PresentationRiversdale Mining

Benga Concept PaperPeter Pichler

Sustainable Livelihoods Program Benga Mining Community

RiversdaleThe aim of this social responsibility project is to improve the food security of rural communities in the Benga mining region of Changara district, Tete Province through an integrated intervention.

The project will target approx. 500 vulnerable households in Benga Village, and will use a participative, gender-sensitive development approach.

The project’s overall purpose is to improve food security of rural community in Benga, Changara district of Tete province, with specific focus on women and vulnerable households. The project’s purpose will be achieved

Providing skills and expertise to assist community members to move from subsistence and starvation farming methods to modern, scientifically, environmentally friendly based farming methods, Increase and diversify food production from smallholder land plots and household plots.

Improving the ability and capacity for communities to provide for their own food security and as a source of income, enhance community-based marketing strategies and access to agricultural inputs.The project will promote associative market practices among small producers, women and vulnerable households that will facilitate economic and physical

Enabling participants to earn an income, Community Participation through Grassroots Mobilization and Capacity Building will be the approach used to implement the project. Community consultation and participation is the centrepiece of the chosen technical approach. This will enable the Benga community to

Farming as a Business (FaaB) is an approach that furnishes farmers with appropriate-level analytical skills and business management tools. The provided training for FaaB aims to decrease costs and risks by encouraging famers to work in association, enabling them to purchase their agricultural inputs in bulk and sell their agricultural commodities together.

Promoting a healthy community; where more children go to school and agriculture productivity is improved, HIV/AID prevention is taken serious. In order to decrease the vulnerability of school children, the project will encourage villagers and emphasize on positive aspects of having the children in one institutional setting/school will

Motivating women to improve their everyday lives; people become confidant and successful agents of their own development, promote and consolidate organization of rural communities. In Mozambique, civil society appears still unorganized and rural communities are scattered and weakly represented. The ability of the community to organise,

Promoting women leadership; where women become key economic players in society and have equal leadership with men, to advocate for pro-poor and gender specific changes in practices of access to and use of land. Village women and vulnerable households are inadequately aware of their land ownership rights and they have no

Promote diversified farming; with people cultivating vegetables and raising livestock. Through the use of demonstrations plots, we will use appropriate technologies for both conservation and improved intercropping and vegetable production with the assistance of local lead farmers. These demonstration FFS plots will provide

Early warning of food insecurity through monitoring household indicators: The project aims to communicate and disseminate relevant and accurate information on the food security situation on a village and district basis in order to enable the Government and Local authorities, to react in appropriate and timely fashion.

Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change adaption: The Disaster risk management will focuses on building the Benga villagers basis for risk reduction; increasing scientific and popular understanding of risk; strengthening early warning systems; improving natural resource management and construction practices; promoting preparedness for emergency response; and mobilizing resources for and implementing emergency response and rehabilitation operations.

Gender is a critical factor in understanding vulnerability to climate change, and effective adaptation will promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Rainfall 2008/09, 2009/10 and 15-year average

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Methodology of implementation

Multidimensional strategy: The project will be based upon a multidimensional perspective that is able to respond to the complex underlying causes of food insecurity through an integrated and participative methodology. It will simultaneously combine local community organization and capacity building, local market strategies, transfer and dissemination of appropriate agricultural practices, food security monitoring and preparedness, advocacy and lobbying work.

Methodology of implementationcontinuation

A participatory approach: will be an integral part of project methodology and will represent an essential tool for beneficiary selection, analysis of organizational capacities, priorities and activities identification, and monitoring and evaluation. A Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) methodology will be set up in the preliminary phase of the project and will be the basis for the following participatory monitoring and evaluation (PMLE). Beneficiaries will be consulted, involved in implementation and decision-making and expected to manage aspects of the project. Gender analysis will be used within the PLA methodology to identify beneficiaries and to steer activities.

Methodology of implementationcontinuation

Community organisation and capacity building: the project’s participative approach will be particularly focused on responding to a weak and unorganised civil society. Strengthening people’s ability to create and maintain village committee will foster their active participation in the process of social and economic change. Developing local practical, analytical and managerial skills through capacity building will ensure that the committees work effectively. Capacity building methodology will be complementary to the participatory approach, and it will encourage local community empowerment and self-management over the five years of project implementation

Methodology of implementationcontinuation

Transfer and dissemination of appropriate agricultural practices: it will rely upon a multidisciplinary project team composed of qualified technical staff: Extension worker/agronomists, social/community mobilizer. The team will identify the most appropriate and locally suitable agricultural practices and transfer them to farming households. As a consequence, agricultural working plans will be tied to the cropping calendar. Methodology will include both field-training activities carried out in demonstrative plots and technical assistance at household level. Training of trainers will be part of the methodology and will ensure continuity and sustainability of project activities.

Thank youPeter

Methodology of implementationcontinuation

Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation (CSI & PMLE): As the project area has been frequently affected by natural disasters (droughts and floods) and food insecurity, the project will developed an early warning methodology (Community Situation Indicator) that monitors and communicates changes in the food security and livelihood situation of vulnerable households in Benga village on a monthly basis. The project will use and adapt CSI methodology to increase sensitivity of monitoring and improve knowledge of local food security problems and climate change impact as well as monitoring and