Milestone 5 Progress Report 4 | Mahlathini Development Foundation

RESILIM-O:

Resilience intheLimpopo Basin

Program–Olifants

MILESTONE 5: ProgressReport #4:

April- June2017

Under the

Lower Olifants catchment

Agricultural Support Initiative (AgriSI)

Implemented by

2
Table of Contents
Summary ..............................................................................................................................4
2. Activity record for the period...........................................................................................5
3. Progress ........................................................................................................................7
Milestone 5: April-June 2017: Progress according to deliverables....................................7
3.1Description of progress to date...............................................................................8
4. Summary of baseline and implementation progress per village....................................13
5. Individual Experimentation...........................................................................................14
6. Summary of milestone implementation across villages................................................16
7. Monthly team assessment...........................................................................................17
Indicators: Assessment June 2017..................................................................................17
Project Life Change Questions:.......................................................................................18
7. Work Plans for the coming three months......................................................................20
Attachment 1: Invitation to Farmers’ Open day for the AgriSI programme .......................21
Attachment 2: Programme for the Farmers’ Open day in Sedawa, 25 April 2017 ............22
Attachment 3: Programme for World Biodiversity Day workshop in Sedawa....................23
Attachment4: Programme for CC dialogues at community level.....................................24
DICLAD –Module 1 outline of dialogue topics....................................................................24
Activity: Systemic look at risks, vulnerability and potential adaptation actions Instruction
sheet for facilitators.............................................................................................................28
Attachment 5: Agenda for Commuity based Visioining Exercise in Lepelle_1 June 201731
Attachment 6:  Detailed upcoming milestone (Milestone 6) activity plans (July-September 
2017) ..................................................................................................................................32

Summary

During this quarter water shortages have once more come to the fore as the most severe

constraint in production. In both the Oaks, and Sedawa the municipal water provision

systems failed completely; thus joining the Willows and Botshabelo in their plight.

Householders buy water at R30-R35/210l drum. Flourishing gardens have shrivelled to sand

and little winter vegetable planting has been undertaken.

Afurther visioning process was conducted in Lepelle, including also AWARD staff and the

INR team focussing on value adding and non-farm small business development under the

Resilim O programme. A strong focus of this process was the development of opportunities

for youth in the area.

Other networking and stakeholder interactions included a community event for World

Biodiversity Day(held at Sedawa community hall) and the AgriSI Open Day in Sedawa,

showcasing the climate smart agriculture practices and processes being implemented to the

broader community and role players, including theMunicipalities, officials from the

Department of Agriculture and participants from Lima RDF and Ukuvuna.The event included

participants from all 6 villages linked to this programme and introduced the newly elected

local facilitators.

This quarter has seen a focus on monitoring processes:

➢Garden monitoring was commenced using the newly designed form and local

facilitators were provided with training for their work and their monitoring

responsibilities. A total of 24 garden monitoring interviews have been conducted.

➢An open day was held in Sedawa, including all the learning groups and community

members, reviewing the learning to date as well as monitoring the implementation to

date through a communityreview (five fingers) process.

Learning and innovationworkshops and sessions continued apace. Learning in the groups

has continued and focused on soil fertility management, including liquid manures with some

input also on natural pest and disease control options.A range of multipurpose plants, trees

and herbs were introduced in these sessions for participants to plant in their gardens-

serving as windbreaks, pest repellent plants, medicinal plants, culinary plants, indigenous

fruit and shade plants. Learning workshops have now been held in Botshabelo (11),Sedawa

the Willows (9), Oaks and Finale (13).And Lepelle(33).

Ten learning group participants across Botshabelo, Sedawa and the Oaks have been

provided with the materials for construction of tunnels and drip kits. These participants

fulfilled the criteria of digging and packing 3x6m trenches for their tunnels. This was put

forward in group meetings and agreed to as a process for support. The participants are to

work as small subgroups in their villages constructing the tunnels by themselves, with some

initial support from the field team if still required.

Learning group participants volunteered for construction of underground RWH storage

structures in their years (24m3). The understanding is that the householders will provide

sand for construction and all labour required for construction of the tanks, to be eligible to

receive the materials. Further criteria were set at a village level, with assistance from local

facilitators and included need-both in terms of water shortages and finances (poor woman

headed households have been prioritised) and level of gardening activity. Each plot was

assessed for technical viability and the required tank type (ferro cement or geofabric &

bitumen). With financial assistance from DKA, throughAWARD, 4 underground RWH

storage tanks have been sited, the holes dug and are in the process of construction.

PARTICIPANTSTHIS PERIOD

SEEDS OF LIGHT:Trygive Nxumalo

MAHLATHINI: Erna Kruger, Sylvester Selala, Chris Stimie

AWARD: Richard Hatfield, BigboyMkhabela,

This report contains the following annexures:

Attendance registers

1. Annexure 1 _Open day _ Joint community based review of learnings to date and Local

Facilitator training_Sedawa_20170425

2. Annexure 2_ Cluster activity record_Learning Workshop_ Soil fertility and natural pest

and disease control_Sedawa-20170419-20

3. Annexure 3_ Cluster activity record_Learning Workshop_Natural pest and disease

control_ Willows_20170430

4. Annexure 4_ Cluster activity record_Learning Workshop_Soil fertility and natural pest

and disease control_Botshabelo_20170530

5. Annexure 5_ Cluster activity record_ Learning Workshop_ Soil fertility and natural pest

and disease control_Finale_20170621

Annexure 5.1_Learning materials

6. Annexure 6monitoring forms_GARDEN MONITORING AND INDIVIDUAL

EXPERIMENTATION PLAN

7. Annexure 7_Local Facilitators Training Workshop_Sedawa_20170607-09 Annexure 7:

Learning materials_ Workshop pics_20170314

8. Annexure 8_Collaborative work_RWH storage tanks progressreport_July 2017

9. Annexure 9_Compilation of B2Os for the reporting period.

10. Annexure 10:Examples of garden monitoring forms filled in by local facilitators-end June

2017

2. Activity record for the period

This section gives an indication of activities undertakenduring the reporting period.to

achieve the outcomes for this period, time spent and people involved.

