The BCRFNSA is a two-year (2023-2025) project funded by OAK Foundation. It supports 300 farmer households in adopting and implementing agroecology and raising awareness of the impact of climate change. The project aims to improve food, nutrition, and income security, enhance appreciation of the value of agroecology by farmers and decision-makers, improve access to clean, renewable energy options, promote sustainable natural resources management and climate-resilient livelihoods among smallholder farmers in the Shimbizhi ward of Mumbwa district.

The project is addressing the following challenges;

• Changing climatic conditions
• Reduced yield due to land degradation and loss of soil fertility
• Loss of traditional seed varieties
• Limited access to farming inputs and extension
• Over-reliance on synthetic fertilizers and chemicals

GLM Zambia is implementing the Agroecology component under the ‘Food Security and Habitat Protection in the KAZA Project’ being implemented by WWF. This component includes capacity building for 1080 farmers in agroecology in Kazungula, Mulobezi, and Nkeyema districts and policy advocacy.

The project seeks to improve the resilience of communities and ecosystems and the connectivity of wildlife habitats through enhanced food security, diversified income, and habitat protection in the Kavango Zambezi region.

GLM Finland and GLM Zambia have launched a cooperation with a finnish board game Norsun muisti (Memory Of The Elephant). It is not an ordinary memory game, in this game you save animals and reunite families. Purchase of every game funds planting of a tree in Zambia.

Orders: lassi.raunio@norsunmuisti.fi or online store https://holvi.com/shop/LcZNwB/ (in Finnish)

More info (in Finnish):
http://norsunmuisti.fi/
https://www.facebook.com/Norsunmuisti/

Due to some unfortunate technical challenges our web pages were down for some time. Now the pages are published again and we will be updating them as we can. Thank you for your patience and welcome back to follow the work of GLM Finland, GLM Zambia and GLM Swaziland!

Reforestation is an important climate change mitigation strategy. Chief Chamuka and a senior headman planting the first tree of the reforestation activity at the project inauguration in Kanakantapa.

A new project designed by GLM and Plan International Zambia to strengthen climate resilience in rural communities was officially launched on 10 February, 2016, in Chisamba district, Central Province.

The Strengthening Community-based Management of Environment and Natural Resources project, valued at 515,000 euro, aims to support effective and sustainable production and land management practices and build the resilience of communities to climate change impacts while broadening livelihood opportunities.

Over the four-year run of the project at least 6,430 households, or nearly 35,800 people, are expected to benefit directly in Chamuka and Chikonkomene wards, with youths representing a third of this target. The project will aim to deliver tangible benefits to small-scale farmers, including increased incomes, through project activities in conservation farming, beekeeping, fish farming, tree planting and restoration of degraded land, and the diversification of forest product investments.

Speaking at the project inauguration in Chikonkomene, GLM’s Team Leader Emmanuel Mutamba underscored the project’s importance in GLM’s mission:

“The project we have launched today in partnership with Plan International Zambia fits well with the GLM philosophy, which defines local community participation and ownership of development initiatives as the most effective way for these communities to achieve development sustainability.”

Plan recognises GLM’s strong track record in participatory climate resilience action as key to the project’s implementation.

“After a long and thorough search for a suitable partner with whom to implement the project with, we are glad that we settled for GLM,” said Wiscot Mwanza, focal point person for the project and Water and Sanitation Manager for Plan International Zambia.

“We believe that GLM will live up to our expectations and those of the target communities and other key stakeholders. On our part at Plan, we shall go out of our way to give GLM the required support to ensure the project ends with a resounding success.”

The project launch was attended by over three hundred people, including community leaders, youths, women, and several government officials from the province and district levels.

The official project run will be from December 2015 until November 2019, with funds provided by a grant from Plan International’s German National Office.

The past quarter in the climate resilience project was dedicated to capacity building in the project communities. Trainings in Monze, Mumbwa and Luyanshia districts were addressing the importance of education and the keys for a successful training. The objectives of these ‘Training of Trainers’ events were to equip participants with skills for training others and creating awareness on climate change and also to identify strategies for creating awareness on climate change.

The ongoing year has been full of other successful activities as well. At the beginning of the year, a group of farmers in the Shimbizhi and Chiyumu communities received small livestock, such as chickens and goats, from the project and now every partner village has been part of this activity. The owners are committed to donate some of the offspring for other farmers and this way the number of the beneficiaries increases through every pass-on. Finally, all community members in the villages will benefit. Farmers have not been used to see chickens and other small livestock as an income source before, but now some of them have even managed to cover school fees by selling animals. One family have reared 50 chickens from the one they got from the project and another family has already 15 laying hens.

Another objective of the project is to activate young people. Especially popular among the youth was a climate change awareness meeting which was organized alongside with a football tournament. Four teams from the project communities competed with each other in the ‘Climate Change Tournament’ which , in addition to football, included also education on climate change and its causes and effects through drama. The day was of course coloured with traditional dances.

In the rural areas, hardly anyone owns a TV but radios are very common instead. Therefore, it is an excellent way to reach people. GLM Zambia has conducted two radio shows which were produced and aired at Sky FM radio station in Monze. The discussions centred on the impact of climate change on community livelihoods and how the communities could become more resilient to the effects of climate change. The discussants were GLM staff and farmers’ representatives from Chisuwo and Chiyumu. The radius of Sky FM covers thousands of people and the station has received requests for continuation of the programme.

The year 2015 is not over yet but let’s take a little glance at the upcoming year. GLM Zambia will have two enthusiastic ETVO-volunteers in the team and the first one will arrive already in January.

The Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show 2014 took place between 30th July and 4th August in the capital city, Lusaka. The show is the country’s premier annual event at which local and international manufacturers, farmers, entrepreneurs and artists converge to showcase their innovations. The theme for the 2014 event was “Breaking New Ground – and Celebrating Zambia’s 50 Years of Independence”.

GLM Zambia and Network for Environmental Concerns and Solutions (NECOS) shared a platform to showcase their dry sanitation projects and dry toilets, thanks to the support from the Global Dry Toilets Association of Finland which secured the exhibition space. On display were information materials on dry sanitation, dry toilet models and samples of organic manure from the dry toilet.

As word went round amongst curious show-goers looking for something new to feed their eyes and minds on, the number of visitors to the stand kept growing from a handful on the first day of the show to hundreds by the last day. GLM and NECOS staff as well as students attached to the two organisations were available throughout the six-day show to provide information and demonstrations on how the dry toilet works. Many of the visitors had never heard of dry sanitation before, and people from different walks of life, including research institutes, academia, agriculture, students and ordinary members of society, were evidently mesmerised by the concept.

“When I first heard of the dry toilets idea, I was not for it. Now with this information, explanation and demonstration, I have a totally different perception. I wish we had this innovation spread across the country”, said one female visitor to the stand. The demand for dry toilets was clearly unprecedented, much of the interest coming from ordinary community members. One of the male visitors noted: “We are so crowded in my compound, we can no longer find space for pit latrines. I see this as a permanent solution to our predicament.”

Some researchers and students who visited the stand also showed interest in adopting ecological sanitation for their academic works. For GLM and NECOS project staff, the show was just the right platform for effective and rewarding outreach work.

GLM Zambia and and NECOS stand at the 2014 Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show

‘Community Strategies for Climate-Resilient Livelihoods’ project, funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, started at the beginning of this year by educating small-scale farmers on what climate change is. Participating communities have been discussing the causes, impacts and mitigation strategies. Adaptation plans will be drafted for each of the four partner communities, taking into account the local livelihoods and environmental challenges.

Key adaptation strategies in the rural areas are sustainable agricultural practices. The commonly used slash-and-burn method rapidly destroys nutrients in the soil, which raises the pressure to burn new areas for fields, further accelerating deforestation and erosion. GLM organises training on agroforestry, crop rotation and composting for the farmers. Organic farming eliminates fertiliser costs, while taking care of the soil.

In agroforestry, nitrogen-fixing trees are planted in the fields. The trees also provide ingredients for natural pesticides, leaves for medical use, timber and fruit, while giving shelter from wind, thus decreasing erosion. Many farmers have cattle, chicken and goats whose droppings can be composted to produce organic fertiliser. Shifting to organic farming takes time and requires a lot of work, but according GLM’s experiences, harvests will increase and working hours reduce after three years.

Furthermore, the community members receive training to improve their capacity to work as entrepreneurs and advocates within their own community, but also to impact decision-makers. This enhances the self-sufficiency of the farmers when the project comes to an end. The project also involves chicken and goat production and establishment of nurseries to provide additional livelihood sources. In addition, farmers will visit other GLM´s partner villages to share experiences and approaches, as learning from fellow farmers has proven to be an effective means to change one’s way of thinking.

The overall objective of the project is to create stronger rural villages which have the required knowledge and skills to survive in the changing climate.

GLM Finland and GLM Zambia have started a new project pilot in Chibobo village in Central Zambia. The purpose of the project is to engage one of the farmer clubs, Chibobo Women, to crochet beanies and barets with Zambian patterns using Finnish wool. The hats will be sold in Finland and the label of the product will include a photo of its maker.

While GLM has a long history of working with Chibobo, this pilot project offers a completely new way of providing additional income to the community members. The product development has been carried out together with Chibobo Women, and it was decided that barets and basic beanies would be made. These hats were chosen, because in Finland the cold season is very long and people need to keep warm, and these hats with local Zambian patterns also look very unique. In addition to producing nice hats, GLM is providing additional work opportunities for the women – which is, after all, the most important thing.

Green Living Movement employing Chibobo women to make crocheted hats

The three-year Farmers’ Market project that GLM has been implementing in Serenje district has reached its final year. The project has improved the marketing and negotiation skills of local farmers in GLM’s partner villages. Donkeys have also been purchased for the villages to help the farmers transport their produce to more profitable markets.

In 2013, the representatives of the local marketing committees made an educational visit to the annual Agricultural and Commercial Show organised in the capital Lusaka. The show is the most important annual event for the agricultural business in Zambia. A video documentary was filmed during the visit in order to document what the farmers have learned during the project. The video will be later shared with other non-governmental organisations and farmers in Zambia to spread the knowledge and experience gained during the project.

At the end of 2013, two project coordinators from GLM Finland visited Zambia to monitor the project’s successes and challenges. The marketing committees formed by local farmers in the partner villages seem to operate well and the committee members are motivated. The farmers have participated in various kinds of training hat has improved their marketing skills. They have learned, for example, about the importance of value addition to ensure that they get better price for their produce. The purchased donkeys are healthy and have adapted well to their new homes. The donkeys have also been used to transport goods, but so far only for short distances. The challenges that the farmers are still facing include insufficient bookkeeping skills as well as lack of mobile network which makes it difficult to contact GLM Zambia’s project coordinator and potential buyers.

During the last year of project implementation, GLM is organising training on bookkeeping for the marketing committees. The committees will also create new business plans for the future, and they are encouraged to diversify the ways the donkeys are used. An application was submitted for a two-year extension of the project in order to strengthen the already learned skills.