Project Detail

Dziwande Project On Mitigating Land Degradation Through The Rehabilitation Of The Dziwande And Makangani Gullies In Nyanyadzi Ward.

1.0 PROJECT RATIONALE
Environmental degradation is increasingly becoming a major threat to human life in the semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe. This has been due to lack of sound environmental management systems at community level and unsustainable agricultural farming practices and the ever-increasing population density in most communal areas of Zimbabwe where 60% of the country's population resides. This has resulted in between 50 - 80 tonnes of of soil per hectare being lost and deposited in the country's water courses(Draft National Environment Policy, 2003) resulting in the siltation of major intranational rivers.

Save is one of the international rivers affected by this problem of siltation and Nyanyadzi and Changazi wards lie within the catchment of Save river. In these wards stream bank cultivation is prevalent and combined with poor soil and water management, this has led to development of ills and gullies. In addition, the other area of concern is lack of knowledge on sustainable land use management and control systems resulting in weak or unco-ordinated environmental utilization. As a result it has been difficult to implement some of the policies.

2.0 DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AREA
The proposed project area is Dziwande village of Nyanyadzi ward 8.This village has been chosen in response to some identified gaps in the GEF/SGP supported previous work.The area falls in natural region V and is situated in the save river catchment area.The Dziwande village is bordered by the Nyanyadzi river on its north and the Odzi river on the west.While the nyanyadzi rives is a major tributary of Odzi, the latter delivers directly into the Save river.The village is characterised by heavily degraded patches of land as evidenced by huge gullies which are threatening adjacent households, livestock and the irrigation scheme.Rehabilitation so far has tended to deal with the gully head using brushwood and stones, rather than dealing with the gully catchment, as a result it has become a recurrent activity.Silting up of irrigation canals has also resulted in the reduction of irrigation water supply thereby threatening the comminunity food security.Poor farming practices have been blamed for the extensive degradation currently experienced in the village.The extensive use of wood for fencing, construction and as alternative household fuel option has led to increased deforestation and the advent of gullies.Crafting is also a livelihood alternative that has resulted in the extinction of some local tree species.

It is against this background that a consensus has now been reached by the communities and support organizations in Nyanyadzi to consolidate and strengthen the existing environmental initiatives in a more integrated environmental approach.

3.0 PROJECT GOAL
The project goal is to enhance intergrated soil, water and forestry management practices for biodiversity conservation, mitigation of land degredation and protection of Save international river in Nyanyadzi ward.

4.0 OBJECTIVES
-To increase and entrench awareness , commitment and participation in environmental management and sustainable livelihood initiatives in Dziiwande
-To reduce land degradation in part of the save river catchment area through an integrated catchment and livelihood approach.
-To empower local institutions and local leadership to fully embrace community based environmental monitoring and catchment management practices
-To document and disseminate community lessons and experiences at ward , district and national levels.

5.0 OUTPUTS
-At least 80 community representatives including all traditional leaders trained and at least 75%of them fully aware of the degredation causatives , processses and possible courses of remedial action.
-At least 2 gullies rehabilitated by end of year 2
-At least 10 community based trainers are actively involved in training other community members in gully reclamation technologies with support from AREX.
-Community based M&E established and operational
-Project experiences documented and disseminated

6.0 ACTIVITIES
-Conduct awareness raising and consensus building workshops with the whole village
-Conduct baseline survey of the village and present findings to the community
-Conduct workshop on gully formation and possible ways of land rehabilitation
-Develop gully catchment rehabilitation action plan for at least two gullies threatening the irrigation scheme and homesteads and train farmers on A-frame in soil and water conservation.
-Mobilize materials for gully reclamation for distribution
-Conduct farmer to farmer extension, document and share experiences
-Develop a monitoring and evaluation plan of action
-develop a community M&E plan of action
-distribute at least two thematic papers to all key stakeholders.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

DZIWANDE VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT GROUP

Country:

Zimbabwe

Area Of Work:

Land Degradation

Operational Phase:

Phase 3

Grant Amount:

US$ 43,313.15

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 23,410.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 29,090.00

Project Number:

ZIM/SGP/OP3/Y1/CORE/2005/08

Start Date:

11/2005

End Date:

12/2008

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

As a result of awareness raising workshops held in the area the community in the Dziwande village has developed Environmental Management Action plans that entail mobilizing locally available resources for gully reclamation. The project will be aimed at promoting the sustainble use of environmental rehabilitation technologies and facilitate the adoption of new techniques in an environmetally sustainable manner. Environmetal look and learn tours are a part of the project activities so as to raise awareness on the environment.

Gender Focus

Both men and women are actively involved in the project activities and capacity building trainings to equally empower them to take up the challenge of managing the local resources.

Capacity - Building Component

Discussions and training sessions will be conducted for local leadership and leaders of the cluster and the Dziwande group so as to streamline and cement the various roles and responsibilities as demanded by the project. The identification and use of local human and material resources is central to this project. The project will establish a community -propelled farmer to farmer extrnsion system in which the Dziwande group and will identify women and men who will be trained as trainers in soil and water conservation and gully reclamation. By the end of the project the village will have at least 5 community based resource persons in gully reclamation and soil and water conservation. These community based trainers will be provided with technical guidelines for use during project implementation. The project will streghthen the self -organisational capacities of the communities so that they are able to collectively articulate their local environmental and livelihood challenges document them and approach relevant providers with confidence and in a transparent manner.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

Dziwande area is the home of the Manyika and ndau people and they are the primary custodians of the project.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

Dziwande community have made their contributions in kind that include labour and the provision of locally available materials for gulley reclamation.

