Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Community Trust (CELUCT) is a Chimanimani based organization founded in 1991 and registered under the Deed of Trust with the registrar`s office in 1996 in Zimbabwe. Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management form the core of our engagement. Accordingly, we address environmental and social problems faced by the Chimanimani community that are triggered through effects of climate change; such as perennial cyclones, droughts, deforestation and overall biodiversity degradation. Since local ownership of our interventions is paramount to us, all our programs and activities are people centered and needs driven. Consequently, CELUCT implements community programs that address existing and emerging challenges according to the voices expressed from within the communities. CELUCT offers training to target groups in and beyond Chimanimani district on permaculture, agro-ecology, sustainable land- and forest management, bee keeping, protection of watersheds and concepts of dry land cropping.

Our strength is rooted in our evolvement out of the local community and persistent strong engagement with community stakeholders and resulting active community participation, keeping into account traditional governance structures and knowledge systems.

Owed to the evident demand for conflict resolution and peace building, especially in regard to access to resources like water and land, marginalization of women, youths and other minority groups CELUCT combines efforts in Agro-Ecology with Environmental Peacebuilding.

CELUCT Vision and Mission statement
(a) Vision: A peaceful and healthy community
(b) Mission statement: CELUCT builds the capacity of communities in Zimbabwe and beyond through training, peacebuilding, research and advocacy to enhance food security and livelihoods.

d) (i) Briefly describe organizational structure, governance and administrative framework, including staff numbers, roles, etc (put organogram). Provide an indication of the legal status with any supporting registration/legal documentation as annex. If none, provide an elaboration of its nature of existence. Provide recent audited financial statement if any. (Max 400 words)
Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Community Trust (CELUCT) was founded in 1991 and was registered under the deed of trust with the registrar`s office in 1996 in Zimbabwe.

Today, CELUCT employs 27 staff. These are allocated to Centre Management, Pre-School, Gardens and Nursery, Administration, Finance, Security, Sustainable Agriculture, Child Protection and Peace Building.

The structure can be seen in the organogram below.



ii) How many direct and indirect beneficiaries (gender segregated) are in the project

Number of Direct beneficiaries Number of indirect beneficiaries
Number of Men Number of Women Number of Men Number of Women
810 (60 involved in project implementation and 750 targeted for awareness raising) 790 (40 involved in project implementation and 750 in awareness raising) 3500
3500

iii) How many members are in the project committee (gender segregated). List the names of project committee members and IDs.
In order to guarantee for project ownership among the local communities and in an effort to strengthen the grassroots structures that have been established over the years, the project committee will constitute of the Permaculture Club Committee members (PCC) for ward 10 in Chimanimani.


Abbildung 1 Community representatives of the local Permaculture Club Committee (PCC) during consultation meeting
The project committee consists of all six members of the local Permaculture Club Committee that include 3 women and 3 men.

Their names are as follows:

? Thomas Chikwerengwe - ID 44-067519B44
? Muzazi Chipo - ID 44-038256T44
? Ellah Maringe - ID 44-043920A44
? Godfrey Matsiya - ID
? Douglas Mapawu - ID 44-079277B44
? Ndiudzei Munozorava - ID 04-085376A04

In order to guarantee ownership CELUCT consulted with the local Ward Peace Team to confirm the choices and suggestions made by the PCC members as community representatives.


Abbildung 2 Members of the local Ward Peace Team (Wapitis) during consultation meeting
As some views differed, e.g. on identification of sites to be worked on, CELUCT then facilitated a continuous exchange between these community bodies and adjusted the project design accordingly. The Wapiti members will also undergo training of trainers in order to implement approaches of environmental peacebuilding and Do-No-Harm in project execution.

iv) If there is no project Committee in existence, indicate the management structure that will be in place for this project and what will be the role.


iv) What is your Current Annual budget: 325,859 US$ (for the year 2021 as written in consolidated audited financial statements 2021)

v) Does the organization have a Constitution Certificate of Registration, please attach copies.

vi) Has the organisation received a previous grant from other sources? If Yes, indicate in the table provided below; If No, place N/A in the table below:

Name of Project Name of Funder Amount of Grant (US$) Year
Community Peace Weltfriedensdienst e.V. (WFD) 664 000 Euros 2020 - 2024
Child protection Brot für die Welt e.V.
Bread for the Worlds 760 000 Euros 2020-2024
Sustainable Agriculture TUDOR 112000 2019-2024

d) Describe previous experience relevant to the proposed project, including activities related to global environmental issues; or experience with projects that focus on sustainable development at community level. (Max 600 words)
Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Community Trust was founded by community members in 1991 as a response to the identified need of working towards socio-environmental sustainability and has since worked towards improvement of people?s livelihoods and natural landscapes around Chikukwa. In every intervention the communities would approach CELUCT and highlight their challenges experienced in natural resource management.