DATE

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY

WHO WAS

INVOLVED

2017/03/27-29

Writing up field reports and doing Milestone 4

documentation -3 days respectively

Erna, Sylvester

2017/04/12-13

Translation of garden monitoring form into

Pedi and liaison with Trygive for monitoring (1

day), Designing Open dayprogramme and

sending out invitations (1 day), Monitoring in

Mametja (2 days)

Sylvester,

Trygive, Christina

Thobejane

2017/04/12

Review of verifiables, rework of Milestone 4

report and documentation –6 hours

Erna

2017/04/17

Preparation for AWARD weeks and travel to

Tzaneen (12hours)

Sylvester

2017/04/18

Tzaneen; procurement of plants and trees

from various nurseries andtravel on to

Hoedspruit (8hours)

Sylvester

2017/04/19

P&D control training in Sedawa (8hours)

Sylvester, Trygive,

Christina

2017/04/20-21

Continuation with preparation for Open day,

monitoring in Oaks, Mametja, Botshabelo-

trench beds for tunnels (16hours)

Sylvester

2017/04/24-25

Preparation for and running open day in

Sedawa (20hours ea for E and S), (8 hours-

BB and Try

Erna, Sylvester,

Trygive, BB,

2017/04/26

P&D control training in Willows (10hrs)

Erna, Sylvester,

Trygive

2017/04/27-28

Household monitoring –(16 hours ea), return

travel

Erna, Sylvester

2017/05/15-17

Write up garden monitoring forms (2 days)

Erna

2017/05/18,19,20

Bank details, year end financials DKA

proposal rework, ordering of more tunnels,

arrangement for tank construction, (3 days)

Erna

2017/05/21

Travel to Tzaneen

Sylvester

2017/05/22

Tzaneen; procurement of plants and trees

from various nurseries and travel on to

Hoedspruit (8hours)

Skype meeting; DICLAD and visioning, with

prep (2,5hrs)

Erna, Sylvester

2017/05/23-26

Training of LF’s and garden monitoring(3

days)

Sylvester, Trygive

2017/05/29

Planning of visioning, office admin(1 day)

Sylvester, Richard

2017/05/30

Garden monitoring, checking for RWH

storage tank sites(1 day)

Sylvester

2017/05/31

World biodiversity day; Sedawa Community

Hall(1 day)

Sylvester, Trygive, BB

2017/06/01

Lepelle visioning workshop(1day)

Sylvester, Trygive,

Richard, INR

2017/06/02

Botshabelo Soil fertility learning and

innovation workshop(1 day)

Sylvester

2017/06/06-08

Summarising homestead assessment

information in excel format (3 days)

Erna

2017/06/08-09

Field reports (2,5 days)

Sylvester

2017/06/10

Bookings and logistical arrangements-next

field visit (4hrs)

Erna

2017/06/13

Travel to Hoedspruit –office admin (1 day)

Sylvester

2017/06/14-15

Garden monitoring, checking RWH sites for

preparation to build. Tunnel sites checking of

trench packing (3 days)

Sylvester

2017/06/17

Field reports (1,5days)

Sylvester

2017/06/18-21

Travel, deliver tunnel materials and get work

team going on tunnel construction x10. Do

underground RWH tanks construction training

for 2 sites (ferro cement and geofabric &

bitumen (5 days)

Erna, Sylvester, Chris

2017/06/22-23

Continuation with construction of tunnel in

Botshabelo and initiation of construction in

Mametje

Sylvester, Trygive,

Lenkie

2017/06/26-28

Milestone 5 report and documentation

Erna, Sylvester

Sylvester: 40 days, Erna: 27days

3. Progress

Milestone 5: April- June 2017: Progress according to deliverables

Below is the summary table of all activities and outcomes undertaken during this reporting

period.

Table 1:Summaryofdeliverable completionunderMilestone 5: April- June2017

Activities

planned

Completed?

Expected

outcomes

Completed?

Verification

documentati

Completed?

Reference

Learning &

Mentoring:

In all 6

communitie

s each 2

days

Learning &

Mentoring:

Local

Facilitator

training

Local

Facilitator

mentoring of

new practices

Farmer

ongoing self-

monitoring, -

assessment

and learning

-Training of LFs in

mentoring, learning and

monitoring ( 2 days x 6

villages)

-LF’s undertake garden

mentoring and

monitoring with farmers

(3-4 days ea)

-Learning groups review

session- 5 fingers

assessment by farmers

and LFs

Progress report on

outcomes including

the following

documentation:

1. Photos & photo

diaries

2. Farmer work

plans

3. Garden

monitoring

4. Monthly

assessments

5. Monitoring forms

6. Cluster activity

records

7. Event materials,

attendance

registers

8. Vision and

scenarios record

1. Photos in reports

and–All photos

saved in directories

and kept by Erna

and Lenkie

2.Farmer work

plans are recorded

in the garden

monitoring forms

3.24 forms across

four villages

4. In this report

5. 24 garden

monitoring forms

6.Appended to this

report

7.Appended to this

report

8.Written up by

AWARD team.

