1.1 Project Summary
The project on Climate change mitigation through utilization of solar energy, organic farming technique and forestry practice, seeks to address the impact of climate change on communities? livelihoods. The project is located in ward 28 of Mwurwi town; Mashonaland Central Province about 100kilometres North West of the Capital City Harare. Its climate is characteristic of agro-ecological region 2 which receives good rains averaging between 650-800mm, but is subject to frequent droughts, dry summer spells and short rainy seasons due to climate change (Agritex). Most of the rains are normally received between November and March. However some of the areas in this district have been noted as being relatively dry as compared to the rest of the region. The soils are pit sand with a few patches of red clay soils (Lister 1987). Mwurwi is a commercial and communal farming area with tobacco being the main crop grown.

Action 24 is facilitating the project and it is a youth oriented organization registered as a Trustee under the Zimbabwean law in 2010. The organization is governed by a board of trustees which has reputable, experienced and dedicated men and women. The organization?s annual budget for 2013 is $120 000 and is fundraised through donor funding and grants. Action 24 has a staff compliment of 5 employees including the National Coordinator, Programmes Coordinator, Climate Change Advocacy Officer, Admin/Finance Officer and Gender and DRR Officer as indicated by the organogram attached in Annex 1.

The project shall be implemented by youth from the ward whose names are highlighted in Annex 1. The ward is made up of former farm workers whose families are from different backgrounds and can be classified as poor. The ward can be classified under transitional peri-urban setup that is administered by the local town council. The majority of the youth in the area generate their income and employment through cross boarder trading and operation of small buying and selling business.

Overall goal of the project: Climate change mitigation through utilization of solar energy, organic farming technique and forestry practice.

Project Objectives:

1) To mitigate climate change through utilization of solar energy in horticulture production.
2) To promote Climate Smart Agriculture methods of organic farming in mushroom and potatoes production.
3) To document lessons learnt and production of climate change awareness raising materials.

Project Activities

Conducting 1 project Inception workshop with relevant stakeholders; training of beneficiaries on maintenance of water harvesting infrastructure; drilling of one borehole; procurement and installation of solar water pump and accessories; procurement of drip irrigation equipment and installation; construction of 10000 litres capacity tank; training of youth on organic farming, seedling production and vermiculture; procurement of materials for the establishment of nursery; procurement of fencing materials for the establishment of 2 Ha woodlot plantation; distribution of seed starter packs to 6 youth groups for implementing the organic mushroom and potatoes farming; refresher training workshop on mushroom production; establishment of six mushroom production huts for six youth groups; construction of liquid manure tanks, composts and vermiculture; establishment of 4 hectare woodlot plantation; procurement of 2000 potato planting pockets; Production of articles/case studies highlighting lessons learnt from the project; production of brochures and posters on climate change adaptation and mitigation; production of videos/DVDs; conducting research on the effects of climate change on the youth; production of T-shirts with messages on climate change adaptation and mitigation; commemoration of National Tree Planting Day annually with at least 2000 trees planted; annual Commemoration of ?Green Valentine?s Day? with at least 2000 trees planted; Training in business skills development and entrepreneurship; Training in the marketing and promotion of organic products; Construction of mini marketing centre for the storage of agro-forestry products.

Table 1: Summary of project Finances

Funding Source Year 1 Year 2 Total
Amount requested from GEFSGP 30,000.00 20,000.00 50,000.00
Proposing organization contribution (Action 24) 23,800.00 21,800.00 45,600.00
Community/Direct Beneficiaries 11,200.00 500.00 11,700.00
Other Partners (RDC, MTC, CL etc) 24,000.00 3,200.00 27,200.00
Total project cost 88,000.00 45,500.00 134, 500.00

Duration: Two Years

1.2 Organizational Background and Capacity to implement the project

? Background of Facilitating Organization

Action 24 is a youth oriented organization registered as a Trustee under the Zimbabwean law in 2010 with registration M. The organization is governed by a board of trustees which has reputable, experienced and dedicated men and women. The organization?s annual budget for 2013 is $120 000 and is fundraised through donor funding and grants. Action 24 has a staff compliment of 5 employees including the National Coordinator, Programmes Coordinator, Climate Change Advocacy Officer, Admin/Finance Officer and Gender and DRR Officer as indicated by the organogram attached. (Annex 1: Organisation Management Structure).

