How Children and Family lives are transforming through Livelihoods Interventions
Contents
A Word from the National Director
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The Big Picture
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Three in One Partnership
3
Our Main Models
4
Savings Groups on the Move Changed to change others- A healing touch
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Water harvesting sustaining life
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Tough times never last - A revived hope for mooing at home
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Economic Empowerment How a heroine broke dependency
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Internship Program New graduates pass on their expertise to empower communities
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3
Word from Director of Integrated Programs
Our approaches including Empowered World View have continued to be game changer in driving socio-economic transformation process within the community by instilling a sense of accountability and breaking external dependency syndrome. Communities are being encouraged and empowered to turn challenges into opportunities and effectively utilize natural resources in their surroundings to sustainably provide well for their children and families. We are grateful to the Government of Tanzania at all levels, communities that we work with, partner NGOs, World Vision Support Offices, sponsors and all development partners and WVT Staff for their continued support in attaining such tremendous achievements. We are touch by your love and commitment for children and development of this country.
Dear Readers, It is with great pleasure that I present to you the voices of joy from the beneficiaries of our interventions in livelihoods and resilience. In each program we undertake, at the end of the day we think of the impact it should have on the lives of children. We believe that our aspirations for children in education, health and other spheres of life can adequately and sustainably be attained when the parents/guardians and the community as a whole are able to provide for their children.
When one walks this journey with us, they are making an investment that will create a return unlike other projects that gets funded, when you come to the end of the project, the project is over and the funding is over. I hope you will find the stories in this brief both informative and interesting and that it will give you a greater understanding of the work undertaken by World Vision Tanzania (WVT) in livelihoods and resilience. As you go through this story book, you will realise that most stories focus on small holder farmers or livestock keepers due to the fact that most of our beneficiaries are farmers. The book is enriched with our 2016 data.
At WVT, livelihoods is a foundational sector as it has been demonstrated that, poverty eradication and food security hinge on increasing productivity, profitability and employment creation in a sustainable manner. WVT’s strategy 2016-2020, focuses on Livelihood, Health, Nutrition and WASH, with Livelihood being the primary sector. Spiritual Development and Protection of Children are cross cutting functions. On the back of this, WVT deepened relationship with Great Africa Food Company (GAFCO) to spearhead local, regional and international marketing of smallholder producer for increased profitability, and Vision Fund Tanzania Micro Finance Company (VFT MFC) for smallholder financing.
2,748
producer groups trained on Climate Smart Agriculture
farmers practicing farmer managed natural regeneration
4,906
3,154
households using renewable energy
households using fuel efficient stoves
23,700
995
hectares of land entered into irrigation
water pans excavated
VisionFund Tanzania
$4,930,124
in loans distributed to 24,923 clients impacting 99,692 children
$106,977
in savings deposited, increased from $95,348 in 2015
GAFCo
3207
Enjoy your reading Devocatus Kamara Word from Director of Integrated Programs
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1,874
farmers were reached in various value chains covering 13,964 acres.
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VisionFund Tanzania engages
with savings and producer groups, providing capital to support families in transitioning from subsistence farming to income generating activities. Loans are made available for farmers to buy improved seeds and input supplies and for those living in the driest regions to purchase drip irrigation equipment.VFT supports entrepreneurs in starting small businesses, and finances their growth as the successful ones provide employment and add value to local agricultural production.
