Project Detail

Capacity Development for Improved Honey Production

The proposed project ?Capacity Development for Improved Honey Production? shall be implemented over a period of two years by Maseepho Beekeeping Corporative Society, a Community Based Organization (CBO) that is based in the Qacha?s Nek district. The project brings together like-minded beekeeping communities from around 10 villages within the three constituencies of Tsoelike, Lebakeng and Qacha?s Nek. These communities have limited income streams due to the high unemployment rate in Lesotho and reside in the highlands areas (lower Senqu catchment area), where agriculture is highly unpredictable in the face of climate change, yet is their main livelihood source. Project target beneficiaries include the youth, women, men and people with disability in the rural areas.

The project will be raising awareness about the dangers of burning of rangelands as veld fires are a major environmental hazard on the rangelands of Lesotho. These fires, coupled with unsustainable grazing practices; are the main drivers of land degradation in general. They impact negatively on biodiversity resources and cause severe deterioration in rangeland condition i.e. decline in rangeland productivity. Fire on the rangelands also poses serious threats to bee colonies as it destroys their natural habitats. Naturally occurring bee colonies depend heavily on the rangelands for foraging, therefore rangelands that are in good condition provide for optimum conditions for the survival of bees.

In view of the above and as provided for by the Rangeland Resources Management Policy (2014), fire regime cannot be used as a management tool on the rangelands of Lesotho, as it will further exacerbate degradation of the already fragile rangeland ecosystem. Fires destroy natural habitats of both flora and fauna and compromise the ability of ecosystems to provide critical ecosystem goods and services that sustain life. Cognizant of this fact, Maseepho Beekeeping Corporative Society proposes to implement a project to conserve biological diversity, particularly addressing pertinent threats to bee colonies and the endangered bee habitats, and upscale beekeeping as a profitable livelihood source for beekeeping farmers in the area.

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Maseepho Beekeeping Cooperative Society

Country:

Lesotho

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity
Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

OP6 - Y3 (Jul17 - Jun 18)

Grant Amount:

US$ 41,250.00

Co-Financing Cash:

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 86,800.00

Project Number:

LSO/SGP/OP6/Y3/CORE/BD/2017/13

Start Date:

12/2017

End Date:

12/2020

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Linkages gef projects

Planning gef grant

Planning non gef grant

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

: The herders shall in particular be supported to participate in the project activities and shall also be assisted to start their beekeeping enterprise e.g. some bee hives shall be allocated to herders to provide an incentive for them to conserve natural bee habitats as they will already start to enjoy the benefits of beekeeping. Local communities shall also be trained on various aspects of beekeeping (even trainings for non-beekeepers).

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

Extensive public awareness campaigns shall be undertaken to raise awareness of the project and to solicit overall participation of communities in the implementation of project activities.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

Implementation of livelihoods diversification options related to beekeeping shall include value addition to agricultural produce (e.g. fruit drying, bottling & jam making). Also processing of bee products to produce various cosmetic and household products shall be supported for income generation. Moreover, the group shall be supported to manufacture bee hives for sale.

Project sustainability

Maseepho Beekeeping cooperative Society is one of the CBOs targeted for capacity building under the Innovation Project on Women-led Nature-Based enterprises that is focusing on 2 products namely wool and Mohair cottage industries and Beekeeping. Furthermore through the partnership with the Ministry of Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation (MFRSC), establishment of an orchard is on the cards. More than 300 assorted fruit trees were donated to the Cooperative, but because of the site allocation challenges and the pandemic this activity has been out on hold with a proviso that when all is settled, the activity will continue. The Cooperative Society is in the capacity building programme of the MFRSC and thus continues to receive technical and other forms of support from the Ministry.

Capacity - Building Component

Specific trainings on leadership & organizational development, bookkeeping and record keeping have been integrated into the project activities to address capacity gaps related to group dynamics, accountability and transparency issues. In addition, technical trainings related to beekeeping and enterprising shall also form a core component of the project to assist grantees.

