Project Detail

Integrated climate smart Livelihood intervention in 3 forest edge communities adjacent to Gola Forest Nation Park

The overall goal of this project is to promote improved Inland Valley Swamp (IVS) Cultivation and planting of economic tree crops as an alternative and sustainable agricultural practices among targeted forest edge communities. The current traditional upland slash and burning agricultural practices is a major cause of deforestation and land degradation communities adjacent the Gola Forest National Park. This project gears towards providing a sustainable alternative to the above practice thereby minimizing deforestation and enhancing the restoration of degraded forest. This project will involve the development of 10 acres of IVS with small scale natural flow irrigational system and the reclaiming of 30 acres of degraded lands due to traditional agricultural practices. The project expected output is directly linked to the Strategic Initiative 2 of the GEF-Small Grants Programme OP7: Sustainable agriculture, fisheries, and food security.
The primary (main) objective
The main objective of this project is to promote sustainable climate smart land use practices in three (3) forest edge communities through Inland Valley Swamp (IVS) development and crop diversification thereby reducing the slash and burnt method of agriculture that is a major cause of deforestation in this community.
specific objectives
-To promote the establishment of three (3) self-help groups in 3 communities and sensitized on the significant of IVS cultivation and planting of economic trees crops as a better alternative to slash and burning method of agriculture.
-To promote the development of 15 Aces of IVS, with small-scale natural flow irrigation system in order to boost both production and enables cultivation at least twice a year.
-To promote the afforestation of 25 acres of degraded lands through crop diversification (mixing economic tree crops with annual crops) thereby discouraging slash and burning

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Agency for Development and Poverty Alleviation Sierra Leone

Country:

Sierra Leone

Area Of Work:

CapDev
Land Degradation

Operational Phase:

OP7 Y3 (July 22-June 23)

Grant Amount:

US$ 20,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 16,000.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 12,000.00

Project Number:

SLE/SGP/OP7/Y3/STAR/LD/1/11/2022/30

Start Date:

12/2022

End Date:

12/2023

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Policy Impact

Planting of economic tree crops along with other annual crops will encourage continues engagement of the farmers and will prevent slash and burning.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

Successful outcome of the project will be communicated to all stakeholders and the general public in the form of video, PowerPoint and photographs documentary, radio and television discussions, newspapers articles etc. Also quarterly review meetings will be held with community stakeholders to discussed progress and challenges of the project, and relevant community feedbacks incorporated into project activities. Workshops will be conducted in the target communities on the improvement of women rights, sustainable livelihood opportunities provided and forest management situations practices implemented in the communities, fair dispensation of livelihood opportunities, gender equity and appropriate environment protection measures.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The adoption of community-based, participatory approach from the onset is deliberate approach to promote locally driven, relevant and owned interventions that are sustainable beyond the project interventions. The IVS development is designed to be self-sustaining. The development of the IVS with a small scale naturally flow irrigation system will allow the system to be ran and maintained by the communities themselves. Harvests from the cultivation of the IVS will be owned by the communities, which could be used to continue cultivating the IVS and upscale in other IVS in the communities that are not part of current intervention. This is already evidence in the previous projects that were piloted in 2 forest edge communities in 2021 through GEF funds. In addition to the planting of economic tree crop as was in previous project intervention, the project will include the cultivation of annual crops such as grand nuts, cassava etc within the economic tree crop. This will serve as additional motivation for continue maintaining the tree crops and at the same time discouraging burning after brushing weeds thereby preventing the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Gender Focus

The direct beneficiaries will comprises 3 self-help groups consisting 60 beneficiaries in total (30 male and 30 female per community). Over 80% of the above beneficiaries will be youths who will benefit directly from the project since they will be supported with sustainable IVS opportunities with capacity building packages on improved agricultural technics. Both men and women will cultivate the IVS jointly in the raining seasons while mostly women will do the vegetable cultivation in the drying season.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

The initial labour intensive phase of IVS development will be supported by the project, after which subsequent cultivations will not be too labour intensive, hence making it very easier for cultivation by women as well as other vulnerable groups.

Capacity - Building Component

The monitoring system that will be established will be able to identified capacity gap and the need to build such capacity. Follow up and monthly meetings, project visits and advisory meetings will be held regularly and further capacity assessment will be conducted to determine the areas to be strengthened.

Notable Community Participation

The project engaged with key stakeholders in all 3 selected communities as part of project design including the Kenema District Council, the chiefdom and community stakeholders. Project activities were identified jointly with target beneficiary communities based on existing challenges been faced by these communities. This engagement will continue throughout the project. The community will be fully involved in the project activities and take ownership of all interventions under the project including the identification, and development of IVS using community labour. The community self-help groups will be selected through community meetings and agreed criteria, inclusive of gender balance and persons with disability (PWD) ? this is to ensure the interventions are inclusive to the needs of PWD

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

The project will adopt knowledge management and result transfer strategies that will be consistent with the implementation process. These strategies include; Data /information collection ? information on environmental degradation and livelihood sourcing patterns in project implementing communities. This can be source through community stakeholders, self -help groups? perception about afforestation, sustainable livelihood, and forest management practices in the community, via consultation meetings, perception survey of local communities. Data / information analysis ? all information / data/ success stories collected at all level of project implementation will be analyzed, challenges and potential resolutions identified. These information can then be made to the target audience[s] (community people, The Donor UNDP/SGP-GEF, EPA, Conservation Society of Sierra Leone, Law enforcing bodies both local and national, the Ministry of social welfare gender and children?s affairs(MSWGCA), Ministry of agriculture Forestry and Food Security (MAFFS) , Kenema district council and the general public) through the following means: -There will be quarterly reports written on all project activities and submitted to the donors (UNDP/SGP-GEF) and other target audiences. At the end of the implementation, a comprehensive report will be produced by the project management which will also be submitted to the donors (UNDP/SGP-GEF and other key stakeholders and with approval from the donor agency will be published.

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Indicators

Empowerment

Number of women participated / involved in SGP project 68

Biophysical

Hectares of degraded land rest 25

Livehood

Number of individuals (gender diaggregated) who have benefited* from SGP project 135

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