Project Detail

Supporting biodiversity conservation and livelihoods in Chiriwo Ward, Mbire District, Zimbabwe

1.0 Problem
When CIRAD handed over the Chivaraidze Game Ranch (CGR) to Chiriwo ward in 2003, the ward had constituted and registered the Chivaraidze GR Cooperative Company (GRC Coop) whose organisational structure has an elected Board and an appointed management team consisting of a manager, finance officer, clerk, game and security guards. Whilst the ranch is popular with the Chiriwo community, the management function fell short of meeting the twin objectives of wildlife conservation and improving local livelihoods.

CGR Cooperative is facing significant challenges in the following spheres:
Corporate governance ? membership holding executive management accountable to performance criteria,
Enterprise development and management,
Protecting and monitoring wildlife, vegetation and water resources,
Repairing and maintaining essential capital assets,
Cropping and selling game meat to the community.
Establishing a productive joint venture with a private sector operator.
PNT has undertaken a full project evaluation and noted that:

Elected CGR Cooperative Board members lack training in corporate governance;
CGR Cooperative management lacks specialised training in wildlife and conservation enterprise development and management;
The CG Ranch has fewer game scouts and fence minders than planned and poachers have cut sections of the ranch?s fencing resulting in some of the wildlife escaping from the ranch.

Uncontrolled burning has occurred during winter destroying vegetation and depriving wildlife of vital pasture. Solar panels powering borehole engines at artificial watering points were stolen and putting the wildlife at greater risk during the hottest months of year. The ranch has not generated intended benefits to pay workers? wages, repair its butchery, land rover, tractor, motor bike, welding machine and to replace stolen solar panels. Game meat supply from CGR is now quite rare. Fundamentally, project facilitation in the area of capacity building was weak. The project faces collapse unless that problem is urgently addressed.

2.0 Project Goal
The capacity of the Chivaraidze Game Ranch (CGR) Cooperative to contribute to local livelihoods through conservation and sustainable use of wildlife and natural resources enhanced.

3.0 Objectives
1. Effective governance of the CGR Cooperative Company
2. Improved capacity of the CGR Coop to manage the ranch.
3. Improved capacity of CGR Coop to protect and monitor wildlife, vegetation and water resources
4. Shortcomings in CGR Coop?s capacity to maximize livelihood benefits to the local community addressed
5. Community ranch rehabilitated

4.0 Project activities
focus on awareness raising and training to improve the CGR Cooperative governance and to internalise principles and practices that assure transparency and accountability of the Coop Board. The Board management will be trained to function operationally and to manage its executive staff. The staff will be trained to manage and maintain ranch resources and its conservation and enterprise activities. The joint venture partnership will also receive attention to ensure the respective roles and responsibilities are known and capable of being delivered. The project would help restore capital assets and equipment and ensure that systems are set up for their maintenance. Finally, the project would establish monitoring systems to track governance, management, conservation and enterprise.

5.0 Project Results
Stronger & effective corporate governance is operational at CGR
Indicators: training reports
M&E plan & report.
Improved capacity within the CGR to manage the ranch as a conservation-linked business
Indicators: training reports
Improved capacity within the CGR to protect and monitor wildlife, vegetation and water resources
Indicators: asset register, maintenance plan, training report, restocking & wildlife population report
Improved solutions addressing shortcomings in CGR?s capacity in order to maximize livelihood benefits to the local community
Indicators: reports, quota, distribution of wildlife benefits
Experience documented & shared within community, district, campfire Association and national and regional CBNRM forums.
Indicators: reports, documents, distribution list

Loading map...

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

People and Nature Trust

Country:

Zimbabwe

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

OP4 - Y3 (Jul 09 - Jun 10)

Grant Amount:

US$ 45,740.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 36,000.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 70,000.00

Project Number:

ZIM/SGP/OP4/Y3/CORE/2009/15

Start Date:

1/2010

End Date:

12/2011

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Capacity - Building Component

: Many local people expressed regret that the game ranch is no longer convening annual general meetings at which they could be informed about the status of the game ranch. As a result local people learn about the goings-on at the ranch through informal channels that tend to distort information. The ranch was said to be lacking transparency about financial and related matters. This creates mistrust between community members and game ranch when in fact the ranch should be moving together in tandem with the community.Therefore capacity building of the Chiriwo ward environment committee and especially the CGR Cooperative is a central thrust of the project

