Project Detail

Community Capacity Building and Climate-Smart Innovative Agroecological Practices in the Vaca Forest Reserve

The project proposal titled, Community Capacity Building and Climate -Smart Innovative Agroecological Practices In the Vaca Forest Reserve addresses the GEF SGP strategic initiative of community landscape conservation designed to promote sustainable use and management of the natural resource base through capacity building initiatives, sustainable livelihood activities and complement poverty alleviation needs. The goal of the project is to promote Climate Smart Innovative Agro-ecology practices in the Vaca Forest Reserve through community development and support. The objective of the project is to stabilize the uncontrolled use of the forest reserve by farmers in the Vaca plateau and maintain the ecosystem goods and services through capacity building and support. The primary recipients of the support will be the Friends of Vaca Forest Reserve who became organized in 2014.

More specifically the project will aim to build the capacity of the beneficiaries by a) organizing and strengthening the management committee of the Friends of Vaca Forest Reserve through working sessions; b) conducting an assessment of acreage actively used by farmers and honey keepers; c) learning successful forest concession models through exchange programs; d) organizing reunions between FVFR and the Forest Department to legalize their use of the land; e) re-organizing, financing and regulating agro-ecological best practices in the reserve.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Friends for Conservation and Development

Country:

Belize

Area Of Work:

CapDev
Land Degradation

Operational Phase:

Phase 6

Grant Amount:

US$ 50,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 14,201.25

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 33,958.79

Project Number:

BZE/SGP/OP6/Y2/CORE/LD/2016/03

Start Date:

11/2016

End Date:

8/2018

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Policy Influence

As project is now successfully completed, the outputs are not liked to policy influence, but project outcomes can be linked in the future. This Project was a capacity building project, that directly impacted the life of members of the Friends of Vaca Forest Reserve.

Replication of project activities

In development, expansion generally refers to project activities being scaled up at or around the current project site, whereas replication refers to a similar project (or projects) being done in other areas in the future. Findings of the evaluation indicated that agroecology has great potential both as a conservation strategy and a livelihood strategy in Belize. All nine of the active beneficiaries indicated that agro-ecology is a win-win strategy for the farmers, the environment and for community development. What is unique is that specific practices can be tailored to different locations based on the ecology, climatic conditions, etc. and when this is done, the benefits are innumerable. For example, farm planning resulted in better management of riparian forest and water sources, use of bokashi resulted in improved soil quality and increased productivity, thus less forest needed to be cleared and burnt, thereby reducing land degradation whilst also maintaining healthy forest.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

Once proven successful, it is FCD?s interest to promote the Climate Smart Innovative Agro-ecology practice, and would do this primarily by liaising with the Forest Department and other governmental agencies to share results and recommendations.

Project sustainability

Sustainability of development project is normally considered from the perspective of whether the project had adequate funds for all planned activities and whether interventions will continue to have impacts after the project is completed. These impacts can be environmentally, socially and economically. The funding from the GEF SGP allowed FCD to more quickly mobilize its re-engagement efforts with FVFR which ensured the success of the project. With the improved organization via the project, both FCD and FVFR are now better positioned to continue the process of collaborating for more sustainable management of the resources in the reserve.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The GEF SGP resources requested more specifically is to support capacity building and sustainable livelihood activities at the local level in order to help achieve sustainable use and management of the Vaca Forest Reserve resources through the Intermediary Approach wherein FCD will execute and implement the project. The interventions will be aimed at strengthening the capacity of the Friends of the Vaca Forest Reserve; cross exchange learning; legalizing their involvement in the area; and regulating and promoting Climate Smart Innovative Agro-ecology practices.

Gender Focus

The Management Committee of the FVFR has one woman represented and there are another three women who are members of the FVFR. These women will form part of the training conducted throughout the year. In addition, FCD will promote and encourage the involvement of the Cayo Womens Conservation Group (CWCG) who has desired to participate in the Vaca Forest Reserve conservation activities. These women are primarily from San Jose Succotz. It is our hope that the CWCG will be another prominent key stakeholder by the end of the project. These women are seeking to develop a business enterprise using natural products from the forest. Their involvement will support community participation and stewardship for the reserve.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

The goals, activities and results of the project will be communicated to members of the community, other institutions and key stakeholders via two press releases. Throughout the project life, FCD will conduct systematization of the steps followed and through monthly reports, will review lessons learnt and assess performance which will serve as important information for final presentation to members of the FVFR and other stakeholders. Copies of the final report will be submitted to the Forest Department and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Planning non gef grant

There are no plans to scale up through Non-GEF Grants

Capacity - Building Component

This is an intermediary grant, and as part of this grant the Friends of Vaca Forest Reserves will be the ones to receive all the training in capacity building. Several activities are specifically geared towards building the capacity of this organization.

Planning gef grant

This project has potential of being Scaled up to a medium-sized GEF Grant, but at this moment of project closure there are no plans.

Notable Community Participation

This project will involve youths in many activities including Forest Fire training,

Project Results

The established objectively verifiable indicators for measuring the achievement of the project goal were: a) number of Climate Smart Innovative Agroecology practices are effectively implemented in the VFR, and b) Number of persons applying agroecology practices. Whilst the project?s logical framework did not provide any information on baseline and specific targets to be achieved by the end of project, on page 16 of the project proposal reference is made to five pilot activities related to the first indicator, namely: 1. Installation and management of organic farms 2. Water conservation 3. Agroforestry and silvi-pastoral systems 4. Grazing management 5. Soil organic matter enhancement The evaluation found that nine of the ten5 beneficiaries whose farms were selected for piloting activities are actively implementing one or more of the above practices and are experiencing benefits such as increased productivity, profitability and satisfaction. Whilst none of the farms have been certified as organic, elements of organic production are increasingly being incorporated into farm operations. The farmers are also demonstrating improved understanding, appreciation for and application of agro-ecological skills.
Based on these findings, all beneficiaries agreed that the goal of the project was met.
The projects purpose (or outcome) was to stabilize the uncontrolled use of the forest reserve by farmers in the Vaca plateau and maintain the ecosystem goods and services through capacity building and support. Achievement of the purpose would be evidenced by: a) acreage of forest impacted, and b) acreage of forest restored. It was not possible to verify any change based on the agreed means of verification, i.e. satellite imagery, aerial surveys, and photos; however, anecdotal evidence indicated that none of the engaged farmers cleared any new forest during the project period. Some farmers have commenced basic reforestation utilizing trees provided by FCD and/or those produced on their farms.
The project was able to successfully deliver seven (88%) of the eight outputs that comprised the official project strategy. The output pertaining to the Cayo Women?s Conservation Group was not an official part of the project strategy, thus was not reviewed in the project evaluation. The table on page 7 provides an overview of the outputs at project completion.

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