Policy Impact
Key Priority Area I of the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP II) has two Immediate Outcomes to speak to strengthening of the management of attraction sites to improve beneficiation of local communities residing in he buffer zones of these resources. The Outcomes further speak to the protection and preservation of important natural and cultural heritage that characterize these attraction sites. Through the proposed project, alternative livelihoods activities will be implemented for the 16 villages forming the buffer zone for Sehlabathebe National Park as a strategy to strengthen their involvement in safeguarding the beauty of the Park. Furthermore, the project will restore and preserve key attraction sites and heritage resources that are found in the buffer zone, some of which are being eyed as potential areas for extension of the Park.
- Lesotho and South Africa are jointly managing the Maloti Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site, with Lesotho managing Sehlabathebe National Park component of the World Heritage Site. Community Management of Protected Areas Conservation Project (COMPACT) Site Strategy was developed to strengthen involvement of local communities in conservation and beneficiation there off. The proposed project will be piloting implementation of the COMPACT Site Strategy.
Capacity - Building Component
Most of the community groupings found in the buffer zone are loosely organised even though some have been in existence for many years; and this does not only weaken their contribution in the Community Conservation Forum but also jeopardizes the beneficiation process. For example, tourists often require use of horses, which the Park usually leaves to the Horses Association to handle. However, because of the weak organization among members, the Park has had to source this services from others who are not members. Thus, through the proposed project deliberate effort will be made to revive, empower and assist selected community groups/ associations to register and take charge of key responsibilities around conservation and promotion of ecotourism and beneficiation of local communities.
Project sustainability
Sehlabathebe Community Conservation Forum, a structure legally registered as a CBO, is one of the parks governing bodies established by law to represent local communities in the management of the park. With the strong support and mentorship the SCCF is enjoying from Park Management and the Ministry of Tourism, Environment of Culture, the parent Ministry, entities that are duty bound to strengthen beneficiation of local communities, the chances that achieved results will be sustained over the long term are high. The project was conceived and is run by the SCCF, a body constituted by representatives from the 16 villages forming the Buffer Zone of Sehlabathebe National Park, including all local authorities, all of whom claim ownership over the achieved results. Registration of other community groups as legal entities (CBOs) through project assistance and delegation of responsibility for implementation of some components of the COMAPCT site Strategy to these CBOs, like protected farming, has motivated local communities to engage more in conservation so that there can more opportunities for engagement in income generation activities.
Linkages gef projects
The COMPACT Site Strategies developed were informed by the 20 Year (2008 - 2028) Conservation & Development Strategy for the Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area developed under the GEF funded and World Bank executed project titled "Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation and Development Programme (MDTP),"
Policy Influence
The Key Priority Area I of the National Strategic Development Plan on "Enhancing inclusive and sustainable economic growth and private sector job creation" has "Improved and diversified tourism products" as one of its immediate outcomes. Through this projects an investment has been made into protecting and preserving the unique natural and cultural heritage found in Ha Soloja making it a tourism attraction site, an initiative that has not only strengthened involvement of local communities in conservation but that has also contributed to the country's efforts to improve beneficiation of local communities and creation of job opportunities.
Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples
The local language (Sesotho) has been and will continue to be used as a means of communication throughout project implementation. The project proposal is written in Sesotho to enable all to read and comprehend the contends of the proposal and what the proposed project entails. Lesotho does not have indigenous peoples per se. However, being located in the mountain region where the main economic activity is livestock farming mainly for wool and mohair production, the project has to pay special attention to herd boys. Through lipitso (gatherings) herders were addressed and informed about the project and their views solicited for inclusion in the project proposal.
Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment
The main means of communication with targeted community groups and also the wider public in a village setting is lipitso/public gatherings and focus group meetings. The SCCF comprises representatives from the 16 villages forming the buffers zone including local authorities, CSOs and government offices found in the zone. The SCCF has thus formed sub-committees that will be responsible for creating awareness, disseminating information and soliciting views and support for project activities, from the local communities. Open days and commemoration of important international environmental protection days will also be sued as channels through which project issues will be delivered.
Replication of project activities
The project site has adjacent to it, several other caves rich in San Rock Art. The SCCF supported by the Park Management are planning to extend the preservation programme to the caves and to include them in their programme of action for conservation in the area. To this end, additional funding has been secured to do some excavations to recover further information about the San life and to characterize the caves.
Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods
The project site is abound with both cultural and natural resources that the SCCF is looking to protect, conserve and harness sustainably for income generation. The clear water streams passing through the site have spots rich and trout fish and sand quarrying sites. To this end, a campsite (to be accessed at a fee) will be established at the site with fishing and sand quarrying permits introduced to curb overharvesting and as a way of generating income for community development. Three community groups namely, the horse owners association, arts and crafts group and the horticultural group, will be assisted to register as legal entities and equipped with skills to grow their businesses. Tour guiding will be provided by selected youth who will earn an income.