Intro to

innovations

and

experimenta

tion: In all 6

communitie

s each 2

days

Mentoring by

trainers and

LFs’

- Garden monitoring

including trainers and

LFs’

Collaborativ

e work: In

all 6

Site

assessments

and

-Preparations for tunnel

and RWH storage tank

construction complete.

communitie

s each 2

days

community

contributions

infrastructure

support;

tunnels, drip

kits and RWH

storage tanks

Process initiated for

collaborative

construction work

Networking:

Villages 1 &

(Botchabelo

& Sedawe)

open day

(each 1 day)

Exchange

visit 1 to

Sekhukhune

(35 farmers)

Local

Facilitators

networking:

with

Sekhukhune

Open day for

implementatio

n review

No activity

planned-

under

milestone 5

- Open day for all six

villages

- World biodiversity day-

Community workshop in

Sedawa

3.1Description of progress to date

NETWORKING

•An open day was held in Sedawa for participants from all six villages to showcase

implementation and practices introduced for the 2016-2017 summer growing season.

See attachment 1 and 2 for the invitation and programme for the day.Stakeholders

(NGOs, Department of Agriculture, Local Municipal Officials) were also invited to the

workshop.

oAround 66 community participants attended. The workshop provided a

platform for review of practices,by farmer participants themselves and also

for learning and building understanding of different practices fit together to

build a more sustainable and resilient gardening system.

oLocal facilitators for all six villages were formally introduced to farmer

participants. These facilitators ran the thematic information ‘stations’ for the

day –including soil and water conservation, intensive homestead vegetable

production, production in a shade house/tunnel, using drip kits and greywater,

multipurpose trees and shrubs and nursery management and conservation

agriculture.

oInstitutional stakeholders promised to come, but were conspicuous in their

absence.

oThree extension officers from the Venda office joined the workshop. They

were extremely enthusiastic and complimentary and wanted to set up a

working relationship and a cross visit to their area.

oField staff and local facilitators from Lima RDF joined –they were given the

opportunity to introduce the food security programme –“Arelemeng” that they

are implementing in the area. An agreement was made to synergise activities

and training across this programme and the AgriSI initiative.

•A community workshop was run for World Biodiversityday in Sedawa. This was led

by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism. Stakeholders presented

their programmes and implementation approaches. Community members were given

an opportunity to discuss issues and suggestions. This workshop helped to raise the

awareness of theimportance of conserving biodiversity in the community and

additionally provided some ideas for projects and small business development

around biodiversity conservation and promotion.

•Follow-ups were made with LimaRDF staff to ensure that thetwo gardening based

programmes implemented bythem and AgriSi do not cause trouble for each other.

•A visioning exercise was held in Lepelle which included the AgriSi team as well as

the INR –who are working with alternative livelihoods and micro-enterprise

development. The agenda for the visioning workshop is outlined in Attachment 5. The

aim was produce a broader community level vision and action plan for activities that

potentially include the AgriSi climate smart agricultural practices, but include also

broader aspects such as enterprise development and social and institutional change

options.

LEARNING AND MENTORING

•Learning workshops were continued and soil fertility sessions and sessions on

natural pest and disease control have now been conducted for all six villages(See

Annexures 2-5). See Annexure 5.1 for learning materials used.

The process included an introduction into multipurpose plants, that included

indigenous trees and shrubs as well as herbs and medicinal plants. Plants that have

a significant roleto play in pest control were also introduced. Samples of plants were

procured from Tzaneen nurseries and also from Trygive Nuxamlo through his

nurserying work in his home area. Some examplesof trees supplied include Moringa,

Maruals, Dikgogomo and Umthungulu. The herbs include lemon balm, chives,

comfrey, lavender, rosemary, thyme, wild basil, mint, pennyroyal, coriander, parsley

and fennel.

Different planting arrangements were agreed to in the different villages by the

learning group participants. In some cases, the suggestion was made that the local

facilitators plant all the herbs as a demonstration; in other cases the plants were

distributed between participants.

Vegetable seed was also distributed in theseworkshops to provide for diversified

production in the participants’ winter gardens. Seed included; Chinese cabbage,

mustard spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower spring onions, celery, parsley, coriander,

leeks and spring onions.

INTRODUCTION TO INNOVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTATION

•A training sessionwas held for all Local Facilitators to go through theirjob

descriptions, filling in of timesheets and also useof the garden monitoring forms.

See annexures 6for the monitoring forms and 6 for the LFtraining workshop report.

LF’s are expected to visit gardeners in their village on a monthly basis and to

complete at least one garden monitoring form for each of the learning group

participants. To this end the form was translatedinto isiPedi. Two days were spent in

the field working with sub groups of the LFsto ensure their ability to confidently work

with these forms and fill them in. The LFs were then asked to continue visiting

learning group participants and complete forms by themselves. On average 8-10

visits were conducted by the LFs during the month of May 2017. A sample of garden

monitoring forms filled in by local facilitators is shown in Annexure 10.

An arrangement will be put in place for the new intern for AgriSI to support the LFs in

garden monitoring. They are finding the filling in for the monitoring forms somewhat

onerous. They also need to plan for mini workshops where some of their participants

are still unclear on the implementation of some of the intensivehomestead food

production techniques introduced through the learning process.

Garden monitoring was conducted for a number of participants by the AgriSi

facilitation team as well, prior to handing over this responsibility to the LFs. These

have been compiled as

Some preparation was made for running the CC dialogues in the 6 villages in the

Lower Olifants. Discussions were held by the team and an outline or process was

jointly designed. See attachment 4. Unfortunately,the days chosen for running these

sessions in two of the communitiesoverlapped with an urgent processrelated to the

RWH underground storage structures and the workshops have beenpostponed for

July-August.

COLLABORATIVE WORK

•A process was set up for individual participantswho want to implement the

construction of tunnels/ shade houses in their homesteads. Volunteers are required

to dig three 6x1m trenches and pack these to be eligible for receiving the materials

for the tunnel. They are expected to construct the tunnels themselves, with some

assistance form the facilitation team. A list of volunteers was generated at the open

day and further additions were made by the Local Facilitators. Household visits were

conducted for those volunteers who had completed their trenches.

