Phase 2 Milestone 2 Progress Report 1 | Mahlathini Development Foundation

RESILIM-O:

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RESILIM-O:

Resilience in the Limpopo Basin

Program– Olifants

MILESTONE 2: Progress Report No 1

Under the

Lower Olifants catchment

Agricultural Support Initiative

(AgriSI)

07/07/2018

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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Acknowledgements

The USAID: RESILIM-O project is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development under

USAID/Southern Africa RESILIENCE IN THE LIMPOPO BASIN PROGRAM (RESILIM). The RESILIM-O project is

implemented by the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD), in collaborationwith partners.

Cooperative Agreement nr AID-674-A-13-00008.

P O Box 1919

Hoedspruit 1380

Limpopo, South Africa

T 015-793 0503

W award.org.za

Company Reg. No. 98/03011/08

Non-profit org. Reg. No. 006 –821

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ABOUT USAID: RESILIM

USAID’s Resilience in the Limpopo River Basin (RESILIM) program addresses ongoing degradation in the

Limpopo River Basin in southern Africa, where people face water shortages, increased floods, and declines

in crop productivity as climate change further stresses an already water limited region.

There are two components to the program; one operating at a basin-scale (RESILIM-B, which isimplemented

by USA-based Chemonicsand addresses similar issues at thescale of the four SADC member states thatshare

the Limpopo Basin (South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique) and a catchment-scale project

(RESILIM-O)that It is being implemented by the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD).

Both projects share the same overall objectives. You can find out more information on the RESILIM projects

on www.usaid.gov website and www.award.org.za.

The USAID’s RESILIM-O focusses on the Olifants catchment. The program aims to reduce the vulnerability of

people and ecosystems inthe Olifants Catchment specifically, by improving how transboundary natural

resources are managed. By understanding the systemic causes of vulnerability, including climate

vulnerability, it is promoting new ways of thinking and acting to promote integrated water and biodiversity

management.

ABOUT AWARD

At AWARD, we recognize that the natural world’s resources are limited, and undergoing rapid depletion and

transformation. We know current practices of useand management are inadequate to deal with the changes

and challenges we are facing. We design practical interventions to address the vulnerability of people and

ecosystems, and merge considerations from both environmentaland social perspectives.Our approach

involves thinking across disciplines, boundaries and systems.

We are working with diverse people and institutions in the water and biodiversity sectors in the Olifants

River Catchment to understand the multiple vulnerabilities tochange, including climate change. Along with

quality scientific contributions, our engagement in the socio-political context of the Olifants River

Catchment allows us begin to begin to institutionalize integrated, resilience-based practices, providing a

foundation for robust development policy and practice in the in this river catchment, and beyond

The Olifants Catchment: An overview

The Olifants River Catchment falls within the Limpopo River Basin, which is part of an international drainage

basin that stretches across South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana. In fact, the Olifants River

contributes nearly 40% of the water thatflows in the Limpopo Rivermaking it an important catchment in

the system as a whole

AWARD: Annual Report.2016/2017 Financial Year. RESILIENCE IN THE LIMPOPO – OLIFANTS.10/31/2017

As above

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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AWARD, 2017.

At the heart of this catchment is the Olifants River, a vital artery that flows for 560 kilometres through

South Africa and into Mozambique, where it is known as the Rio dos Elefantes in Mozambique.

This mighty river originates in South Africa’sMpumalanga Highveld, flowing northwards before curving in an

easterly direction through the Kruger National Park and into Mozambique, finally finding rest in the salty

water of the Indian Ocean near Xai Xai, just north of Maputo.

The main tributaries of the Olifants River are the Wilge, Elands, Ga-Selati, Klein Olifants, Steelpoort, Blyde,

Klaserie and Timbavati Rivers.

Along with its tributaries, it isone of the six major Lowveld river systems, occupying an area just short of

55 000 square kilometres. It traverses three provinces in South Africa; Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

About 3.5 million people live on the South African side of the catchment. In Mozambique, it flows through

Gaza Province, which is home to about 700 000 people.

A system under change

Our catchment is the foundation of our livelihoods and development. Yet the river and associated natural

resources in the Olifants Catchment are under threat.

Unchecked pollution, inappropriate land resource use, weak and poorly enforced policies and regulations

and poor protection of habitats and biodiversity are degrading the Olifants at an alarming rate. What’s more,

the area is however under threat from factors such as mining for heavy metals, inappropriate land

management, rural sprawland unsustainable useof natural resources. This affects the levelof goods and

services provided by the ecosystem.