our
three in one
livelihoods partnership
World Vision
GUARANTEES SMALLHOLDERS ORGANIZED FOR VALUE CHAIN PARTICIPATION
Producer Association
Tanzania is a Christian
development, relief and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. VFT and GAFCo work alongside WVT to transform the lives of impoverished families, most of whom are subsistence farmers. WVT begins with mindset change, teaching Empowered World View as an alternative to fatalism and dependency. Next, we organise savings and producer groups as forums for generating income and addressing issues of health, nutrition, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and education. 6
to reach
155,000 households with 475,000 children by 2020
Lends to asssociations, groups and famers: • Seeds & inputs, to farmers: seasonal • Irrigation & farming equipment, to groups or farmers: for two years • Major irrigation infrastructure, to associations: for six years • Crop inventory, livestock, beehives, fisheries & other assets, to groups or farmers: various • Insurance, crop yield and livestock Producer Association
Producer Groups
• •
• •
Provides Empowered Worldview training Organises, trains, empowers and grades producer groups and associations Connects farmers to GAFCo and VFT Monitors outcomes including child wellbeing
GUARANTEES INPUTS & MARKETS TO REDUCE RISK & PERFORMS LOAN ADMINISTRATION TO REDUCE COST
Producer Groups
•
Farmers
• • •
Advises on irrigation infrastructure Sells seeds & inputs Trains and supervises in best practice farming Buys crops on guaranteed fixedprice contracts
Farmers Farmers
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Great TheAfrican food Companyis a for-
profit company wholly owned by World Vision supporters, combining the discipline and efficiency of a commercial business with a Christian social mission. Profits are reinvested to create a selffunding and self-replicating model that impacts an ever-greater number of smallholder farmers. Working alongside WVT, GAFCo empowers producer groups by training farmers in sustainable agricultural practices introducing high-value crops and helping increase yields. GAFCo supplies seeds and inputs funded by VFT, and packages, stores and transports crops for sale in the best markets.
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Business Facilitation Model This is a model that aims at improving local business environment for improved performance of the various businesses that exist in the particular location. Through the model various businesses come together and beneficiaries form Community Business Forums. In the forums they identify pertinent problems and design ways to tackle them.
Local Value Chain Development Model This is a market or demand driven project model that aims at promotion of agriculture value chains.The project is suitable for an area where ground structures such and those responsible for enough marketable goods production and groups may have existed. The project selects one to three products with which their value chains are promoted. Every group in the value chain promotion business may have their own at least one Local market facilitator who works to promote the selected products value chain.
Our Main
Models Building secure livelihood market project model This is an integrated approach aiming at building a secure and resilient livelihood over a period of 3 to 5 years of program implementation. The key features of this model are to enhance the productivity and profitability of sustainable agriculture, to improve market access and strengthened rural value chains as well as providing access to financial services and cash / non-cash safety nets. The model is a set of the following sub-models:
Savings Group Model This is World Vision’s community entry platform model. Poor communities with limited access to finance and sometimes who have not been able to come together to solve their socio-economic problems are bought together to address the issues adamant at their area. They save an agreed portion of money and take loans. This prepares them to be responsible citizens and engage more actively in financial system which otherwise would have discriminated them.
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Farmer (FMNR)
Managed
Natural
Resources
This is an environmental management and reclamation model. This model focuses on reclaiming the lost nature of the environment. Different activities including regeneration of live tree stamps are implemented to ensure that the areas that were bare are productive. Sometimes the model may require that the community prepares land use plans and establish bylaws that will enable execution of the model.
Empowered World View This is a cross cutting model across all World Vision sectors. This model contains components such as Channels of Hope and Citizen Voice and Action.The main component of the model is to ensure that communities attain a transformed mindset that will enable them to benefit from resources endowed to them.
Savings Groups on the Move Realising dreams When you meet members of savings groups, you should be ready to hear voices of success and improvement in life standards. Through World Vision Tanzania savings groups interventions more than 65,000 women and men are contributing tremendously to improved lives of their children and families. Meet Mwajabu from Mgera, Kilindi District, North eastern Tanzania. She is farmer growing maize, rearing chicken and doing gardening especially on tomatoes. As Mwajabu puts it “Before I joined the group I had a poor life, for example I had difficulties getting food and taking my children to school. But after joined a JIPE MOYO saving group I have managed to take my children to school and built a new house”. Mwajabu’s son Mhina is has been able to join collage through his mother savings and small business. “I thank world vision for empowering my mother I am now in my second year. I believe though her knowledge I will also be able to do my own entrepreneurship activities. Mhinas dreams to be a successful entrepreneur” Says Mhina Her achievements can be felt by her neighboring children. I am not helping my children alone but rather I have been supporting my neighbors’ children by using the skills received from my saving group. I was trained on vegetable and chicken farming and saving and buying of shares”. Explains Mwajabu Mwajabu’s next move is to own money maker irrigation pump that will enable her to do farming in a large irrigation. “The farming method that we do now is very collective because we depend on rainfall but once I get that pump I will be able to do calendar farming. I will be able to harvest and take crops to the market when the profits are higher”. Highlights Mwajabu One of the World Vision Tanzania’s Strategies for 2016/20 is to improve community and family livelihoods. Mindset transformation has been a major outcome of World vision Tanzania, after impacting communities with right knowledge and empowerment through Empowered World view.