The team was surprised bythe large number of volunteers who made their trenches

–around 18 in total spread across Sedawa, Mametje, Botshabelo and the Oaks. Due

to limited budget availability 10 volunteerswere prioritised for the initial supply of

tunnels. This was based on the following criteria, which had been discussed and

ratified by the Local Facilitators:

-Women headed households are to be prioritised

-Households who have little or no access to municipal water supply.

-Poor households

-Active and enthusiastic gardeners

10 Tunnel kits have now been delivered and work parties have been put together to

construct the tunnels over the next month or two.The joint construction of one of the

tunnels in Botshabelo has been started.

Village

Name

Description

Botshabelo

Miriam Malepe

Trenches dug, partiallyfilled. Still collecting

manure and organic matter

Mosebu Ntlamo

Trenches dug-tins and green organic matter

collected. She still need to collect manure and

finalise packing of her trenches

Gogo Mogotho

Trenches dug, packed and ready for the tunnel

Mametje

Matibeng

Morema

Trenches finalised and planted. She has in

addition built a small fence around her gardening

plot.

Norah Mahlaku

Trenches finalised and planted, along with a

number of other trench beds and shallow

trenches in her garden

Dronah Marepe

Trenches finalised. Seedlings planted and ready

for transplanting into the tunnel

Sedawa

Magdalene

Molepe

Trenches finalised, planted and mulched, along

with a number of other trenches and beds in her

garden.

Norah Malepe

Trenches dug andpacked-ready for tunnel.

The Oaks

Betty Mokgobo

Trenches dug andpacked-ready for tunnel

Florence Lewele

Trenches dug andpacked-ready for tunnel

Right and far right Matibeng

Morema’s trenches at the

end of April-in process of

being dug by family

members and endJune-

packed and planted to

seedlings-ready for the

tunnel. In addition she

constructed a fence around

her small garden–which

she started after the AgriSi

learning workshops

Right: Norah Mahlaku’s

trenches –planted to seed

and watered. She has also

started a garden since her

involvement in the learning

groups as has

Far Right: Magdalene

Marepe.Here she planted

and mulched her trench

beds for the tunnel. She

has a beautiful garden

alongside these trenches.

In addition,the support from DKA for piloting the construction of 4 undergroundRWH

storage tanks was finalised. 4 Volunteers were chosen on the basis of a number of

carefully chosen criteria, they were visited and siting for their tanks and water inflow

and outflow paths was done. They started on the digging of their holes. These have

now been inspected and some of the materials required for construction have been

delivered to the volunteers. They are Miriam Malepe and Gogo Nthlamo in

Botshabelo and Norah Malepe and Christina Thobejane in Sedawa.See Annexure 8

for a report on implementation progress.

4. Summary of baseline and implementation progress per village

This table provides an overview and summary of all activities undertaken on a village by village level. It is not always possible to keep the

agendas in all the villages synchronised over time and so some of the activities will have been undertaken in some of the villages and not

others. This summary allows the team to track where the process is in each village.

Jun-17

VILLAGE

Current

practices

mapping

Baseline

w/s 2

(Cropping

practices

Visioning

and

scenarios

Champion

s/ Local

facilitators

New

practice

training

Farmer

experime

ntation

Individual

farm

experiment

designs

Tunnel

constru

ction

Drip kit

construc

tion

RWH and

erosion

control

assessments

Five

Fingers

Vision and

scenarios

SelectionTraining Contours

Diversio

ditches,

Mulching

trench

beds

Shallow

trenches

greywater

bucket filter

Keyhol

e beds

Tower

garden

Soil

properties

Soil fertility (manure,

compost liquid manure,

fertilizers)

Planting

seed and

seedlings

CA Ecocircles

Natural pest

and disease

control

Sedawa √√√√√√√√√√√ √√√√√√√√√√√ √

Botshabelo √√√√√√√√√√√√√√√ √√√√√√√

Willows √√√√√√√√√√√√√√ √√√√√√√

Oaks √√√√√√√√√√√√ √√√√√√√

Finala √√√√√√√√√√√√ √√√√√√√

Lepelle √√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√ √√

Introductiontoinnovations and

Learningandmentoring

Baseline

AWARD baseline and implementationpervillage: 2016-2017

5. Individual Experimentation

Here a summary is provided of the individual experimentation undertaken in each of the villages. This will be updated in all future reports.

INDIVIDUAL EXPERIMENTATION

Jun-17

Date

Village

Description of experiment

No of

participants

Name of participants

Nov-16

Sedawa, Lepelle,

Oaks, Finala, Willows,

Botshabelo

Diversion ditches, contours (using line levels), trench

beds, planting seeds and seedlings, greywater filtration

for irrigation,

See attendance registers

Dec-16

Sedawa, lepelle,

Oaks, Finala, Willows

Conservation Agriculture plot : 10mx10m tramline

intercropping of maize and sugar beans and maize and

cowpeas. Planted in basins and rows.

See attendance registers

Feb-17

Sedawa, Oaks and

Finala

Liquid manure, shallow trenches

See attendance registers

2017/01/31

The Oaks

Diversion ditches, trench beds, CA

Mr Makudu, Janet Lewelle,

Florence Lewelle, Betty Ncgogo,

2017/01/31

Finala

Tower garden, CA, drip kits

Sarah Nyathi

2017/02/01

Sedawa

Tunnel: vs normal production experiments

Christina

2017/02/01

Lepelle

CA, diversion ditches, trench beds

4 (8)

