Enhancing Rural Livelihoods in Malawi, Tanzania, and Mozambique
Project Description
The objective of the project is to improve the livelihoods of targeted rural communities in all 3 countries. The following objectives will be achieved:
- Improve the economic use & management of natural resources on a sustainable basis with reduced soil & forest degradation focusing on various forms of communal & homestead tree planting, conservation of indigenous woodlands, planting bamboo to protect stream banks & reduce demands on wood products, & introduction of energy-efficient wood stoves to reduce wood consumption.
- Increase & diversity farm productivity to improve household food security, nutrition, & incomes through low-cost, sustainable systems of irrigation linked to good markets.
- Enhance village & household health standards by introducing low-cost methods to provide safe water & sanitation.
The project will use an integrated approach to empower communities to take responsibility for improving their livelihoods through training & extension services by establishing market linkages between private firms & local suppliers of products. The following elements are involved:
- Collaborative arrangements established with government entities to support & complement the program.
- Each site will be serviced by 1 technician covering an average of 50 villages, which will be increased to 100+ as villages become self-sufficient in interventions.
- Intensive support will be provided for 1-2 years with the aim of developing capacity of communities to become self-sufficient. Thereafter, support will be scaled down to an advisory level with communities responsible for maintaining & expanding the program.
- Scale of program will be expanded by leveraging resources of selected NGOs.
- Impacts will be visible due to synergistic effects of involving the collaboration of many villages & traditional leaders under a common goal.
- Results will attract interest from other service providers as well as neighboring communities.
Duration
2005 - 2010
Collaborators
WSU Contact Person
Trent Bunderson, tbunderson@wsu.edu
Malawi Contact Person
Zwide Jere, sdi@malawi.net
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