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Savings and
Producer Groups In 2016, 1948 new Savings Groups (SG) were formed compared to 1161 in 2015 which is 67% increment.
A total of 91,427 USD (203,242,221 TZS.) was set aside as social fund which was used to assist 83,698 Most Vulnerable Children in respective communities
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In 2016, Savings Groups had savings of US$ 1,320,709 USD (2,905,559,800 TZS)
667 and 158 Crop and livestock producer groups respectively were formed.
Changed to change others- A healing touch Mama Flora also received water harvesting training learning to construct water pans. She ultimately ended up farming high-value crops on one-eighth of an acre, like vegetables, which she began selling at the local Sunday market. Mama Flora’s initial training came from a government extension worker who learned about THRIVE from a successful local farmer who was trained by another farmer who learned farming techniques and experienced mindset transformation through World Vision.
Mbuyuni Village in Kisongo has one of most parched Savannah landscapes in Northern Tanzania, scattered with volcanic boulders from Mt. Meru that farmers clear by hand to access arable soil. Mama Flora, tall, poised and impeccably stylish at 36, is married with 6 children and works as a farmer. Although World Vision Tanzania has had a presence in her village for years providing water and needed infrastructure, it was only when the teachings of THRIVE started that Mama Flora began witnessing real change. THRIVE is a World Vision economic empowerment model that seeks improved and resilient livelihoods for small scale farmers.
She is an example of how the learnings from THRIVE are self-replicating and spreading throughout farming communities, creating a self-sustaining means for economic development. Her income jump started in late 2015 after she received her first Savings Group share out of US$350. She immediately added a solar electricity system to her home and tried her hand at onion farming, which helped bring in US$300 of income in a mere 3 months.
She used to cultivate dryland crops like maize, beans and green-gram, selling on the market only if there was a surplus beyond what she needed to feed her familys. There was never enough food to provide for her family. Mama Flora’s daughter Catherine says, “We use to survive on one cup of porridge a day, and would sometimes go hungry for a day or so.”
With that, she borrowed her first VisionFund loan of US$160, and with US$30 of her own savings she purchased a water tank. Mama Flora repaid her loan within 6 months. Her second VisionFund loan was US$600, which she used to purchase a motorcycle to transport her crops to market and to supply her newly opened shop.
In 2015, Mama Flora’s family received government aid during a severe drought, an ever more common occurrence due to climate change. Through World Vision’s Pamoja project, Mama Flora learned to manage her money through a savings group. She is now the chairwoman of all the women’s savings groups in her village, which together comprise over six hundred women.
Mama Flora could not afford to buy school uniform and other school supplies for her children. As she puts it “my children had to wear my old t-shirts to school”. With her current income, Mama Flora can provide school and health needs for her family. “My children are healthy, that feels my heart with joy as a mother” Says Mama Flora
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Water harvesting sustaining life Tough times never last A revived hope for mooing at home
G
lobal warming and weather changes caused Sanare to lose many things, including his prized cows. But he never lost his hope for a better future. Sanare Kivuyo, 49 is married to Anna, 39, and together they have seven children, including two sets of twins. It is a dry and dusty afternoon in Mbuyuni village in Babati, Northern Tanzania.
