The proposed project area is Matiashe village of Nyanyadzi ward 8 in Chimanimani district in Manicaland province.This village has been selected in response to identify gaps in the GEF/SGP supported previous work. The area falls in natural region V and is situated in the save catchment area.The biophysical environment is heavily degraded and there is potential to demonstrate a sustainable and innovative community based environmental rehabilitation model.The group has been chosen because there are some ongoing initiatives on catchment protection, which have been supported by the GEFSGP

In Matiashe village stream bank cultivation is still prevalent as evidenced by the mushrooming of gardens and small agricultural fields along the banks of SAVE river and its small tributaries.There is also depletion of some woody species like acacia bushes to fence their fields and gardens.Combined with poor soil amd water management, such practises have led to the destruction of the soil structure,

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making it susceptible to erosion and therefore leading to the development of rills, gullies and siltation.Increasing pressure on grazing and browsing resources by livestock has had a profound effect on both the soil structure and biodiversity.

Save is one of the international rivers affected by heavy siltation .Nyanyadzi ward of Chimaninmani district form part of the Save rive catchment. Nyanyadzi is about 25 km from Birchenough bridge along the MUTARE - MASVINGO highway. In this ward there is glaring evidence of land degradation in general and sol erosion in articular. As a result the production of dry land crops have dropped from about 2tonnes /ha to around 0.5 tonnes /ha and grazing for livestock continues to decline. The storage capacity of water reservoirs has also been greatly reduced due to siltation thereby reducing the availability of irrigation water.This has negatively affected the food and livelihood security of the communities living in the Save catchment area as evidenced by free food distributions by NGOs.

The project goal
it is to enhance integrated soil, water and forestry management practices for biodiversity conservation, mitigation of land degradation and protection of save international river in Nyanyadzi ward.

objectives
-to increase and entrench awareness committement and participation in environmental management and sustainable livelihood initiatives in the Matiashe village
-to improve soil and water conservation pracices by dry land farmers in the village.
-to empower local communities and leadership to fully embrace community based environmental monitoring and general management practices.
-to document and disseminate community lessons and experiences at ward , district and national levels.

activities
-conduct 1 awareness raising and consensus building workshop
-conduct 2 annual review workshops
-rehabilitate at least 1 gully at the Nyanyadzi main irrigation canal intake point
-establish another community garden for 50 households
-train community based trainers in S&WC techniques
- monitor and evaluate implementation of soil and water management by participating households
-develop a community M&E plan of action

outputs
at least 80 community representatives all including traditional leaders trained and least 75% fully aware of the degradation causative, processes and actively leading the implementation of sustainable environmental action plans
-improved soil and water conservation practices by dry land farmers and operation and maintenance of the irrigation
-at least 10 community based trainers supporting 10 households ,each, which are actively engaged in S&WC practices.
-community confidently and purposefully implementing an established and operational M&E system in Matiashe village
-project experiences documented and disseminated

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