Replication of project activities

At the recent Chiriwo ward community workshop the local people outlined the opportunities the ranch could provide by improving the conservation status of the ward and the well-being of its people. ? Improving the conservation status of the ward: If the ranch could be put on the rails once again, it could create for itself a unique conservation status as a viable community owned sustainable wildlife project. Ward 4?s conservation success could earn it national and international acclaim. It would be known as a hub of community-based wildlife conservation and other communities in and outside Zimbabwe could learn from its example. ? Improving the well-being of local people: If the ranch were operating viably, it could help to improve the material well-being of people in the ward. Related opportunities include the ranch?s assistance to the clinic, schools, and villages that are experiencing water scarcity. Significantly, local people see the ranch as providing an opportunity to gain access to legitimate meat supplies. These are some of the opportunities that the ranch could carve out for local people. If the above community-based objectives are achieved then the project would have wide replication potential. It could expand within the ward, between wards, districts and between community land and protect and private lands. It could also be replicated across national boundaries in the ZIMOZA and other transboundary contexts

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

Improving livelihoods is a central outcome of the project. As stated, investment in community assets (social, human, natural) are intended to generate physical (functional game ranch and joint venture enterprise) and financial assets (work, income, rent, meat).

Linkages gef projects

None

Planning gef grant

Not at this point but once model established it could be applied to the ZIMOZA transboundary (TB) project context and other TB project context. There is possible linkage with Mozambique TFCA support project ? World Bank, GEF.

Planning non gef grant

Gender Focus

Project includes all community members

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

The Chiriwo Ward?s has registered the Karunga Community Development Trust (KDCT) as a joint venture partnership. The JVP is an agreement between the CRG Cooperative and a private sector agency. The objective of the JVP is to improve the management of the CGR and also bring new investments in to the ranch to develop a tourism facility. The ward and ranch leadership highlighted that the ranch?s merger with KDCT is a major strength, which has helped to cushion the ranch from financial insolvency because the rentals paid by the Safari Operator have enabled the ranch to retain some of its staff

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

The local community is indigenous to the area

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

The project is integrated with the ZIMOZA tansfrontier initiative and a new Zimbabwe (Mana Pools NP) and Zambia (Lower Zambezi NP) transfrontier conservation area. The objectives of the TFCA are to conserve biodiversity at scale, as well as promote sustainable use and the rights of Local Communities and Indigenous People as supported by the International Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Policy Impact

The project moves the Campfire programme into new territory by developing a wildlife ranching cooperative. The ranching model has been successful in the private sector and with conservancies but in communal areas the prevailing practice has been the trophy hunting of wild populations. In Nyaminyami RDC in the 1990?s a cropping project occurred but was based on wild impala populations and not managed ranch populations. The project would provide a community-based application of the new environmental policy and strategy (2009). The project would develop the CGR Cooperative?s governance and functional management capacity in order to secure the ranch and its wildlife, thereby allowing resident wildlife populations to grow. It would also boost present populations through a re-stocking exercise. It would improve the ranch?s productivity by re-negotiating a joint venture partnership between the cooperative and a private sector partner. This is an important pilot for entrepreneurial common property management in the district and within the national Campfire programme.

Policy Influence

Project sustainability

The sustainability of the plan is based on a strong investment to strengthen the community?s financial equity, social capital (CGR Cooperative Governance), human capital (management and technical capabilities) to ensure game ranch (natural capital) is used productively and sustainably: (a) Efficient use of natural, social, human, financial and physical assets; (b) Technical competence (population status, sustainable use, monitoring, adaptive management) (b) Equitable distribution of conservation costs and benefits e.g. (i) Conservation costs ? wildlife security, fence maintenance, human-wildlife conflict, fire management, monitoring; (ii) Conservation benefits ? enterprise management, good governance and management of the benefit stream with attention to vulnerable groups e.g. poor, hungry, weak, HIV AIDS, single parent families etc.

Notable Community Participation

This project is aware that the first step to ensure participation and to sustain the process at the community and institutional level begins with the social mobilization resulting in the formation and strengthening of self governing institutions at the community level. This does not only provides support for organizational development, skills enhancement and capital generation creating community support for organizational development, skills enhancement and capital generation for creating community assets but also helps in the process of identifying community needs and preparing plans for implementation. The project would build on past activities that have been participatory and recent work in preparation for this proposal including a participatory SWOT and project planning process. The project would continue to ground the implementation process on this participatory background. All the resources (land, wildlife, social and human capital) belong to the community and the methodology of the project is to support local capacity and capability to rehabilitate and run their project. Participatory Rural Appraisal, Participatory Learning and Action, Logical framework analysis, Institutional mapping, Organization Assessment Checklist and Community status monitoring tool are some of the tools to used for effective community participation.

+ View more

Back to search results

Countries

Regions

Project Snapshot

SGP Country office contact

Address