Abbildung 3 Terracing as means of landscape management in the early 1990s.
For example villagers would experience the farming areas going dry despite being classified as agro-ecological zone 1 where high rainfall is anticipated. CELUCT trained beneficiaries on landscape management, water harvesting, gulley reclamation and control of veld fires, which empowered them to sustainably manage their areas and guarantee sufficient agricultural production.

Abbildung 4 Increased vegetation cover. Mid 1990s
In the early 1990s CELUCT facilitated a process of land rehabilitation in the surrounding community. The land of Chikukwa community was severely eroded at that time and farmers were facing dropping yields on their fields.

Abbildung 5 Community volunteers digging run off water channel.
Trainings were done in different villages where farmers were taught to plant Vetiver grass along gullies and waterways in order to stabilize soil during the rainy season. Swales were built for rainwater harvesting in every of the six villages according to the formulated need of the community. We used ?Community Action Cycle? whereby the CELUCT facilitated the process of identifying the problem, planning and prioritizing for action, implement and evaluate together with the community.

After cyclone Idai CELUCT brought together community members to facilitate joint action in order to assist cyclone victims and to address the most urgent areas for landscape rehabilitation.

Abbildung 6 Landscape Rehabilitation after cyclone Idai 2019
Tree planting and Community nurseries: Each village managed to establish a nursery for indigenous and water loving trees each. The nurseries were allocated within each village where there was a challenge of gullies, run-off, and landslides and in water sources. Previously, in some areas the land was cut to an extend that there was no grass able to germinate or grow on that land. Through the project these challenges were overcome.

Holistic Land and Livestock Management is a project that started in 2012 and is ongoing.

Abbildung 7 Livestock to improve pastures in the rangelands.
The project aims to address the negative issues of climate change. It especially seeks to restore rangelands. Farmers use livestock as a tool to impact degraded lands, bare lands in order to improve soil fertility and an able grasses and trees to geminate in these areas. The planned grazing helps farmers to plan and implement according to the grazing plan. Community cattle are being herded in one community herd with the idea to restore the land and see some changing during Land Monitoring where farmers move together in the rangeland and see the changes. Having this project in place farmers are realizing positive changes in terms of improved water table, ground cover and improved pastures. Mismanagement of cattle caused lots of land degradation and destruction of natural resources within the community but later farmers use cattle for land rehabilitation. The use of moveable kraals enable the work easier and more farmers are participating.

e) Please indicate the organization?s prior engagement with GEF SGP (e.g. grantee, partner, etc), i.e Has the organization received a previous grant from the GEF Small Grants Programme? (Yes) (No). If Yes, complete the table below. If NO, insert N/A in the table.

Project Number Project Title & Location Total Grant received Summary of achievements from previous SGP grant Gaps to be addressed by grant being applied for

N/A





PART 2: PROJECT PROPOSAL

SECTION A: PROJECT FRAMEWORK

1. Project Summary (Max 600 words)

Chikukwa in the Eastern highlands of Zimbabwe along the Mozambican border has increasingly been exposed to the negative effects of climate change. Among others, natural disasters, like heat and cold waves, storms, floods and cyclones. In 2019 cyclone Idai, caused more than 1,000 casualties across international borders and left tens of thousands homeless. Huge areas in Chimanimani district were devastated, residential and farming areas alike have been destroyed and trauma was caused among the survivors who struggle with this burden up to today.
As devastating as cyclone Idai has proven to be for the communities in and beyond Chimanimani district, it has thus triggered a new dynamic among local citizens to be more aware of environmental and climate change induced risks like natural disasters and show an increased willingness to engage in activities towards enhanced resilience of communities and landscapes. This was clearly communicated during our consultation process with community representatives, who concordantly expressed the dire need of reversing land degradation, venture into afforestation and sustainable landscape management.