George Sebatane, Jane Kobeni,

Sias Sebuyane, Londi Tsilwane

2017/02/06

Sedawa

Basin planting: Control is the normal way 30cmx30cm

basins 50cm apart, Trial is inclusion of manure nad

lucerne hay in the basin prior to planting and mulching

between basins

Mrs Matene

2017/02/06

Sedawa

Planting a selection of vegetable seeds: Butternut, onion,

rosemary, coriander, chilli, green pepper, squash, lazy

house wife (beans), Swiss chard, chinese cabbage, carrot,

okra, parsley, spring onion, turnip (2 types (white and

red), egg plant, tomatoes

See Learning and Innovations

report -Sedawa

2017/02/28

Oaks, Finala,Sedawa

Mulching CA plots

See attendance registers

2017/04/19,26

Sedawa, Willows

Pest and disease control brews, planting of herbs and

indigenous trees

See attendance registers

2017/03/14

Sedawa

CA, trench beds, diversified cropping

Maria Malepe

2017/04/19-

2017/06/02

Botshabelo, Sedawa,

Willows,

Natural pest and disease control brews, planting of

indigenous and multipurpose plants

See attendance registers

2017/06/19

Botshabelo,

Mametje, Sedawa,

the Oaks

Individaul homestead based tunnel construction, with

three 6x1m trenchbeds

See Milestone 5 report

2017/06/19

Botshabelo, Sedawa,

Willows,

Household implementation of underground RWH storage

tanks

See Milestone 5 report

2017/06/20

Sedawa

Trench beds and shallow trenches used extensively in

their gardens

Alex Mokgopa, Norah Mahlaku,

Christina Thobejane, Magdalene

Molepe

6. Summary of milestone implementation across villages.

MAHLATHINI

MILESTONE COMPLETION: target completion to date % (in black) vs actual (in red)

Key activities /

Milestones

MILESTONE 1

MILESTONE 2

MILESTONE 3

MILESTONE 4

MILESTONE 5

MILESTONE 6

MILESTONE 7

Inception report

100% / 100%

Setting the scene

67% / 65%

100% / 80%

100% / 90%

100% / 100%

Comment:

less coverage,

more villages

visioning + final

LFs outstanding

Some visioning

+ 2 LFs

outstanding

LF selection and training

complete. Additional

visioning in Lepelle

Learning and

mentoring

10% / 15%

30%/ 40%

50%/65%

70%/85%

90%

100%

Comment:

6 villages not 4

6 villages Some

garden mon +

LF outstanding

6 villages;

continuation with

learning schedule;

LFs elected in 3

villages

6 villages; continuation with

learning schedule; soil

fertility and P&d control.

Mentoring and garden

monitoring by LFs

Experimentation &

intro to innovations

25%

25% / 50%

50%/75%

75%/85%

90%

100%

Comment:

for all 6 villages

6 villages not 4

6 villages

For all 6 villages

Collaborative work

Comment:

25%/40%

6 villages:

Introduction to

drip kits and

tunnels; 3 villages

RWH and erosion

control options

50%/65%

6 villages; tunnels, drip kits,

greywater management,

RWH and erosion control

options

75%

100%

Networking and cross

visits

25%/25%

cluster based

workshop in good

farming practices

50%/50%

Open day: cross visit of all

learning groups. World

biodiversity day workshop

75%

100%

Comment:

7. Monthly team assessment

Indicators: Assessment June 2017

Figures in the table reflect numbers for the period of reporting, in this case April-June2017.

A combined team meeting to review this assessment sheet has not been conducted in the

reporting period. Figures have been summarised from field reports and discussions with the

field team.

Indicator

Overall

target

Actual_Nov

2016

Actual_June

2017

No of participants in learning

groups

100

108

73 (Open day, Soil

fertility and natural

P&D control

workshops)

No of learning groups

No of local facilitators

Percentage of participants

engaged in CC adaptation

responses

1-2 (45%)

2-3 (25%)

>3 (10-15%)

1-2 (10%)

1-2 (67%)

2-3 (15%) –for

this time period

OVERALL:

1-2 (60%)

2-3(15%)

No of participants

experimenting with new

innovations

-local

-co-designed

No of participants showing

increased knowledge

Percentage of participants

engaged in collaborative

activities

45%

14%-individual

implementation of

tunnels and drip

kits- 10

Underground

RWH tanks -4

Percentage of participants with

improved livelihoods

-increased availability of food

-increased income

-increased diversity of

activities and livelihoods

options

40%

(summarised from

garden monitoring

-15%

Qualitative assessments;

-stakeholder engagement

-Increased understanding and

agency to act towards

increased resilience

-Adaptation and innovations

into local context

Stories, case

studies,

photos, cluster

activity

records, group

session

minutes,

Stories:

-Open day

-Underground

storage tanks

implementation

-garden

monitoring

-Potential for increased

resilience

-Social engagement

Understanding:

Examples of people

showing an increased

understanding of CCA

adaptation

-For many participants, the value of the open day was

the realisation of how the different practices

introduced work together to create a more robust

gardening system. They mentioned repeatedly how

they initially thought we were playing, but now they

could see how the different elements fit together .

Actions:

Examples of people

showing an increased

agency towards increasing

their resilience

-For the winter planting season a substantialnumber

of participants have initiated their intensive

homestead food gardens under difficult conditions

and with very little water available. Participants have

made trench beds, planted seedlings, used mulching,

implemented mixed cropping, planted herbs and

multipurpose trees and shrubs, made liquid manure,

used pest control brews and constructed diversion

ditches and stone bunds.

-MiriamMalepe has commented thatshe only needs

to water every3rd day with the organic matter and

mulching in her trench beds.This has given her time

to embark on other activities, such as making grass

brooms that she sells at the local pension pay-out

point.

-Patricia Ngobeni from Lepelle mentioned that

mulching surpasses weed growth and that she now

has more time to stay by theside of the road and sell

her produce-as her weeding time is substantially

reduced.

Examples of increased

potential towards

resilience

-Tunnel,trench beds, diversion ditches, conservation

agriculture, grey water management and use,

rainwater harvesting and storage

Project Life Change Questions:

1. Do we have examples or stories of how we or others are in the process of adaptive

management relatedto CC? (adapt, reflectand respond to….) and examples of

what this adaptivemanagement is?

