Project Detail

Coastal communities resilience enhancing project

The project aims to restore damaged mangrove habitats in 3 coastal communities in The West Coast Region with the objective of reducing their vulnerabilities to climate change, enhance their resilience to climate change impacts, promote youth participation in climate change efforts, promote active participation of youth and women in climate change response efforts and build local capacities in climate change resilience measures.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Global Unification - Gambia

Country:

Gambia

Area Of Work:

Climate Change Mitigation

Operational Phase:

OP5 - Y2 (Jul 12 – Jun 13)

Grant Amount:

US$ 10,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 3,500.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 1,700.00

Project Number:

GMB/SGP/OP5/Y2/CORE/CC/2012/03

Start Date:

11/2012

End Date:

12/2013

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

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Project Characteristics and Results

Project sustainability

"Adapt a mangrove" scheme where willing adults were assigned mangroves to look after was introduced to ensure sustainability in post project implementation phase. Trained mangrove stewards from the communities were also tasked to continue working on the mangroves . Both of these strategies are aimed at continuing and maintaining the success registered once the project ends.

Capacity - Building Component

40 members from the beneficiary communities received 2 day training in the local language on mangrove regeneration and conservation techniques. 25 oyster harvesters received training on sustainable oyster harvesting techniques.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

A general stakeholders' meeting was held to give an over view of climate change and the goal of the project. A 2 day training on mangrove regeneration and conservation was geared toward raising awareness on the valve of the mangroves and its role in mitigating global warming. both the workshop and training emphasized how local events and attitudes can affect the global environment thus giving the local communities a better understanding of how they are part of the global problem and how they can contribute to the global solution by doing their part locally.

Gender Focus

Both women and men participated equitably in the project implementation. The men such as the village head and most members of the VDC were in positions of authority and very influential in motivating and mobilizing the communities for active participation. The women groups mostly made up the traditional communicators and through songs, were able to pass knowledge and information onto the larger community, hence playing a vital role in sensitization.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

Some of the women from these communities make their living from harvesting and selling oysters. However the methods they use are mainly crude and inadvertently, are major contributors to mangrove destruction. To mitigate this, Oyster harvesters from the beneficiary communities received training on sustainable oyster harvesting techniques. This is aimed at improving their catch and income whilst leaving the mangroves intact.

Notable Community Participation

The project used a participatory approached. The community leaders were approached during project planning and they were fully engaged during implementation. The communities, led by the VDCS, formed committees to mobilize people for the planting and this resulted in a very large turnout for the mangrove planting. Using a "adapt a mangrove scheme", some willing members of the community were assigned to take care of a number of mangroves and it is anticipated that this will instill ownership and as a result, ensures sustainability.

Project Results

- One consultative meeting with 23 participants including village heads, VDC members as well as women and youth group leaders held in beneficiary communities.

-Identification and mapping of damaged sites around the involved coast area completed.
-one day stakeholder's meeting for project beneficiaries and other relevant organizations held.

- 2-day training workshop conducted for 40 women traditional communicators conducted for beneficiaries of the 3 villages. The traditional communicators were trained on environmental management including climate change mitigation strategies,forestry practices, waste management and how to protect the mangroves etc. their role was to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge and skill to the target communities.

- 20, 000mmangrove seedlings planted at Sanyang, tanji and Gunjur project sites which had previously degraded due to climate change and cultural practices. A total of 12 hectares was restored in the 3 villages.

- 25 women oyster collectors received training on more environmentally friendly oyster farming methods using racks to culture the oysters. this was necessary to stem the practice of cutting the mangrove roots during oyster harvesting resulting in high mortality of the mangroves.

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