Replication of project activities

The Cooperative, through targeted training workshops, reached out to local communities , particularly those that have shown interest to start beekeeping enterprises. To date one group has expressed interest to form a cooperative while Ramatseliso and Sehlabathebe grazing associations, as peer grantees, have received training in beekeeping and nature conservation from Maseepho Cooperative society.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

The application of action-learning approaches, maintenance of strategic networks & linkages with allies and use of community based information sharing sessions, shall ensure widespread information dissemination, sharing of experiences and best practices generated through the project.

Notable Community Participation

The present management structure (committee) of Maseepho Beekeeping Cooperative Society consists of a good representation of the youth in key strategic positions (e.g. Chairperson and Secretary positions), are occupied by strong and visionary youth. This is a good indication that the interests of youth are considered. Secondly, the Society shall mentor and support emerging beekeeping groups, especially focusing on youth, to create employment opportunities for them and strengthen their economic profiles, in view of various social and economic challenges such as the high unemployment rate in Lesotho.

Policy Impact

The project shall be used as a platform for educating local communities of the importance of biodiversity conservation at a landscape/catchment scale. Economic benefits of well conserved ecosystems shall provide tangible results that can be useful towards informing policy decisions.

Gender Focus

The proposed project shall empower the marginalized groups such as people with disability, youth, women and men to attain economic independence and through skills development in beekeeping and enterprising. This approach shall reduce vulnerability of women and girls especially, to economic and social disparities that may exist within society.

Project Results

- The Association Jointly with the Ministry of Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation held community gatherings in 2 villages (Ha Mpiti and Ha Manteko) in the neighborhood of the project site, to raise awareness about good range management practices and the dangers of uncontrolled fires to rangelands, to nature in general; and to bees and bee habitats in particular. The general observation is that, following these gatherings, that brought together 69 people (31 men and 38 women) , there is reduced incidences of veld fires.
- Through collaboration with key line ministries such as the Ministry of Small Business, cooperatives and Marketing, the Association received mentoring of cooperatives management and organizational development. Through this collaboration, the Association has also been networked with other advanced honey producers in the district of Qacha?s Nek and beyond, through among other things educational tours to established beekeeping companies. 45 people including 26 men and 19 women participated in the educational tour, that included representation of local authorities.
- Following this trip, the Cooperative was able to procure appropriate beekeeping equipment (hives, protective clothing, flower seeds and other related materials/ equipment) to enable the 26 members of the Association to each establish a beekeeping enterprise at their households, with each donating a portion of the produce for pooling and income generation for the Society. The revamped operation is yet to take off.
- The Cooperative is one of a group of grantees in the Qacha's Nek district, that are under the mentorship of GROW, an NGO that was awarded a capacity development grant to provide requisite mentorship and supervision to small CBOs within the priority landscape, that lack the capacity to develop and manage implementation of projects. Through joint mentorship sessions, peer grantees grantees that have expressed interest in beekeeping received basic training from the cooperative society.
- Through the project mentorship component, held a three days training workshop on beekeeping for 20 people comprising 6 youth and 14 elders (16 males and 5 females). The group in in the process of forming their own cooperative under the mentorship of Maseepho Beekeeping Cooperative Society.
- Changes in the local community council has resulted in delays in issuance of a lease for the allocated project site with the result that the Cooperative entered into an agreement for land lease from a cooperative member through a 15 years contract. For establishment of a workshop for skills development on production of beehives, a shelter was constructed and shortly after its off loading even before it could be anchored, it was blown off by a strong wind storm that saw roofs of some houses in the neighborhood also blown off.
- Through regular sensitization by the local hospitals personnel, the Cooperative was able to procure PPE for all members and thus to date none of the members have contracted the covid-19.

+ View more

Indicators

Biophysical

Number of local policies informed in biodiversity focal area 1

Back to search results

Countries

Regions

Project Snapshot

SGP Country office contact

Address

Country Website