The air is hot and humid. One could feel the sun burning their skin mercilessly; the land is covered in yellow gold with all the plants turning yellow.This could only mean one thing; it is the dry season, the longest season that goes up to eight months. As we enter Sanare’s home compound he quickly rushes to greet us, dusting his hands before a massive handshake. Sanare leads the way to the greenhouse and stops to show us his garden of green vegetables and onions. On the very far end of the village we can see a big dam and we stop to ask him if that is where they fetch water. This question takes him back in years when he was still young and his mother used to walk for three hours to that dam that was shared with four villages. He speaks of how he grew up thinking it was okay to walk miles to get water for drinking, as well for their animals. There are four villages all gathered around one dam bringing along their animals to drink, which caused a lot of fights between villagers. However due to drought, in most cases he could barely harvest five bags which were never enough to provide for his family, so he had to sell his animals to get income. He almost sold all the cows and goats which resulted in mocking from his Maasai community, since to them having a lot of cattle is prestigious. “I felt ashamed to join village meetings or gatherings, says Sanare Sanare started learning from World Vision, which mobilized the community to form groups in which they could work
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Water Harvesting Technology
995
water pans excavated for agriculture
23,700
hectares of land put under irrigation
11.04kms
of irrigation canals were rehabilitated or constructed and 8 boreholes were drilled together. He is also a member of savings group facilitated by Word Vision, and has already benefited from a VisionFund loan which he used to purchase fertilizers. He was among the people that went to Yatta, Kenya in 2015 where he was trained about mindset transformation, good agriculture practices, income diversification, and rainwater harvesting. “When I heard about rain water
harvesting through digging water pans, I said to myself, ‘I must seize this opportunity,’ ” says Sanare. In Yatta, farmers were taught to farm on just one acre of land, growing different crops on a small plot instead of scattering them around a large area which is hard to fertilize and water. One acre farming allows a farmer to harvest high value crops at different times of the year—farming smarter, not harder. Sanare is now a trainer to his neighbors and the entire Mbuyuni community. They come to learn about farming as well as land use management. From his one acre piece of land, he is cultivating onions, tomatoes and green vegetables. These take only three months to harvest, and fetch high prices in the market, and are also a source of nutrition for his family. While Sanare could hardly harvest 5 bags of maize from his one acre farm through subsistence farming, today Sanara can make up to US$4,000 in three months.
Tanzania Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa officiating the opening of Irrigation Project at Jobag Village, Karatu District in Northern Tanzania. In orange is Devocatus Kamara, Director of Intergrated Programmes -World Vision Tanzania. December 2016.
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With the earnings he is able to pay school fees for his five children that are still at school and has gained security for his family. There is enough food for his cows during dry season through a hydroponic fodder production, this technique allows cereal grains to germinate within a short period of time, and one kilogram of cereal germinates and produces seven kilograms of fodder within seven days. He uses this to feed his calves, sick and elderly cows. He has dug two water pans that he uses for irrigation and household use. “World Vision has made us fall in love with farming, just as we loved our cows,” says Sanare. “Much as I lost a lot of things due to dry spell, I never lost my hope for the future.”
Economic Empowerment
Mariamu decided to take an individual loan. This round she qualified for TZS2, 600,000/= (about US$1,138) of loan. The money enabled her to expand her business, as she became a registered mobile money transfer agent in the area. She also bought a fridge for soft drinks like juice, water and soda as preferred by her customers. With her business, Mariamu has been able to pay for her children’s school fees and cater for other family provisions.
Before joining the group Mariamu was engaged in making snacks such as buns that she sold in the streets. “We had a small self-help group called Mshikamano before we were trained by World Vision on savings groups. I encouraged my colleagues and we established a registered savings group called Chavuma” Explains Mariamu. Being a member of Chavuma savings group, where Mariamu and her colleagues save and took loans to generate income for their farming and small businesses, Mariamu says due to her great dreams, the loans were not enough. “Fortunately in 2013, we were called to a meeting organised by World Vision and VisionFund (SEDA at the time) in collaboration with our local government where they introduced to us farming loans”.