This is evident in a number of small changes and improvements made by participants

in the gardening practices:

•The traditional practices of using furrows and ridges for planting have been

combined with the introduced shallow trenches by at least 5 participants.

Shallow trenches provide for incorporation of organic matter intothe soil and

improve fertility and water holding

•Trench beds are being used for production of seedlings and have been

expanded substantially by a number of participants. A few have now

constructed as manyas 10-14 of these beds-in different shapes andsizes

•Participants have been cutting grass and collecting leaves for mulching their

gardens

•Participants have used the diversion ditches to plant sweet potatoes and

other crops on theridges and fruit trees and other plants in the ditches

themselves. Additionally, a few have mulched the ditches and ridges to good

effect.

•A number of participants have put contours in their gardens and made stone

lines, swales and terraces to reducerun-off form their plots.

•Small nurseries are being implemented by a selection of the more

enthusiastic gardeners –prorogation of fruit trees, indigenous fruit and

moringa is common.

•A few participants have used diversion ditches to lead water to specific

sections of their gardens

•Mixed cropping within the vegetable beds is no consciously being practiced.

•Surplus production is being offered to creches and vulnerable people in the

community.

2. Do we have stories that show innovation or lack of innovation towards positive

change? What insights have we gained into how innovation can lead to positive

change?(INCREASED RESILIENCE)

About 65% of participants have tried out some of the new innovations introduced and

are able to clearly articulate the potential benefits of these practices.

3. Do we have stories that show evidence of, or an interest in self organisation towards

collective action? Whatinsights have we gained into how self organisationcan lead

to collective action?

Local facilitators are alreadyplaying an important role in bringing people together and

providing for collective action, albeit on the level of working in the gardens. They are

dealing with conflict in the groups and supporting individuals in their implementation.

They are coordinating some collective action in the villages.

4. Do we have stories to show that learning together is happening or that there is an

interest in learning together? What insights have we gainedabout how to learn

together?

5. Do we have stories of how we and or others are ableto think systemically? What

insights have we gained?

6. Do we have stories of how we and or others are able to be inclusive and democratic?

What insights have we gained about how this can be achieved?(STAKEHOLDER

ENGAGEMENT).

Stakeholder engagement has been somewhat difficult to achieve. Mostly

stakeholders become involved to ensure that others are supporting theiragenda and

to further particular projects or programmes of their own. There is little appreciation of

the concept of sharing.

7. Work Plans for the coming three months.

See the attached calendar (Attachment 6) for July-September2017-Specific activities have

not been included for August -September as these will be dependent on progress made in

the July-August session)

The focus for the coming three months will be consolidation of [practicesand activities

introduced, garden monitoring and finalisation of construction of tunnels and RWH tanks. In

addition, cross visits are to be arranged for local facilitators and participant farmers. The CC

dialogues process is to be implemented and supported in all six villages.Below is a more

detailed list of planned activities.

1. Continuation of garden monitoring and support for Local Facilitators in this process

is planned. In addition, local facilitators are to be supported to run mini workshops

on practices with gardeners who are still unclear or were not involved in those

learning workshops.

2. Collaborative work around construction of the 10 individual tunnels in Botshabelo,

Mametje and Sedawa is to continue. Participants have undertaken to build these

tunnels together

3. The construction of the 4 underground rainwater storage structures is to be

continued and supported by bringing in an experienced building team to assist.

These two gentlemen will work with the householders and stay in Sedawa for 1-2

weeks during July and August

4. Collaborative work on erosion control in andaround homesteads will be initiated if

possible.

5. A cross visit to Ukuvuna or another appropriate site is to be planned for farmer

participants

6. Small cross visits for the Local Facilitators to neighbouring villages will be

important, for them to see different examples of good gardening practices and how

they can support such initiatives in their own areas

7. The DICLAD CCdialogues are to be set up and run in the area

8. Learning processes around nutrition and value adding as well as fruit production

will be introduced asappropriate.

Attachment 1: Invitation to Farmers’ Open day for the AgriSI programme

Invitation to attend farmers cross visit organised by Mahlathini Development Foundation in

collaboration with AWARD under the AgriSI project

To whom it may concern

You arecordially invited to the smallholder farmers cross visit (farmers day) meeting of the

agricultural support initiative (AgriSI) in Sedawa village on the 25thof April 2017. AgriSI isa

sub programme of the resilience in the Olifants River basin cross country programme funded

by USAID and managed by Association for water and rural development (AWARD). The AgriSI

provides a systematic exploration of climate change impacts in 6 villages (Botshabelo, Sedawa,

The Oaks, The Willows, Fenale and Lepelle) along the Olifants River in the Hoedspruit area of

Limpopo.

In partnership with AWARD and Seeds of Light (SOL), Mahlathini development foundation

(MDF) has been implementing various innovations and experimentation with the 6 villages in

the Hoedspruit area. These innovations include design of trench beds, design of water

diversion channels, construction of tunnels, conservation agriculture,making liquid manure

and making natural pest control mixtures.

The aim of the cross visit is to bring farmers from the 6 villages and the stakeholders interested

in agricultural development in the areatogether to share information regarding the

innovations and providing a platform for building networks for farmers.

The cross visit will be held at Sedawa village on the 25thof April 2017 at09: 00 AM. The theme

of the day will be around experimentation with current local farming practises and newly

introduced farming innovations. Farmers will be sharing results of their experimentation with

the innovations they have been introduced to and how their involvement in the AgriSI project

has contributed to their knowledge in farming.