The organization aims to develop and enhance youth led innovative solutions to fight climate change and ensure sustainable development and environmental sustainability. Action 24 recognizes climate change as the major threat to achieving sustainable development. Communities? limited awareness and lack of capacity to adapt to current and future climate change impacts contributes significantly to environmental degradation as responsive measures usually adopted by vulnerable communities fails to mainstream the importance of the environment.

Action 24 had formulated an umbrella network of 25 youth organizations, CBOs and communities to network, share experiences and best practices in adapting to climate change. In 2010, the network members with coordination from Action 24 and funding from the Global Green Grants (GGG) conducted a baseline survey to assess youth?s awareness of the climate change phenomenon which later led to the development of a ?Climate Change Youth Engagement Strategy?. After identifying the strategic focus areas for youth engagement, Action 24 with assistance from the International Labor Organization (ILO) under its Youth Empowerment Support Jobs for Marginalized Young People (YES_JUMP) initiative, assisted youth in Norton District to startup small green entrepreneur businesses. Action 24 trained youth in Mushroom farming and business entrepreneurship before establishing a revolving fund that supported their small businesses. Other than the ILO project Action 24 is implementing a national climate change education programme with UNICEF aimed at improving communication and dissemination of climate change literature/information with the ultimate goal of building communities? capacity and awareness of the phenomenon. Action 24 has been spearheading youth participation in the National Climate Change Responsive Strategy (NCCRS) formulation process currently underway. The organization is Zimbabwe?s National Coordinating Organization (NCO) for Global Network on Disaster Risk Reduction since 2011 and has been conducting surveys on yearly basis assessing implementation of the Hugo-Framework of Action to disaster reduction by local authorities.

Action 24 boosts from a good reputation and working relationship with local leadership, authorities, CBOs and NGOs in areas it operates. The organization will work with Centre for Agro-Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Livelihoods (CASL) a local youth CBO which is part of the umbrella network to implement the project. The Rural District Council, Local Town Council and the local leadership (Chief, Headman and Village Heads) have pledged their support of the project. (Annex 2: Letters of support and commitment).

?Detailed Community Background and participation

The project is targeting youth in Ward 28 which covers Mwurwi town. The ward is made up with former farm workers whose families are from different backgrounds. The ward can be classified as a transitional peri-urban setup that is administered by the local town council. The only notable industry in the ward is the beverage company (Delta) that offers formal employment to some youth. The majority of the youth in the area generate their employment from the informal sector market that includes cross boarder trading and operation of small buying and selling business. Very few youth are undertaking tobacco farming and some are involved in illegal gold mining activities. However, there have been some youth groups in the ward that had initiated mushroom and potato farming activities but this has been on a small scale. The project therefore seeks to integrate such initiatives with environmental activities. Like many other urban setups, Mwurwi suffers from poor infrastructure services in form of roads, high levels of unemployment and risk behavior emanating from rapid rural to urban migration, land degradation, poor sandy soils that fails to support agriculture and all these factors had contributed to poverty in the ward. Climate change has therefore exacerbated the situation as it brings new social and economic challenges through its various associated impacts to a community which is already vulnerable. It is for this background that the Mwurwi Town Council has allocated 8 hectares plot permanently to support youth initiatives.

