Project Detail

ADDRESSING LAND DEGRADATION FOR WETLAND RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS IN MAGWENZI UNDER CHIVI DISTRICT.

1.0 BACKGROUND
Zvishavane Water Project is a locally registered NGO with interventions designed to alleviate poverty and enhance food security in Southern Zimbabwe. The proposed project focuses on sustainable utilization of wetland resources and the protection of the micro-water-shed. The Magwenzi community is vulnerable to land degradation and this has resulted in reduced agricultural productivity. Root causes of land degradation include deforestation, soil erosion due land mismanagement and loss of vegetative cover due to uncontrolled livestock grazing. Zvishavane Water project has experience in addressing issues of land degradation, global warming and biodiversity loss from previous projects. The Magwenzi wetland area that needs to be rehabilitated is 8 hectares in extent.

2.0 OVERALL GOAL
The overall goal is combating land degradation in Magwenzi wetland for sustainable livelihoods

3.0 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

3.1 OBJECTIVE 1: To assess the extent of land degradation in Magwenzi wetland and the catchment area

- Outputs and Outcomes relating to objective 1:
OUTPUTS
a) Detailed baseline reports and indicators on land degradation produced (2 baseline reports produced)
b) One detailed ecological survey report produced on the biodiversity status of Magwenzi wetland

OUTCOMES
a) Informed community members, stakeholders and facilitators on the status of the wetland.
b) A community with a preparedness plan and implementation strategies to reverse land degradation

3.2 OBJECTIVE 2: To mitigate land degradation in Magwenzi wetland and catchment through participatory approaches

-Outputs and Outcomes relating to objective 2:
OUTPUTS
a) 8 hectares of wetland area fenced and protected
b) Various tree species planted in the wetland area viz (1000 seedlings nursed, 100 banana trees, 150 mikute, 200 mangoes, 100 mionde, 200 jatropha and 250 vertiva plants)
c) A catchment area with gullies which is 8 hectares in extent rehabiliatted

OUTCOMES
a) Vibrant ecosystem with improved landscape scenery and infrastructure.
b) Informed community members with improvd food and income generation strategies
c) Improved appreciation and knowledge on tracking the wetland biota.
d) Improved ground water recharge and availability of more grazing land for livestock

3.3 OBJECTIVE 3: To promote the water availability in the wetland towards sustainable livelihoods improvement

OUTPUTS AND OUTCOMES RELATING TO OBJECTIVE 3:
Outputs
a) One earth dam rehabilitated
b) At least two livestock watering points established
c) Lantana camara tree species removed in the area
d) Presence of women, men and youth who are capacitated to engage in sustainable management and utilisation of the wetland ecosystem
e) Information materials that include 100 T-shirts, 100 caps produced

OUTCOMES
a) A functional dam with improved aquatic plants and animal species
b) Controlled and organized livestock watering around the wetland
c) Vibrant wetland ecosystem with improved vegetative cover and animal species
d) Improved people's attitudes and behavior towards environmental management and involvement of women

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

ZVISHAVANE WATER PROJECT

Country:

Zimbabwe

Area Of Work:

Land Degradation
Land Degradation

Operational Phase:

OP4 - Y1 (Jul 07-Jun08)

Grant Amount:

US$ 32,528.25

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 9,200.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 63,000.00

Project Number:

ZIM/SGP/OP4/Y1/CORE/2008/08

Start Date:

7/2008

End Date:

6/2010

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Notable Community Participation

Community members will be involved throughout the project life. Focus group discussions will be conducted in baseline information gathering on the wetland and watershed areas.Community members will participate in assessing the extent of land degration, identifying the causes and mitigation measures. Project members will take part in awareness campaigns on environmental management and in documenting lessons learnt during project implementation.

Planning non gef grant

Funds from donors other than GEF/SGP will be sourced.

Project sustainability

Participatory rural appraisal that will be carried out in this project will contribute towards the community ownership of the project. They will be expected to manage it in all aspects from financial, environmental and social points of view. when leaders are trained in environmental governance aspects and business management, the sustainability of the project will be expected.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

The area has no indigenous people. However, there is participation of marginalised communities and the local leadership involved include the kraal herd and village herds.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

The project members will be involved in production of agricultural products from the garden, will also sell fruits from the orchard and fish. This will help them to generate income at both household and project level.

Policy Impact

The project will be a pilot in the ward which will show-case the ability of comuinities to take charge of their environment. The local by-laws can be adopted by the local authorities for replication in other wards. The local community as well as district and provincial authorities will also ensure that these by-laws are inco-oporated into national policies.

Policy Influence

The project will be a pilot in the ward, which will showcase the ability of communities to take charge over their environmenst. The district local authorities will learn and hopefully implement similar projects in other wards in Chivi. EMA will benefit from the capacity building and implementation phases of the project to achieve the goals of sustainable environmental management in the district. The project will influence the activities of Agritex in wetland utilization and policy formulation.

Replication of project activities

The project will be replicated in some wetland in the same or other wards in Chivi district, and within Zimbabwe. The availability of a nursery of tree species and jatropha cuttings would ease efforts to expand project of afforestation into new areas. The same participatory and holistic approaches may be adopted in other wetlands.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The wetland will be utilized for livelihood improvement through production and sale of produce from the wetland and nutrition garden. The members will also grow fruit trees in the wetland that includes mangoes and bananas for household consumption and for sale.They will also engage in fish-farming.

Capacity - Building Component

Training will form one basic component of the project. Stkeholders and community members will be trained in sustainable utilization of wetland resources. A participatory pre-trining needs assessment will be done to ascertain the areas that need training. This will result in a value based capacity building which is important in also influencing policy.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

With the use of media and internet services the issues relating to the global environment will be researched on and the information disseminated to the participating communities.Informative electronic media will also be used e.g the CDs that have been produced under each thematic are by GEFSGP office. This will be disseminated to all stakeholders during the workshops.

Gender Focus

ZWP Gender Policy calls for gender mainstreaming whereby both male and female counterparts are given equal levels of participation in decision making and project implementation. In addition, nutrition garden members who form the core group are women.

Planning gef grant

ZWP intends to scale up the project onto a higher-level poject of greater influence in policy-making bodies and local authorities that have control over state land.

Project Results

113 people (33 males and 80 females) attended a training workshop on sustainable wetland management

Bio diversity training was held at Magwenzi wetland with 97 people attending

Comfrey, lemon grass, moringa and mint were donated to the community by ZWP.

Nurseries of vertiver grass were established in gardens

Rills covering an area of 330m2 were reclaimed using stones.

Community was trained on beekeeping and beehive construction. 6 Kenyan Top Bar hives were constucted by the local communities using planks and placed in recommended sites.

Citrus, indigenous and exotic tree species namely mango, orange, natchis, sesbania,sesban have been grown in nurseries.

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Indicators

Biophysical

Hectares of globally significant biodiversity area protected or sustainably managed by project 8

Empowerment

Number of women participated / involved in SGP project 319

Biophysical

Hectares of degraded land rest 8

Livehood

Number of households who have benefited* from SGP project 100

Livehood

Number of individuals (gender diaggregated) who have benefited* from SGP project 1018

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