Kindly find directions bellow and RSVP tothe following people:

Mahlathini Development foundation

Mr Sylvester Selala

Snr Researher and Facilitator

071 596 5866

Association for Water and Rural Development

Mr Bigboy Mkhabela

Community Facilitator

082 305 7760

Attachment 2: Programme for the Farmers’ Open day in Sedawa, 25 April 2017

Sedawa Farmers Cross Visit Day

THEME: Experimentation with current local farming

practises and newly introduced farming innovations

Date:25 April 2017

Time: 09:00 AM

Venue: Sedawa village

Program Director: Sylvester Selala

ITEM

RESPONSIBILITY

Opening prayer

Tomson Motseo

Welcoming of guests

Erna Kruger

Stakeholder Introductions

Bigboy Mkhabela

1. Introduction to innovation

Sylvester Selala

Demonstration of innovations

1. Water movement and design of

diversion channels

Orbet Motseo (Willows)

2. Conservation agriculture

Kgasudi Lema and Meisi

3. Liquid manure

Esinah Malepe

4. Trench beds

Alex Mogopa and Florence Lewele

5. Planting in tunnel vs. outside the tunnel

Christina Thobejane

General (introduction to otherprojects in the

area)

Lima, Department of Agriculture, K2C, LED

office

Vote of thanks

George Sebatana

8. Closing Prayer

Tomson Motseo

LUNCH

Attachment 3: Programme for World Biodiversity Day workshop in Sedawa

Attachment 4: Programme for CC dialogues at community level.

DICLAD –Module 1 outline of dialogue topics

Participants are broken up into small groups (no more than 8 in each). There is a facilitator

per group.

1. Facilitator asks,

What does climate change (CC) mean for you?

[Each participant uses small cards to write down whatever they think CC mean for them.] 2.

Facilitator asks,

What do you thinkCC means for your area (referring to a geographical area)?

[Again, each participant uses small cards to write down their thoughts. One thought per

card.]

3. Facilitator asks eachparticipant to take turn to explain their cards from the first question.

4. Facilitator asks eachparticipant to take turn to explain their cards from the first question.

5. Temperature and rainfall exercise (refer to the table below).

Process & facilitation questions

1. Participants break out into four small groups, according to a common geographical area where

participants work.

2. The facilitator opens the conversation by asking each participant:

Where do you work/live?

Go around the group, giving each participant an opportunity to answer.

3. emperature chart for a typical year

3.1.The facilitator draws an y and x axis on a blank flipchart, and asks the participants:

How many months are there in the year?

Can you please write down the months evenly spaced along this line (indicating the x

axis)?

3.2.The facilitator begins to discuss temperatures by asking the following:

In this area where you work/live, which month is typically the hottest month?

Which month is typically the coldest month?

3.3.The facilitator asks participants to use the sticks to represent the temperature, using a

short stick to indicate the coldest month and a long stick to indicate the hottest month.

3.4.Continue with the process by guiding participants to put in sticks to represent the

temperatures of the other months. For example, ask:

Is January hotter than February but cooler than December? If so, then January will have a

longer stick than February, but a shorter stick than December, correct?

4. Temperature chart under climate change

4.1.The facilitator introduces climate change by adding length with a koki to all the

temperature sticks, demonstrating how the temperature increases for all the months (i.e.

it gets hotter). Note that the approach is that of “show-and-tell” instead of asking

prompting questions.

5. Rainfall chart for a typical year

5.1.As with temperatures, the facilitator draws the y and x axis of the chart, and asks a

participant to add the months.

5.2.The facilitator begins to discuss rainfall by asking the following:

In this area where you work/live, which month typically gets the most rain? Which one is

the wettest?

Which month do you get the least amount of rain? Which month is the driest?

Please use these sticks to represent the rain, using a short stick indicate least amount of

rain and a long stick to indicate the most rain.

5.3.The facilitator asks participants to use the sticks to represent rain, using a short stick to

indicate the least amount of rain and a long stick to indicate the most rain.

5.4.Continue with the process by guiding participants to put in sticks to represent the rainfall

of the other months. For example, ask:

Is January wetter than February but drier than December?

6. Rainfall chart under climate change

6.1.The facilitator introduces climate change by giving the following explanation:

Climate change can mean various changes to the rainfall. One possible change is the timing of

rainfall being shifted later. For example, some of the rain in October/November may only come

in December…

[While explaining this, facilitator takes the stick for October/November and breaks a small

piece off to add to December]

…and the rainy season may end earlier.

[While explaining this, facilitator takes the stick for May and breaks a small piece off to add to

January.]

6.2.The facilitator asks the following question:

How do these changes affect the pattern of rainfall?

6.3.The Facilitator explains further:

The rainfall amount for the year may stay the same, but it is concentrated in fewer months.

6.4.The facilitator asks:

Can you think of any way that rainfall can change? Can you show it with the sticks or draw it

with the koki?

6.5.The facilitator wraps-up this part of the activity by stating:

With rainfall, there are multiple ways that it can change. This presents a special challenge.

Why? Because we have to consider multiple scenarios instead of one. For example, we need to

address both dry periods and flooding.

7. Plenary discussion

As groups finish their charts, these are pasted onto the wall for all to see.

When all groups have completed their temperature and rainfall charts, participants regroup

for a plenary discussion around the following:

We’ve talked about what climate change could look like, how it can change what we now see

as a “typical year” regarding temperature and rainfall. Reflecting on this, how do you think will

this change impact you and your work?

The main facilitator of this session will lead this discussion with support from the other

facilitators.

8. Closing

The main facilitator of this session wraps-up the process, stating how this exercise will feed

into the next Indaba Cycle where we will be looking in more depth at the impacts and what

can be done about them.

6. Facilitator uses the photographs (i.e. of increasing temperature, flood and drought) as

three separate entry-points, and asks each participant to choose five top impacts (may be

framed as concerns) that he/shehas for each of the entry-points.

7. Based on what participants say, facilitator helps them to think of the relationship between

these different impacts of CC by prompting how the different cards relate to each other

and the entry-point.

8. Facilitator helps the group to look at the completed concept mapsand prepare a

designated rapporteur to report back in plenary.

