGP has provided lots of information on its thematic areas and has raised awareness on the global environmental challenges. Through the SGP project our knowledge on environmental issues has been strengthened. For instance our project called Two By Two that is dealing with waste management, has benefited by acquiring knowledge on POPs/chemicals, the effects of burning waste and the benefits of proper waste management. Through SGP we have been empowered to manage our own destiny and we are no longer dependents but drivers of development."

"The project has also benefited in terms of capacity building from GEF SGP. Various trainings were conducted during the course of the project and the participating farmers were able to demonstrate the knowledge acquired during all of these training sessions. Training sessions focused on issues such as Results Based Quality Management Systems for organic farming, marketing, solid and liquid manure making, composting, soil fertility and Integrated Pest Management (IPM), evaluation and monitoring of progress towards organic farming standards, and various conservation farming techniques."

\"Zimbabwe SGP focus is on community-based initiatives and one of its fundamental pillars is that communities set priorities and objectives for SGP projects. This has been achieved in all phases of the project cycle. During proposal development it is the community that identifies the problem they seek to address and come up with the intervention strategies. SGP actually avails a planning grant to assist communities to have meetings and document their proposals. After funding of the project during the trainings, communities discuss their proposals together with the implementation and monitoring plan that they actually follow when implementing their projects. The other critical elements are that they conduct their own self-monitoring at local level and they review and set their priorities. This culminates in the production of progress reports. They also set up their own local structures that include the project committees, which help to monitor and ensure that the project\'s targets are achieved. In terms of documentation, they produce their own lessons that they have learnt and areas of success useful for scaling up and replication. However, what enables the communities to participate and set priorities is the fact that SGP has a bottom up approach and it focuses on capacitating communities to be in control of their development. This empowerment process and space that they are given to operate enables them to be active participants who are in control of their development and destiny.\"