The project?s goal is ?a transformed natural landscape in Chikukwa communal lands that strengthens resilience of local communities towards natural disasters and increases prospects for personal development.? Three formulated project objectives are to work towards achieving this goal.
? Objective 1: to rehabilitate two severely affected sites in two villages and to improve 18 hectares of tree cover on slopes and lowlands that reduce erosion and the risk of landslides in Chikukwa communal lands at the end of the project time
? Objective 2: To create livelihood opportunities for 100 beneficiaries through dissemination of market oriented Agro Ecology practices and providing income opportunities for the selected community nurseries; as well as employing 5 attachés for project execution
? Objective 3: to create awareness on climate change adaption strategies as well as disaster risk reduction and to enhance disaster risk preparedness in all 6 villages at the end of the project intervention.

Therefore in terms of key expected results, the project aims to spread knowledge on climate change and disaster risk reduction, to then transform people?s readiness for climate action and to engage them in project execution. The project targets 100 community members from two of the six villages around Chikukwa to execute 12 afforestation and 6 landscape rehabilitation days including the village centers. The rehabilitated communal landscapes and forests are targeted to cover approximately 18-20 hectares around the six villages of Chitekete, Rujeko, Kubatana, Munaga, Mabasa and Kwaedza.


Abbildung 8 Intervention site 1 in Rujeko village as identified by the community
The community has identified two areas for demonstration sites for landscape rehabilitation.
The first site is in Rujeko village, close to the secondary school.
The community identified this site because Idai caused victims to die in landslides in this area. The representatives have also highlighted that population pressure combined with lack of awareness leads to further settlement of people and thus imply an urgent need for action.


Abbildung 9 Identified site for landscape management (run off water management)

Abbildung 10 Intervention site 2 in Kubatana village as identified by the community
The PCC members had initially chosen a site in Mabasa village to be targeted. After an exchange with the counterparts of the WaPeTe it was agreed that priority shall be given to a site in Kubatana, as Kubatana is located uphill in the mountains and therefore shall be rehabilitated first. The identified site in Mabasa village may then be tackled at a later point in time as part of the continuation and upscaling of the project. The project aims to have equal participation of women and men and commits to giving special consideration to minority groups like women, youth and PWDs.

2. Project Justification and Baseline

Problem Analysis:

State the
Problem/Issue or Challenge Severe land degradation within Chikukwa communal lands as a direct effect of cyclone Idai.

What are the causes of the problem/issue or challenge? Direct Causes Indirect Causes
1. Magnitude and impact of natural disasters
2. Insufficient Early Warning Mechanisms
3. Low level of implementation of binding legal framework on climate change adaption strategies and disaster risk reduction bill
4. Agricultural and residential areas prone to floods and landslides due to little risk awareness and consequently risky behavior (e.g. on settlement areas)
5. Tree cutting and lack of afforestation
6. Inappropriate landscape management
Increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters and negative effects of climate change

Lack of enforcement of legal framework on local level attributed to low level of public interest on official governance matters and low accountability levels

Little mitigation efforts from the communities
Population growth
Lack of alternative resources (e.g. for firewood)

Poverty
(Increase the size of the table if you need more space)
The project aligns with the SGP OP7 Strategic Initiatives and Country Program and covers Strategic Initiative 1: Community-based conservation of threatened ecosystems that aims to improve community-led biodiversity-friendly practices and approaches;
As well as enhancing social inclusion, especially of women, youths and PWD and following Leave No
One Behind principles.

The project is community-based as its conception is a direct response to the expressed needs of the communities (see supporting documents on community consultation). Project ownership of the community is also guaranteed in the implementation process, as afforestation and landscape management will directly be conducted by the community members. CELUCT staff will execute training workshops for the community members and will supervise the implementation process.
To guarantee biodiversity friendly practices, the plants and trees used shall be sourced locally and focus on indigenous species that are suitable for landscape preservation.
In cases of storms and cyclones, the more populated centers have been severely affected by floods and landslides. Therefore we see it paramount to foster sustainable urban solutions through measures of landscape design, water harvesting structures, like establishment and reclamation of gullies.