9. Plenary. Each group reports back.

10. At the plenary, someone from the KRA4 can add any additional impacts that may not

have been discussed. This is to enrich the group’s understanding about CC impacts.

Activity: Systemic look at risks, vulnerability and potential adaptation

actions Instruction sheet for facilitators

There would be 3 groups, randomly composed. Each group would have a facilitator to

following the same steps below.

1. Setting up theconcept map

At each group, there will be a partially constructed concept map (CM). Each facilitator

explains to the group:

This is a CM done by the AgriSI group in the last DICLAD training. The yellow cards capture

what increasing temperature and changing rainfall mean for smallscale farming in the Lower

Olifants.

Each facilitator walks his/her group through the yellow cards on the CM, explaining the

linkages. Then, facilitator explains,

We have thought of some additional impacts of increasing temperature and changing

rainfall. These are represented by blue cards. Where would these cards fit in the CM?

Facilitator prompts the group to place the newcards, and explain the relationship between

them and the entry-points and other cards on the CM.

NB: At the end of the process, the new cards are added to the CM with linkages

drawn.

2. Stating the objective for the next few steps.

Facilitator explains,

Now we will do anexercise with you to address the question of whether this sub-system of

smallscale farming in the Lower Olifants is at risk.

3. Exploring threats

Facilitator explains,

If a threat is something that could cause harm, then where doyou see threats in this CM?

Facilitator may use an analogy of “a knife in a kitchen” to further explain the concept of

threat if the participants struggle with the earlier explanation.

If participants confuse threats with impacts, then ask participants,

Is this a consequenceof a threat, or something that can cause harm?

Facilitator may acknowledge that it can be difficult sometimes to tease apart the

consequences and threats.

Facilitator asks participants to mark “T” on the cards that are threats.

3. Exploring vulnerability & resilience

Facilitator explains,

If vulnerability refers to either how likely for something to be affected by a threat, or how well

can something/someone cope/adapt to a threat, then where do you see vulnerability in the

CM?

Facilitator may use the analogy of an adult’s vs a toddler’s vulnerability to a knife in the

kitchen.

To help participants to think through this, the facilitator can prompt,

How is this a vulnerability?

Facilitator asks participants to mark “V” on the cards that arevulnerability.

Facilitator explains,

If we are referring to resilience as the opposite of vulnerability, then where do you see

resilience in the CM?

To help participants to think through this, the facilitator can prompt,

How does this give resilience?

Facilitator asks participants to mark “R” on the cards that are resilience.

Tying it together…

Facilitator summarizes the threats and vulnerabilities on the CM. Then, facilitator asks,

Is this sub-system at risk?

3. Potential adaptation

Facilitator asks,

Can you think of potential ways to adapt to these threats and vulnerabilities?

Facilitator prompts further discussion by asking,

What do you mean by this adaptation? How does this idea work?

Facilitator can purposely suggest some untenableadaptation options.

NB: Participants write the adaptation on small cards in a different colour than those

already on the flipchart.

4. Ranking

Facilitator asks the participants to vote on the potential adaptation options.

If you were to choose three most tenable adaptation options –by that we mean socially

appropriate and financiallyfeasible as well –which one would you pick? You can use the

sticker to indicate your vote.

Facilitator asks participants on each of the chosen options,

Why did you choose this option?

5. Action planning, relating to other Res-O projects

Facilitator wraps upthe exercise by explaining that the adaptation options that would

emerge from the CC dialogue should eventually be embedded in the activities supported by

other Res-O projects. The step that would follow is action planning, which wouldnot be done

in this session.

Attachment 5: Agenda for Commuity based Visioining Exercise in Lepelle_1 June

2017

PROPOSED VISIONING EXERCISE –LELPELLE –MDF/AWARD -MAY 2017

Draft May 12 2017 –R Hatfield

Note: the following is anoutline for comment, rather than describing a full

methodology.

It is based on a methodology that I have used quite extensively and successfully in

East Africa.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To provide context for a proposed or current project’s activities (AgriSI, INR

CbE, etc).

2. To facilitate action planningfor a proposed or current project.

Note: this exercise compliments the VSTEEP process.

Component 1: Looking Back

•Self-assessment reviewing past, present, future including drivers of change.

•Self-assessment of drivers (desired, undesired; level of influence over them).

Component 2: Looking Forwards

•Future visioning consisting of 3 main parts:

A. Quality of Life (value-based) = how life needs to BE

B. Future Resource Base = what is needed to support A = HAVE

C. Forms of Production = what needs to put in place or created = DO

(note: A is a ‘blue-sky’ vision which B & C help channel into more concrete terms)

Component 3: Strategic Planning

•Prioritizing priority areas emerging from C.

•(preceded by): Decision-making criteria for priority areas(social-

environmental-livelihood basic set if criteria).

Component 4: Action Planning

•Identifying and prioritizing project action / activities in the context of

Component 3.

•Work planning detail: what, who, when, how.

Attachment 6: Detailed upcoming milestone (Milestone 6) activity plans (July-September 2017)

AWARD AgriSi calendar-Mahlathini

July-September 2017

CALENDAR

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Feb-17

Jul

2017

Sylvester, building

team

Sylvester,

building team

Sylvester,

Erna, Chris

Sylvester,

Erna, Chris

Sylvester,

Erna, Chris

Sylvester,

Erna, Chris

RWH tanks, garden

monitoring

RWH tanks, garden

monitoring

RWH tanks ,DICLAD -

Botshabelo

RWH tanks, garden

monitoring

RWH tanks, garden

monitoring

RWH tanks, DICLAD-

Fenala, Oaks

Sylvester, Trygive

Sylvester,

Trygive

Sylvester,

Trygive

garden monitoring

LF cross visit

garden monitoring

Aug

2017

National

Women's Day

Sep

2017

AWARD

partners meeting

AWARD

Heritage

Day