“Also, with the same loan, I managed to buy a welding machine for my son who completed welding training. He now has a workshop here and he is doing very well” narrates Mariamu as she smiles. Shabani is Mariamu’s first son; Shaban is now a well-known welder in the village. He makes metal items including building materials such as doors, window and home appliances like tables, chairs and beds.
After being linked to VisionFund, Mariamu and fellow group members organised themselves and were given a loan by VisionFund for farming. Her first loan was TZS 500,000/(About US$250). Unfortunately the harvests were not so good due to serious shortage of water for irrigation in that year.
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t is a common practice for women in Africa to depend entirely on men in providing for their families. This is not the case for a 47 year old Mariamu Bakari. Unlike many women in her community she has courageously stood up to sustain economically despite her husband’s condition.
Mariamu Bakari is one of the group members. She is married with three children namely, Shabani Bakari 23 years old, Asina 20 years old and the last one Rajab Bakari 16 years old.
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Mariamu adds, “through World Vision and VisionFund training, I have learned how to save and keep financial records but most importantly, with the loans, I have been able to expand my business. Today, I am able to provide for my family”.
Despite the challenges encountered, Mariamu explains “I had to find another means to repay the loan so I collected some income from my other small business for that”. Later on, Mariamu decided to take another TZS 500,000 loan but this time she focused on her small business rather than farming. She increased stock in her small stall where she sells foods such as rice, flower, beans, sugar and other nonfood items for home use.
How a heroine broke dependency
In a small village of Uzambara, Same District in northern Tanzania, a group of women are optimistic with farmer-led and business initiatives to enhance their economic development and improve their family livelihoods. Same District is usually dry and farming is not feasible to depend on rainfall. It is unreliable and unpredictable.
Mariamu is also happy to share “It is through farming and my businesses that I built a 4 bedroom house as compared to two bedroom house before”.
You may have asked yourself where Mariamu’s husband is. She has a sad story, although her face is usually smiley. Her husband has been paralysed for 2 years. As Mariamu puts it “My husband was a fine man, on the first day he became sick, he fell down, we took him to different hospitals, his condition improved but deteriorated later on”.
“I have been taking care of my husband and children alone, ever since he fell sick. It is hard but I love him so I cannot abandon him. I advise my fellow women not to depend on men but always learn to be self-reliant”.
In the third loan, Mariamu received TZS1, 000,000/= (US$500), but she faced the hardest time as one of the group members ran away so the group had to bear the price of repaying the loan. “That was a disaster, I honestly gave up because it was a burden to me, but my loan officer from VisionFund advised me to take an individual loan” explains Mariamu.
Mariamu’s future dream is to be a successful entrepreneur by diversifying her business, establish a hardware store and expand her store to a wholesale. “World Vision and VisionFund have been like a life saviour and partner in my business and family, am very thankful.”
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Internship
Program New graduates pass on their expertise to empower communities In Tanzania, World Vision has developed an internship program that is offering students practical opportunities to put their knowledge into practice – and benefiting local communities at the same time.
“As an agro-economist, I was able to work with the community to ensure that farmers get high quantity and quality produce. I am really glad with the progress that the farmers are making after implementing livelihood skills introduced to them. I am glad that this has also provided me an opportunity for my professional development,” says Vivian, an intern with World Vision in the Mukulat community.
which means I can study after school. I want to study and be just like my sisters who are in secondary school.”
The goal of the internship is to change community mindsets and support them with skills and technical knowledge so they can adopt innovative ways of working. From there, the benefits should include improvements in education, health, nutrition, water and sanitation for family members – including children.
The project has also provided some modern beehives and training in beekeeping and honey production. Some community members were invited to visit a nearby community to learn from those in the beekeeping production industry. They met with farmers, learned about other products they could sell besides honey and shared their challenges and successes. The hope is that in future farmers will be more inclined to practise beekeeping rather than keeping cattle, as this has led to some land degradation as young trees have been destroyed by livestock.
