Project Detail

Sarac Animators - Awareness Raising for Save Cacthment Rehabilitation and Protection

Recognising the worsening environmental degradation resulting in the siltation of the save river , the buhera district council pushed for action to be taken so as to rehabilitate the river.this project seeks to provide training to community representatives on resource conservation and these will spearhead environment management and sustainable resource utilisation effectively.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES
-To promote sustainable development in the region by mobilizing grassroots organizations in the design and implementation of resource conservation strategies
- To establish, co-ordinate and upgrade activities towards the protection of the environment at district level including the adoption of conservation and land-use by-laws
-To facilitate the training of participants in biodiversity conservation, issues relating to global warming and siltation of Save International River.
-To provide training to influential conservation leaders sothat they can animate their communities to protectanmd

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Save Rehabilitation Action Committee

Country:

Zimbabwe

Area Of Work:

International Waters

Operational Phase:

Pilot Phase

Grant Amount:

US$ 24,628.81

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 75,000.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 38,000.00

Project Number:

ZIM/92/G31/07

Start Date:

12/1994

End Date:

12/1995

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Notable Community Participation

Community participation has been quite evident and significant from project planning to implementation since the local community came up with the idea of raising awareness ont he protection of Save River. The actual project enhanced community participation through training representative from the local community who would then train other members of the community to initiate projects to protect Save Catchment.

Policy Impact

SARAC animators played a significant role in raising awareness on the siltation of Save river which is one of the major international rivers in Zimbabwe. The programme was scaled up to a national wide level programme called SCARP in 1999 and was now being co-ordinated by the Department of Natural Resources. However, the major donors who were DANIDA and NORAD

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

Sarac Animator Programme has been a pace-setter in the protection of biodiversity and of the Save International River. The approach adopted by the government is based on the principles of the Animator programme. The community has become aware of how their activities in the catchment not only affect their immediate locality but also the global environment and a case in point being Mozambique where Save River passes through.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

Sarac was a brainchild of the local people and the whole programme centred on training and empowering members of the local community to facilitate the process of reducing the siltation of Save River. Local leadership structures played an active role in the initiation of the projects and in the decision making process. The animators contributed in the design of the training programme by identifying areas they needed to be trained.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The Sarac Animator Programme ecompasses a diversity of projects with the endevour to reduce soil erosion, land degradation and promote ecologically sustainable methods of food production. Since the projects are also geared towards the reduction of siltation in Save River, it means the communities will have water available fo their income generating projects like gardens, livestock breeding, fish farming, etc.

Capacity - Building Component

The area of capacity building has been quite strong since the project focussed on training and equipping representatives from local communities in the Save Catchment (animators). The animators have been empowered and have been educated, motivated and mobilised their respective communities to engage in environmental conservation works. They are a recognised strong work force and have been co-opted into the nationwide Save Catchment Area Rehabilitation Programme (SCARP).

Gender Focus

The area of gender consideration has been very much pronounced since out of the 160 animators trained, there was an equal representation of men and women who were drawn from the four provinces of Zimbabwe.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

The programme by SARAC animators was scaled up to nation-wide level and the programme was called SCARP. The department of Natural Resources managed to mobilise funds from DANIDA and NORAD. However, with the advent of political tensions and sour relations with the donor community this assistance was withdrawn before the programme had even taken off and as aresult all the planned activities were brought to a standstill.

Project Results

The Sarac animators scored termendous results in raising awareness on the siltation of Save River Catchment. This helped to raise awareness especially for the policy makers specifically in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. The programme was then handed over to the Department of Natural Resources and scaled up to become a nation-wide programme.

ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE
1)CAPACITY BUILDING
Under the management of SARAC and MDA, various projects were initiated that include gulley reclamation, establishment of consolidated gardens, grazing schemes and afforestation activities. To date SARAC with the help of MDA and GEFSGP trained a total of 160 animators i.e 8 animators coming from each district within the 4 provinces. They were trained on conservation and environmental management and land-use planning.The animators have gone on to raise awreness on environmental issues and have faciliated a number of training programmes.

2) AWARENESS RAISING
Secondly, the GEFSGP provided funding and technical support for the programme. Some of the animators and communities have come up with integrated programmes to protect and sustainably use the lane for example in Marondera, Wedza and Shurugwi. The animator programme has been very successful as a participatory approach to conservation and sustainable development.

3) REPLICATION OF ACTIVITIES
The idea or technique of "Animator Training" has been taken up by several other programmes such as Give A Dam Campaign (GAD) where a similar animator programme has been used for training dam committee members in community participation, catchment conservation and District Environmetal Action Planning. Again as a follow up to the work done by SARAC, a proposal with the name "From Training to Action" was developed by SARAC together with MDA and covers all the 20 districts in Manicaland, Masvingo, Mashonaland-East and Midlands.

The only limiting factor was the shortage of funds due to withdrawal of donor support. As a result, the nation wide programme failed to take off, though in terms of SARAC members some of them are still there and working and have been able to influence neighbouring communities on sutainable uilisation of resources.

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