Table 2: Targeted Beneficiaries (Annex 3: List of Project Participants)
Group Name Number of Youths per each group
Males Females Total
Takashinga 9 10 19
Kubatana 9 9 18
Better Future 7 5 12
Hope 7 8 15
Empowered Youth 10 9 19
Tabidirira 8 10 17
TOTAL 50 51 101

1.3 The problem statement

Zimbabwe lies wholly in the tropics stretching from 15.5oS to 22.5oS and longitudes 25oE to 33oE with an estimated population of about 13.1 million (2012 EST). Zimbabwe?s national average annual rainfall ranges from 500 to 750 mm, and diurnal average surface temperature vary from 15 degrees Celsius in July to 22 degrees Celsius in January. On average, 1-3 droughts occur every 10 years in the country largely in response to change in the phases of the El Nino ? Southern Oscillation (ESNO) phenomenon and periodic global sea surface temperature oscillations. Zimbabwe faces a number of risks related to climate variability and change. The agricultural sector contracted rapidly between 1998/2008 due to rainfall variability (for example, the drought from 2000 to 2002). Despite the significant decline in the agricultural sector in the past decade, agriculture continues to play an important role in Zimbabwe?s economy and social development. About 70.5% of the country?s population resides in the rural areas and derives its livelihoods from subsistence agriculture and other off-farm activities. Agricultural production systems are exposed to the impacts of climate change and climate variability leading to negative impacts on national economies and an increase in levels of food insecurity.

The IPCC Third Assessment report and Zimbabwe?s Initial National Communications suggest that by 2050 temperatures and rainfall over the country will be 2-40C higher and 10-20 less than the 1961-90 baselines respectively. Model simulations show annual rainfall declining by 5-20 percentage of the 1961-90 average by 2080 in all the country?s major river basins. The agriculture sector is indentified as most vulnerable to these climatic changes. Results from AIACC show evidence of increased intensity of precipitation events coupled with an increase in inter-annual variability, drought intensity and dry spell duration in the country. Past droughts are known to have had devastating environmental and socio-economic impacts on the country.

The problem of climate change on a global scale can be attributed to various human activities that have resulted into higher temperatures caused by increased amounts of greenhouse gases of which the most important is carbon released during the burning of fossil fuels. Human activities have contributed to changes in the atmosphere?s makeup faster than what has normally been the case. For instance, burning fossil fuels (i.e. coal, petrol, diesel, oil and natural gas) in hydro plants, cars, factories and changes of the land surface (cutting down forests, planting trees, building developments in cities and urban areas. Desertification, methane from animals, rotting/dead vegetation etc) International trade, in its current form continues to expand with little regard for the environment; transportation of goods is thought to considerably contribute to global warming through emissions from planes, ships and other transportation vehicles.

At a local level Climate change can be attributed to unsustainable agriculture practices such as slash and burning which has increased due to land reform programme. This has contributed to greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Forests are cleared and burn into ashes for fertility improvement and neutralisation of soil acids. The practice of slush and burn clear forests, reducing the number of trees and other vegetable types that normally absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in their leaves, trunks and roots and therefore acting as ?carbon sinks? Cutting of wood for tobacco curing in Mwurwi has contributed immensely to climate change. During tobacco curing, trees are cut for energy which not only release carbon dioxide but also degrades forests and it is estimated that deforestation contributes up to 17.4% of the greenhouse gas worldwide. Gathering and burning of crop residues or trash during land preparation also contributes to the release of carbon dioxide and soot into the atmosphere. These crop residues contain nutrients in varying amounts that are also lost during burning. Above that there is the loss of organic matter, vegetation and other animals and this practice exposes the soil to solar and soil erosion. Inversion (turning) of soils during conventional tillage results in the release of greenhouse gasses stored in the soil and quickens carbon decomposition of soil organic matter. This also leaves the soil exposed to solar and water erosion and loss of plant nutrients resulting in poor crop performance and hence poor carbon gas absorption.

The negative effects and impacts of climate change on a global scale include reduced in snow packs in Western United States, coastal areas will become more vulnerable to storm surges as sea level rises in the coastal areas (Nicholls 2004, Christensen et al. 2007); natural ecosystem such as coral reefs, mangrove swamps, arctic tundra, and alpine meadows are vulnerable and are disappearing entirely in some areas. It is also of paramount importance to note that developing nations are the most impacted by climate change yet they are the least polluters due to poor resources and little ability to adapt.