As the negative dynamics of climate change affect the whole community, due to tradition and cultural aspects, it is especially women and youths who struggle more, as they are structurally discriminated. The voices of youths are rarely paid attention to and this leads to frustration and despair among them. Women, despite carrying the burden of doing hard physical work, bringing up children and managing the household, are considered inferior to men by society. They lack support structures and consequently and avenues for growth. CELUCT therefore aims to answer to these challenges by turning the need for climate change adaption into an asset that empowers our communities to address and overcome these and to foster their lives in economic and environmentally sound ways.

The project furthermore relates to the Convention on Biological Diversity, as it tackles combatting erosion in Chimanimani district.

The project is also in line with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), as it supports integrated Natural Resources Management and Integrated Watershed Management to reduce pressure on landscapes in Chimanimani, through promoting sustainable land-use farming methods and livestock management using agro-ecology as an approach. The project also supports preservation and management of wetlands and fragile ecosystems. The project furthermore aims to bring forth sustainable land management practices (SLM).

In regard to international conventions the project is in line with Sustainable Development Goal 15, as it seeks to ?protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.?

3. Project Goal, Objectives, Activities, Outputs and Outcomes

Please describe the project framework and implementation plan by completing the table 1 below:
a) Overall Goal/Primary Objective: Proposed project should include environmental objective, along with development/livelihood objective as relevant.

b) Specific objectives: List all objectives to be addressed by project
c) Activities: List all activities to be implemented per objective
d) Project Outputs: Please describe measurable changes which will have occurred by the end of the project as a result of the planned intervention (e.g. XX hectares of community management conservation area established. XX community members is trained and improved on waste management).
e) Project Outcome: Please describe what will be produced as project results, in terms of changes in the institutional and behavioral capacities, changes in knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, policies, livelihoods and environmental conditions.

Objective 1: To rehabilitate two severely affected sites in two villages and to improve 18 hectares of tree cover on slopes and lowlands that reduce erosion and the risk of landslides in Chikukwa communal lands at the end of the project time.
Activity 1.1: Setting up of 2 community nurseries in Rujeko and Kubatana villages
Activity 1.2: Cultivating and purchasing 25,000 indigenous trees in local nurseries
Activity 1.3: 12 Afforestation days
Activity 1.4: 6 Landscape Rehabilitation and -Design Days
Activity 1.5: 18 on-site trainings of volunteers during implementation on landscape management, water harvesting and run off water management
Activity 1.6: Preparing materials on Environmental Peacebuilding fitting local context
Activity 1.8: 1 Training of Trainers on Environmental Peacebuilding for the WaPeTe
Activity 1.9: 12 Public talks in the 6 villages
Activity 1.91: 12 Radio talks/reports for awareness raising/knowledge sharing and sensitization of the wider public
Activity 1.92: Creating a webpage through CELUCT about the GEF project
Objective 2: To create livelihood opportunities for 100 beneficiaries through dissemination of market oriented Agro Ecology practices and providing income opportunities for the selected community nurseries; as well as employing 5 attachés for project execution
Activity 2.1:
4 trainings (two in the two respective villages each) on plant and tree propagation
Activity 2.2: 4 trainings (two in the two respective villages each) on agro ecology practices for value addition
Activity 2.3: 2 trainings (one in the two respective villages each) on marketing and access to markets
Activity 2.4: Running 2 project nurseries for 2 years enabling the community to create income for livelihood promotion
Activity 2.6: 1 Documentary video
Activity 2.7: 18 Photo Stories
Activity 2.8: designing, printing and distributing 300 T-Shirts
Objective 3: To enhance disaster risk preparedness in 6 villages by the end of the project time
Activity 3.1: Adapting national climate change adaption strategy and disaster risk reduction bill to local contexts, including scientific as well as local traditional knowledge on agro ecology and climate change
Activity 3.2: Creating/Printing/Dissemination of learning materials on disaster risk reduction
Activity 3.3: 6 information sharing and planning meetings=
Activity 3.4: Production and dissemination of disaster risk preparedness plans with villagers and traditional governance (village heads)
Activity 3.5: 6 meetings to endow disaster risk preparedness plans in the respective communities