Project Detail

Conserving Energy and Promoting Environmental Sustainability in Thatta

Thatta, a coastal district of Pakistan, is highly challenged by poverty and environmental degradation. The 1.1 million people of the district are highly dependent on its biodiversity and environment for their subsistence livelihoods. Thatta is one of the 10 districts selected by UNDP-GEF as focus districts for the period 2005-2008 (UNDP/GEF Country Program Strategy).

Two types of forest are found in district Thatta covering an overall area of 422 thousand hectares, 1) the riverine forest (along the banks of Indus) and 2) the mangrove forests.

The area has a serious threat of deforestation due to human activity. 90 % of the 1.1 million people use wood as fuel. BACIP-BEIP through its innovative approach was successful in introducing energy efficient solutions that reduce the consumption of fuel wood by 40% and contribute to the generation of income and savings in disposable income of the local communities. There is great potential that the scale up of BACIP-BEIP will put a marked

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Aga Khan Foundation Pakistan

Country:

Pakistan

Area Of Work:

Climate Change Mitigation

Operational Phase:

Phase 3

Grant Amount:

US$ 49,078.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 25,201.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 8,346.00

Project Number:

PAK/OP3/05/05

Start Date:

12/2005

End Date:

11/2006

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

1) 20 villages (about 2000 households and 12 000 people) from the two Taluqas (Keti Bundar and Ghora Bari) will benefit directly or indirectly from the project interventions

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

Awareness workshops will be organized for the CSOs to sensitize them on the environmental and conservation issues faced by the district and their local and global impacts. Leading environmentalists, experts from civil society, govt and privates sector organizations will deliver lectures and conduct workshops. These awareness sessions will follow the introduction of simple solutions and approaches introduced by BACIP-BEIP for energy conservation. Through BACIP-BEIP energy efficient products were installed in 20 villages of Thatta in 2004. Members of the 6 CSOs will be taken to these villages where the energy efficient products are installed in the village houses. The Members will observe and discuss the benefits and impacts of the products with the users.

Gender Focus

Being primary users of most of the housing improvement products women are the primary stakeholders of the project. The project will select at least one women organizations amongst the 6 CSOs as project partners. Amongst the 10 trained entrepreneurs at least 3 should be female. Health and hygiene education sessions will be conducted for groups of female. To strengthen women?s role in family dynamics the strategy will be to create awareness amongst them through meetings, village level workshops and imparting health and hygiene packages.

Notable Community Participation

The project activities will be carried out in 20 villages of the two Taluqas (Ghora Bari and Keti Bundar) along the bank of river Indus and the coast of Thatta (map attached as appendix 6) impacting both the Riverine forest and Mangrove forest.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The project will integrate the products and approaches into the programs of indigenous CSOs that are already working in the area on various development projects and have a good reputation in the communities. Project will transfer the necessary knowledge, skill and technology to the CSOs for the implementation and future sustainability of the project intervention. Linkages of the CSOs will be built with other development agencies (both national and international) and MFIs for access to finance and sharing of other resources for future promotion of the project activities to other areas. Hence a network of indigenous organizations will be established to work on energy and environment issues in the area. Entrepreneurs will be trained under these CSOs through whom the manufacturing and supply of the energy efficient products will be ensured. Through this approach the CSOs will continue the activities even after the project funding is over.

Capacity - Building Component

The strategy is to build technical and managerial capacities at the local level to scale up BACIP-BEIP energy efficient initiatives at large scale. AKPBSP under this project plans to focus on two taluqas of Thatta (covering all major villages) for direct intervention and 6 CSOs will be trained and provided necessary technical and management input to develop proposals and implement the BACIP-BEIP initiatives other Taluqas of Thatta. It is intended that with the implementation of the BACIP-BEIP project in the major villages will set the trend for the replication of the products to the surrounding small villages. Through training of entrepreneurs the manufacturing and supply of the BACIP products will be ensured in both the Taluqas. Demand for the BACIP-BEIP products will be created through awareness workshops, seminars, meetings, road shows and distribution of information and awareness materials. Experienced and capable staff for the project will be inducted to carry out the project activities.

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