At county level the effects and impacts of climate change can be justified by temperature and rainfall variations and variability. The nation is now experiencing more frequent and severe droughts and flooding events .Droughts were recorded in almost every rain season starting90/91, 91/92, 92/93, 94/95, 97/98, 01/02, 02/03, 04/05, 06/07, 08/09 and 11/12. The most severe drought was recorded in the period of 91/92 and more droughts of this nature and magnitude are expected in the near future. Floods in Zimbabwe in the past were very rare but recently with the changing climate have become frequent. The most noted cases of Cyclone-induced floods include; Cyclone Eline in 2000, Japheth in 2003, another in 2007 and a series of hailstorms that affected most parts of the country in 2013 resulting in the damage of infrastructure and degradation of productive lands.

In Mwurwi climate change has resulted in shortening of rain season, poor rainfall distribution and higher temperatures causing flooding, water logging and droughts. There has been migration and disappearance of natural plant, animal species, natural springs and wetlands. Due to global warming there has been increase in malaria incidences, reduced fish and livestock breeding populations, increase in heat waves, exacerbated food insecurity and poverty, changes in water temperature and rainfall, more frequent drought and flooding episodes, tropical storms or prolonged storms, decline in ground water recharge and reduced water flow from springs-fed streams and rivers. Effects of climate change on individual household include increased distance for fetching water and competition for water due to drying up of water sources/wells particularly during the dry season. This will also increase the burden of women who are normally responsible for fetching water.


1.4 Rationale/Justification

Zimbabwe is a signatory to a number of environment conventions including United Nation Convention Biological Diversity (UNCBD); in mitigating climate change, the project seeks to protect the current biological diversity from extinction. Zimbabwe ratified the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1994 hence the project is centered on climate change mitigation. In 1994 Zimbabwe ratified the United Nation Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and it is against this background that one of the main causes of climate change in developing nations is deforestation which leads to desertification. Zimbabwe signed the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in May 2001; use of POPs particularly in agriculture contributes to climate change. Zimbabwe is also a signatory to the Ramsar Convention; most of the wetlands are being affected negatively by climate change.

The project seeks to align its activities with national environment priorities which includes reversing land degradation caused by both human activities and natural phenomena, addressing the continued loss of forests resulting from poor forest management, excessive timber extraction, collection of firewood and agricultural practices; reversing biodiversity loss that has led to several of its floral and faunal species becoming endangered, and enhance the ecosystems approach in biodiversity conservation, management and sustainable use; reducing emissions of GHG through promoting the replication and up-scaling of low GHG technologies at local level, reducing the incidences and extent of veld fires to safeguard destruction of forest landscapes and rangelands; support trans-boundary water initiatives to combat pollution and siltation of international rivers of global significance and forge partnerships with neighboring countries on trans-boundary initiatives, promote sustainable management of rangelands and agricultural land through sustainable farming practices to reduce degradation of the landscapes and improve agricultural capacity and potential; promote initiatives that result in the phasing out of POPs (chemicals) that are of global concern at the local level, promote public participation and a sense of responsibility for the environment through environmental education and awareness and by promoting environmentally sustainable development projects.

The project is also addressing SGP OP5 Immediate Objective 5: Support the conservation and enhancement of carbon stocks through sustainable management and climate proofing of land use, land use change and forestry. Under this objective SGP seeks to reduce deforestation by offering alternatives in the energy sector; raise tree seedlings and tree planting, enrichment planting, plantations establishment, social forestry approaches, and agro-forestry approaches; scaling up of community level reforestation, wetlands restoration, sustainable forestry management; support local and national level policy to safeguard against extensive tree cutting

