Project Detail

The development of sustainable apiculture and bee conservation in The Gambia

The project aims to support and give the foundation to all aspects of beekeeping and intends to benefit all the people dependent on apiculture and forestry for their livelihoods. The project has 5 main components:basic beekeeping training; Advanced beekeeping training; Forestry development and protection; income generation and market support and; Bee products and business training targeting women.

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

BEECause Gambia

Country:

Gambia

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

OP5 - Y2 (Jul 12 – Jun 13)

Grant Amount:

US$ 35,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 15,736.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 6,573.00

Project Number:

GMB/SGP/OP5/Y2/CORE/BD/2012/10

Start Date:

11/2012

End Date:

11/2013

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

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Project Characteristics and Results

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

A major objective of this project is to use beekeeping as a source of income generation for the beneficiaries using Improved and sustainable methods of harvesting honey. Market resources were created to get good and competitive prices for the beekeeping product of honey and other products such as candles, body butter and soap produced. The communities were taught the techniques of branding and product presentation to increase product value and consequently the income generated from their sale. Many beneficiaries have already started to benefit from the beekeeping business.

Gender Focus

Beekeeping in this community is often a male dominated field because of the requirement of land; which very few women owned. Consequently most of the trainees for the beekeeping were men. To counter this imparity, 180 women from 18 villages were trained in production of soap, candles and body butter from the wax of the honey combs. Thus even without having their own beehives, the women could also benefit from the byproducts of honey.

Project sustainability

Productive hives provide money from the sale of honey and wax and this demonstrates the value of the forest. Owning productive hives in the forest encourages greater awareness on the need to reduce fire risks; this provides an incentive for beekeepers to educate other forest users. Promoting the true value of honey has raised awareness on the importance of the forest as a source of livelihood and it is hoped that this will continue to motivate the community to plant and protect trees in the forest. Increased understanding on the linkage between trees, bees and improved livelihood will also instill sense of environmental stewardship in the community which will serve as a catalyst to promote better environmental protection and conservation. The skills learnt are life long skills that are easily transferable. As beekeeping is also not very labor intensive, it is envisage that, this together with the potential economic gains will motivate the skills to remain in the community and sustain the project for the long term.

Capacity - Building Component

The largest percentage of project activities was capacity building. A number of trainings in basic and advance bee keeping were held. Besides practical teachings on the sustainable techniques of harvesting honey, the training models also included topics on bee biology and the habitat requirements of bees. It is envisaged that an enhanced understanding on the importance of bees (such as in crop pollination) and their habitat requirements will promote better conservation and protection of the forest. Women were targeted and specifically trained on how to make candles, soap and body butter from honey wax and entrepreneur skills.

Notable Community Participation

This project is building on the success of a similar project implemented last year in the same community. Using experience from the past project, the NGO identified and engaged the community members that were motivated and have great potential to succeed. The project also collaborated with Peace Corps, established beekeepers and numerous community organizations and this resulted in very large community participation and in some areas, the demand for training was more than the project could accommodate.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

Through sensitizations and training activities, the project contributed to raise awareness on the link between pollinator (bee population) decline in the local community and the decline in the global population of bees and the severe global environmental and economic consequences.

Project Results

-3 day basic beekeeping training on basic bee biology, catcher box construction, honey and wax processing, management and maintenance of beekeeping equipment completed for 151 participants from 13 areas in all five regions of the country.

- 151 participants each received a catcher box that he/ she constructed during the training.

- two 3 day training as above conducted in a national park for park rangers; 30 catcher boxes built during this training and all have colonized and ready to be transferred.

-3 day advance beekeeping trained held for 19 people at the head office of the implementing NGO.

-1 day tree nursery training held for all beneficiary bee keepers.

- 125 females and 16 males from 14 villages trained in soap and body butter processing in 14 venues in all five regions of the country (10 participants per venue).

-180 women from 18 villages completed business training valuing adding and product presentation techniques as a marketing strategy.

-141 beekeeping suits, manuals, boots and gloves distributed to beekeepers in the beneficiary community.

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