Notable Community Participation
Through other means, youth will be recruited and trained as environment monitors whose role will be to engage with their peers, local communities and schools within the Buffer Zone of Sehlabathebe National Park. With schools engagement will be mainly through educational sessions, song competitions and open days and races. There will also be other activities targeting commemoration of key environment days like the International Day of Mountains. Some youth will be trained in tour guiding. Another key group of youth that will be involved are the herd-boys who are essentially the strongest link in the sustainable management of rangeland and wetland resources. This group of youth will receive training and will also take part in targeted activities to strengthen in involvement in conservation.
Inovative Financial Mechanisms
Through the Executive Committee of the SCCF, there will be quarterly reviews that will generate reports that will be share with the office of the GEF SGP and the local communities to keep them abreast of the developments around the project. At the end of the project, a final report capturing the achievements of the project will be disseminated widely and also used to solicit further support to enable sustainability of achieved results over the long term.
Gender Focus
Women are increasingly becoming involved in natural resources management. Testimony is that increasingly, women are holding executive positions in the management of rangelands, a space that has been and is still dominated by men. By virtue of women, particularly in the mountain region and rural areas of Lesotho, women stay in the village to take care of households while men leave to seek for employment elsewhere. For this reason and others, the SCCF has more women in the Executive Committee than men. For all capacity development and other opportunities to be undertaken by the project, there will be deliberate effort to balance participation of both men and women.
Project Results
- The 4 hectares site to which the grantee has excusive rights has been turned into a community ecotourism venture, thereby providing access control to the natural and cultural heritage resources found in the site located at the confluence of Thamathu and Loqooa rivers at Ha Soloja in the buffer zone of Sehlabathebe National Park, the Lesotho side of the Maloti Drakensberg Park (MDP) World Heritage Site. The unique San Rock Art found in one of the caves in this area will now be preserved for posterity.
- The official launch of the community ecotourism venture was marked with a 10 km race by local youth amidst funfair by local schools, with winners going away with prize money and gifts courtesy of the SGP and UNDP (Accelerator Lab, Sustainable Energy for All). The UNDP Accelerator Lab has undertaken to include this site in the process for documentation of attraction sites and to push for the 10km race to be an annual event to commemorate the International Day of Mountains.
- Three community based organizations namely, Tsohang Sehlabathebe Crafts Association, Iphelise Sehlabathebe Association and Farmer Horses Association have been assisted to register as legal entities in Lesotho. This will not only enhance these CBOs ability to leverage new and additional resources to augment conservation and livelihood activities in the buffer zone, but will also boost the efforts of the Sehlabathebe Community Conservation Forum (SCCF), to meaningfully represent the interest of the local communities in the management and operations of the National Park
- Through additional resources leveraged from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, an effort of for the MDP management, SGP Lesotho and South Africa and the Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier Programme (MDTP) aimed at implementing the COMPACT Sited Strategies for the MDP, IPhelise Sehlabathebe Association has been assisted to venture into protected farming as a strategy to adapt to the challenges of short growing periods and to boost vegetable production for income generation. Results from this venture are yet to be realized. Furthermore, under the same initiative, 2 young Environment Monitors were engaged as catalytic agents for environmental education and awareness among their peers, school pupils and local communities in general. Awareness about the MDP, its resources and significance in the country and beyond has increased notably.
- Livestock hided (cattle, sheep, goats) have for a long time been a resource that is under utilized. Through the project, Tsohang Sehlabathebe Crafts Association received a leather works training and are now producing a variety of leather products including shoes, ke holders among others, to perfect their skill and display their products at the Park Community Crafts Centre for income generation. This income generation activity is only just picking up.
- in 2019 0n the occasion of the commemoration of the International Day of Mountains, activities of the day started off with a 10km race for herd boys from the 16 villages forming the buffer zone for the Park. The main activity of the say was education on the significance of the Park and importance of the mountain ecosystems in general and the role of local communities particularly herd boys in protecting thee resources and the benefits that can accrue from sustainable use of these resources. A total of 70 herd boys took part in the race and made a pledge to play their part in the protection of the Park.
- More than 300 people were engaged in lipitso (gatherings) for mobilizing their support for smooth and successful implementation of the project. Thus for construction of a storeroom/information office and ablutions facilities at the campsite, 20,000 cubic meters of fine sand, 10,000 cubic meters of rough sand and 30,000 cubic meters of stones were collected locally for construction works. All construction work was done by local masons with local pick ups hired for transportation of other externally sourced materials.
- Ha Soloja, the village closest to the Campsite, has several natural springs that provide water to the village. Water to the campsite was therefore harnessed from one of the springs with stand pipes erected in the village enroute to the campsite. About 100 households are getting clean water for household use. This village is safeguarding the infrastructure and also the campsite.