Although it is believed that even if we take aggressive action now, we cannot completely prevent climate change because once carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere, it remains there for about 100 years, and the climate system takes a long time to respond to changes. Nevertheless, our actions now and in the next 10 years will have enormous implications for future generations. Several approaches are available among the measures for mitigating climate change and these are some which the project seeks to adopt, use of efficient irrigation practices such as drip irrigation; use of clean sources of energy such as solar or solar energy. Good cropland management not only enhances crop productivity but also helps in mitigating climate change by generating higher inputs of carbon residue (Follet et al 2007). Crop residue, if maintained without being burnt, can lead to increased carbon storage in the soil. Such agricultural practices may include use of improved crop varieties, introducing legume base crop rotations, avoiding use of bare fallows and using cover crops. The project seeks to adopt organic farming method in place of conventional methods. Such farming practices decrease soil carbon losses through enhanced decomposition and reduced erosion. Planting agro forestry trees is one of the ways in which soil structure, humus and nitrogen are restored. Agro forestry also greatly contributes to overall restoration of degraded lands (Oldeman 1994). The practice of agro forestry enhances carbon storage in degraded lands and therefore reclaims soil productivity (Lal 2004). Agro forestry retains and composts crop residues, reduces tillage and improves water conservation. Climate change mitigation technologies and practices include controlled wild and agricultural related fires.

1.5 Description of Project Overall Goal, Objectives and Activities

Overall goal of the project: Climate change mitigation through utilization of solar energy, organic farming technique and forestry practice.

Project Objectives:

1) To mitigate climate change through utilization of solar energy in horticulture production.
2) To promote Climate Smart Agriculture methods of organic farming in mushroom and potatoes production.
4) To document lessons learnt and production of climate change awareness raising materials.

Activities
1.1 Conducting 1 project Inception workshops with relevant stakeholders
1.2 Training of beneficiaries on maintenance of water harvesting infrastructure and environmental management.
1.3 Drilling of one borehole and construction of 10000 litres capacity tank
1.4 Procurement and installation of solar water pump accessories and drip irrigation equipment.
2.1 Training of youth on climate smart agriculture practices that includes organic farming, seedling production, vermiculture and mushroom production
2.2 Procurement of materials for the establishment of greenhouse for subsequent establishment of nursery and other horticulture activities.
2.3 Procurement of fencing materials for establishment of a 2 Ha woodlot.
2.4 Distribution of seed starter packs to 5 youth groups for implementing organic farming, instituting and a market cropping program.
2.5 Establishment of six mushroom production huts for five youth groups.
3.1 Production of articles/case studies the project highlighting lessons learnt
3.2 Production of brochures and posters on climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies implemented by the project
3.3 Production of videos/DVDs
3.4 Conducting research on the effects of climate change on the youth.
3.5 Production of T-shirts with messages on climate change adaptation and mitigation
3.6 Commemoration of National Tree Planting Day annually with at least 2000 trees planted.
3.7 Annual Commemoration of ?Green Valentine?s Day? with at least 2000 trees planted.
Expected Outputs
One Inception workshops conducted in each ward.
Project beneficiaries trained on maintenance of water harvesting infrastructure.
One borehole drilled.
Solar equipment and accessories procured and installed.
Youth groups trained on climate smart agriculture practices.
Materials for nursery establishment procured and nursery subsequently constructed.
Fencing materials procured
Seed starter packs distributed to five youth groups for the implementation of organic agriculture.
Six mushroom production huts constructed for six youth groups.
Case studies and articles produced
Brochures and articles on climate change adaptation and mitigation produced
Videos/DVDs on each of the project produced
One research document produced.
100 T-shirts with messages produced
National Tree Planting Day Commemorated annually with at least 2000 trees planted.
Green Valentine?s Day commemorated annually with at least 2000 trees planted

Expected Outcomes
Capacity building of project beneficiaries on GEFSGP operational guideline and procedures.
Beneficiaries? capacity to maintain water harvesting infrastructure enhanced.
Increased access to water resource
Increased water harvesting techniques for productive use
Youth capacitated in climate smart agriculture practices.
Increased seedling production and constant supply of seedlings for forestry activities
2 Ha woodlot established
Improved access to farming inputs resulting in higher levels productivity and income generation.
Improved capacity of local community produce mushroom and make own spawn.
Increased access to project lessons learnt.
Awareness raised on climate change mitigation and adaptation
Increased access to project information for knowledge management.
Increased knowledge on the impact of climate change.
Increased awareness rising on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Increased awareness on national environment related events.
Increased awareness on climate change by the youths.