Anthony, a farmer and a father of three daughters from a village east of Arusha in Tanzania, is one of the project participants. He farms carrots, potatoes and kale on his one acre plot of land, and then sells some to local villagers and others in markets in the city of Arusha.
World Vision Tanzania’s Academy internship program is part of implementing the World Vision Tanzania Strategy 2020, which seeks to improve the livelihood of community members. Graduates from various local universities get an opportunity to work for 12 months with communities, mostly in rural settings. The graduates are from the local area that they are assigned to, so they are known by the communities and are very happy to be helping their own villagers. For them it is a much better proposition then having to go to the city to look for work.
“Initially, we mostly grew for food to feed at home. Even then, it was hard to get enough food to sustain the family. I used to plant maize and beans which took a considerably longer time to grow, but thanks to World Vision, who have educated us, we now understand better plants to grow, and how to plant and cultivate them for better yields,” says Anthony.
In each of the 62 Area Development Programs in Tanzania, there are one to two interns. Currently there are 82 interns with various background training in livelihoods, health and nutrition, WASH (water and sanitation), education and communication.
“Through farming, I now get enough food for my family, take my children to school and I have been able to build a new house and install electricity.” Anthony’s youngest daughter Emanuela says, “I am really happy when I see how we are living now. We live in a bigger house with electricity,
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Most of the community members here have joined economic groups like the Village Savings and Loan Association and commercial producer groups to help them with growing Irish potatoes, sunflowers, garlic and carrots.
These opportunities are helping more families like Anthony’s to earn a better income and invest in a better quality of life – and it’s all thanks to your generous support.
World Vision Tanzania Academy internship program
In 2016,
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fresh graduates from local Universities with a degree in Agricultural related fields were recruited and deployed to serve as Livelihood Facilitators in 40 Area Programs
Regenerating farmer environments,
sustaining lives
Have you ever imagined that depleted forest can recover its natural vegetation in 3 years, if properly preserved and left inactive?
farmers like Daudi on natural regeneration involving selecting and pruning stems regenerated from stumps of previously felled, living trees.
The practice - Farmer Managed Natural Resource Regeneration is being successfully applied in Mundemu village, Central Tanzania and has transformed desert environment to its original, super green habitat and restored hope for farmers like Daudi Nyagani.
He is also passing on the knowledge and skills to community members around him, though admits that it is challenging to change people’s mindsets. “It is hard to convince people to do pruning especially in the forests, some see it as a waste of time but in the long run, conservation will become a shared norm. I have educated other farmers on forest regeneration and two of them have responded positively”, he added.
The 49 year old says: “Though I am not an expert, but I believe, because of preserving the environment we have seen some positive changes to the climate as rains have increased a bit this year that’s why we have harvested more than previous years”. “Last year my farm yield was quite bad. Due to insufficient rainfall, I hardly harvested one bag of sorghum but this year I got 25 bags”. According to Daudi one bag of sorghum weighs about 90 kg and this year he managed to harvest more than two tonnes TZS 1,500,000/= (U$D 750). “Now, I have money to pay school fees and to build my new house. I did not know that allowing the forest to remain undisturbed and tree pruning would result in new forest growth” he shared. Daudi applauds the environmentally-friendly approach with 24 other village members. Together they formed ‘Mkombozi’ group to support local government and World Vision Tanzania’s efforts. The organization is training smallholder
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Communities are also helped to identify sustainable forest livelihoods like beekeeping. To date, Daudi and his group members own 35 beehives and can harvest up to 350 kgs of honey per year.
4,906 3,154 households using renewable energy
households using fuel efficient stoves
Land under protection increased by
2,364 hectares in 2016
Daudi feeding honey to his Daughter Anamarie
“Honey has become part of our meal at home and my children like honey a lot. It is food and herbal medicine therefore we sell it to get income”, he said. “We preserve our environment as we sustain our lives”, he closed reflectively.
Natural resources
management 748
Crop Producer Group (CPG) were trained on Climate Smart Agriculture.
1,874
farmers practicing farm managed natural regeneration (FMNR)
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