The diverse population groups living in the Olifants Catchment all have one thing in common; they rely on

the river and the catchment’s natural biodiversity for their livelihoods. This reliance can be direct or indirect.

Rural communities rely on it for things such as traditional medicine,grazing and browse, fuel, food and

housing materials. Somepeople in river-side communities harvest reeds, collect water from the river for

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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washing and drinking and use it for recreational and spiritual practices. Subsistence farmers in Mozambique

rely heavily on the catchment’s flood plains. There are also large mines and associated industries, large

scale agriculture and the wildlife economy, which all rely on ahealthy, functioning river system. Often

people forget that what they do upstream affects people down stream, sometimes with dire consequences.

The catchment isour home and it is worth investing in its future. The work reported here is part of the

ongoing activities of the RESILIM- O project under the grant from USAID: Southern Africa.

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Project partners

Mahlatini Development Foundation (MDF) isa small public benefit non-profit organization consisting of rural

development practitioners who specialize in participatory learning and action processes, sustainable natural

resource management and low external input farmingsystems, including a focus on rain water harvesting,

conservation agriculture, intensive homestead food production, food security,climate change adaptation

micro finance and enterprise development.

MDF designs and implements rural development programmes and training processes providing learning

processes for adults all the way from semi- literate farmers topost graduate university level. We work in

partnership with government and non-government organisations alike. We are sensitive to and mainstream

where possible gender, disability and people living with HIV/AIDs

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Contents

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary.........................................................................................................9

1.1 Progress for the reporting period...................................................................................9

2 Project Objectives.....................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.1 Overview of RESILIM-O Project objectives....................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.2 Sub-grant Project Objectives...................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

3 Theory of Change.......................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

4 Milestone Description ..................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

4.1 Definition of milestone and purpose...........................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

5 Project management plan............................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.1 Summary of project implementation process................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

6 Monitoring, evaluation, learning and reporting (MERL) plan...................Error! Bookmark not defined.

6.1 Draft framework & indicators...................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

6.1.1 Baseline .........................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

6.1.2 Ongoing monitoring ............................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

6.1.3 Evaluation .......................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

7 Media and communications strategy................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

8 Sub-grant protocols and procedures ................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

9 Approach/ Process/ Activities.......................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

9.1 Summary of activities............................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

9.2 Progress and Results ..............................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

9.2.1 Learning and mentoring ......................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

9.2.2 Innovations and Experimentation ...........................Error! Bookmark not defined.

9.2.3 Work Plan for 2018. ...........................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

10 Appendices.............................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

10.1 Appendix 1: Gannt Chart AgriSi 2018-2019..................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

10.2 Appendix 2:.......................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

13.3 Appendix 3: Homestead assessment monitoring sheet (baseline)......Error! Bookmark not defined.

13.4 Appendix 4: Garden monitoring and individual experimentation plan. Error! Bookmark not defined.

13.5 Appendix 5: Attendance registers for CA demonstration workshops: December 2017- Turkey,

Mametje and Botshabelo. ............................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

13.6 Appendix 6: Establishment of CA trial or experimental sites............Error! Bookmark not defined.

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13.6.1 Trial size and layouts ........................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

13.6.2. Progress of Koko Maphori’s trial plots....................Error! Bookmark not defined.

13.6.3 Monitoring of CA trials .......................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

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1Executive Summary

1.1Progress for the reporting period

Continuation from reporting for Inception period of Phase II (Milestone 1):

•Baseline for the new learning group in Sedawa-extension (Turkey)

•Training workshops for 4 villages (Lepelle, Sedawa, Botshabelo, Turkey); in soil fertility

management, tunnel and drip kit constructions, cropping calendars and seed saving

•Initiation of a relationship with Hoedspruit Hub: Local marketing of herbs and vegetables

•Participatory Video training

•Initiation of 2 local water committees and local action in water provision and management

•Garden monitoring; Sedawa, Turkey.

During this period Betty Maimela, a local intern has been brought on board and Nozipho Zwane has

finalised her internship and leftMDF.

IMPLEMENTATION TEAM

MAHLATHINI: Erna Kruger, Sylvester Selala, Betty Maimela (intern)

AWARD: Cryton Zazu, Bigboy Mkhabela,

2Project Objectives

2.1Overview of RESILIM-O Project objectives

RESILIM-O is large multi-faceted, multi-stakeholder, cross-boundary programme to reduce vulnerability to

climate change through building improved transboundary water and biodiversity governance and

management of the Olifants Basin through the adoption of science-based strategies that enhance the

resilience of its people and ecosystems through systemic and social learning approaches. The programme

has been running for four years and is being implemented by AWARD (The Association for Water and Rural

Development) with funding from USAID.