Planning gef grant

Given the magnitude of the problem, SGP funds cannot fully cover the whole of Save Catchment area hence the need to scale up to medium size. The project will also join with the other projects in the same geographic location so as to develop a strong network and cluster of projects.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

One of the major areas is sustainable soil and water management techniques which will help in improving agricultural productivity thereby leading to better livelihood standards. In addition, there is mitigation of water systems pollution through the use of organic fertilisers in the gardens and cropping areas. Reduced siltation of water courses will also result in improved water quality for domestic and livestock use.

Planning non gef grant

The Dziwande community with support from practical action has received a grant from he EC. This grant aims to link the environmental management initiative to the overall livelihood needs of the community.

Replication of project activities

The activities being implemented are a replication of what was done under Phase 1 of the project. The demonstrations done within the community has lead to more than 100 of the 160 households in the cluster replicating some of the activities onto their homesteads.

Notable Community Participation

The project came about as an initiative of the local community and the community will also be the implementors of the project activities. A sub group committee wil be responsible for monitoring the day to day progress of the project and submit timely progress reports to the Nyanyadzi development committee which will cordinate activities for all the groups in nyanyadzi ward. In addition, ITDG will olny facilitate the project while the community will be driving the whole process with the neccesary technical support from the local service providers.

Project sustainability

The project involved community participation at all stages and this has cultivated a sense of ownership needed to make the project sustainable. farmer to farmer knowledge sharing has enabled the community to be self reliant in knowledge and application.

Policy Impact

The proposed intervention builds on the national policies which provide for environmental education, awareness and the sharing of knowledge and experiences to increase the capacity of communities to address environmetal issues and engender values, attitudes, skills and behaivour consistent with sustainable environmebtal management. Also enshrined in the National Environment Act is the need to protect international rivers and conserve biodiversity.

Linkages gef projects

This project is linking up with the Upper Save, the Middle Save and the Lower Save and applying for an MSP. There are more than 10 community programmes that would expand their work through this programme.If successful, it would give the Save protection a complete programme of action that would bring about strong management for more than 300 kilometers of water.

Policy Influence

local level policies established. The by laws such as restriction of stream bank cultivation were enacted leading to sustainable farming in the area.

Project Results

Project status
The project was satisfactorily completed and some project objectives fairly attained.

Expected outputs and achievements towards project outputs

Expected output 1; Increased awareness, committement and participation in environmental management and sustainable livelihoods initiatives in Dziwande village

a) Awareness raising and consensus building workshop conducted
The workshop was attended by 25 group members 9 men and 16 women. The meeting as the signing of the MOA between Dziwande community and Practical action. The community, through the workshop were able to do an inventory of various service providers within the community and their respective roles in the project.

b) Visioning and action planning workshop conducted
The workshop had an attendance of 43 project members 21 men and 22 women.this workshop saw the development of a shared vision for the Dziwande group and identification of key strategies for achieving the vision. A community action plan was also produced based on the project activities and the disbursed funds. the envisioning and planning process has facilitated holistic in project implementation, as various community stakeholders are now aware of their roles in the project

c) A participatory baseline survey was conducted for the Nyanyadzi Changazi area from the 13th to 17th March 2008. The youths participate as the enumerators during the baseline. Through the baseline survey the project participants were able to highlight the current environmental challenges and trends threatening them as well as possible reclamation measures which can be applied at the community level.The report has very useful to benchmark current environmental conditions and has been used as a basis for project monitoring and evaluation.

d) Environmental look and learn tour
As a result of the field learning event, the group has improved its work quality and even incorporated comments raised by other members of the cluster.

Output 2; improved soil and water conservation practices by farmers in Dziwande

a) The project has rehabilitated the dziwande gully which has been threatening the western part of the Block A of the Nyanyadzi irrigation scheme. The community mobilize sisal and uphobia plants for stabilising the Dziwande gully.

Output 3; Improved use and scaling up of farmer to farmer environmental extension approaches

a) farmer to farmer extension facilitated and strengthened
This approach has enhanced knowledge sharing across the groups.
b) A training manual on construction of gabions for erosion control was produced. the manual is based on practical experiences from the cluster project and this has the advantages of presenting technologies which are not alien to the community.

Output 4; Empowered local institutions and local leaders who fully embrace community based environmental monitoring and general management.

a) A community based financial management and project administration training course was conducted
b)A quarterly review workshop was also conducted. This facilitated increased exchange of knowledge as well as buy in of other stakeholders in the initiative.

The project managed to mainstream livelihoods into the environmental protection intervention. Through rehabilitation of the Dziwande gully the project has ensured that there is sustained crop production in the irrigation plots hence improving the food security of the community.

While the project has demonstrated the usefulness of involving local communities in environmental management initiatives, the scale of damage caused requires extensive financial investment. The project has therefore failed to generate geographically sound impacts.

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Indicators

Empowerment

Number of women participated / involved in SGP project 80

Empowerment

Number of indigenous people participated/involved in SGP project 160

Biophysical

Number of innovations or new technologies developed / applied 2

Biophysical

Number of national policies informed in land degradation focal area 1

Livehood

Number of households who have benefited* from SGP project 160

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