The Agricultural Support Initiative (AgriSI) was initiated as a sub-grant process within the larger

programmed towards the end of 2016. This initiative works specifically with climate change adaptation

processes with smallholder communities in the lower Olifants River basin. It is being implemented jointly

by Mahlathini Development Foundation and AWARD.

The Agricultural Support Initiative (AgriSI) addresses two of the RESILIM-O programme objectives directly:

i.To institutionalize systemic, collaborative planning and action for resilience of ecosystems and

associated livelihoods through enhancing the capacity of stakeholders to sustainably manage natural

resources of the Olifants River Basin under different scenarios

ii.To reduce vulnerability to climate change and other factors by supporting collective action, informed

adaptation strategies and practices and tenable institutional arrangements.

2.2Sub-grant Project Objectives

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Sound agro-ecological practices for soil and water conservation (SWC) and the ability to self-organise and

act collectively are regarded as fundamental for building adaptive capacity and resilience to climate

change. Not only do agro-ecological farming approaches require minimum external inputs – which may be

expensive and increase dependency if subsidised –but they foster farmers’ sense that they can build

sustainable futures from local inputs and efforts. With knowledge about the potential impacts of climate

change included in the learning journey, farmers can make purposeful decisions around practices such as

seed and crop-type. This approach supports livelihood diversification – also fundamental for increased

resilience –through ‘value-added’ associated activities such as seedling production, tree nurseries and

bee-keeping.

The overall aim of the Agricultural Support Initiative is to enhance the resilience of the people and

ecosystems in selected villages (6-7) in the Lower Olifants River basin, using a systemic social learning

approach, exploring the question:What are you learning about the socio-economic and biophysical

characteristics of your environment and how these are changing and how are you able to respond to that?

The overarching objective of this work is to provide support for increased adaptive capacity and resilience

to the effects of climate change for households involved in agriculture in select communities of the

Olifants River Catchment through:

- Improved soil and water conservation and agro-ecological practices for increased food security

- Livelihood diversification and supplementation through alternative climate resistant production;

- Increased community empowerment as a result of self-organisation and collective action.

3Milestone Description

3.1Definition of milestone and purpose

Each milestone and progress report indicate activities under the broad themes of learning and mentoring,

introduction to innovations and experimentation, collaborative work and networking undertaken during

the reporting period.

The table below summarises these activities against the milestone and indicate achievement of these

milestones.

Table 1: Summary of deliverable completion under Milestone 1: 2 May – 7 July 2018

Activities

planned

Completed?

Expected

outcomes

Completed?

Verification

documenta

tion

Completed?

Reference

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Learning &

Mentoring:

In all 6

communitie

s each 2

days

Learning &

Mentoring:

-Baseline new

learning group in

Turkey, Decision

support and

planning

-Learning

sessions; review

of S&WC and

CSA, for all

groups (1 day).

-LF training;

qualitative

quantitative

monitoring

-Baseline report for

Turkey

-Learning groups;

learning sessions –

overview of practices

incl cropping

calendars, soil fertility

management, tunnels

and seed saving

-LF’s undertake garden

mentoring and

monitoring with

farmers (3-4 days

each), supported by

field team

Progress report on

outcomes

including the

following

documentation:

1. Photos & photo

diaries

2. Farmer work

plans

3. Garden

monitoring

4. Monthly

assessments

5. Cluster activity

records

6. Event

materials,

attendance

registers

1. Photos in

reports and– All

photos saved in

directories and

kept by Erna

2.Farmer work

plans are

recorded in the

garden monitoring

forms

3. 44 Garden

monitoring forms

across six villages

4. In this report

5.Appended to

this report

6.Appended to

this report

Intro to

innovations

and

experiment

ation:

-Individual

farmer

experimentation

- prioritized,

garden

monitoring.

Mentoring by

trainers and LFs’

- Garden monitoring

including trainers and

LFs- all participants

visited at least once by

LFs and a garden

monitoring form

completed

Networking:

1. Local

facilitator

networking

2. Open

days, cross

visits

3. Review

and

planning

sessions

Networking;

Participatory

video

Participatory video

training for field staff

and local facilitators in

Lepelle and Sedawa

Initial theme of water

provision explored for

community level action

4Approach/ Process/ Activities

4.1Summary of activities

This section gives an indication of activities undertaken during the reporting period to achieve the

outcomes for this period, time spent and people involved.

Table 2: Summary of activities for the reporting period 2 May-7 July 2018.

DATE

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY

Time

WHO WAS

INVOLVED

Feb- March

2018

Tunnels and drip kits- construction – Turkey,

Sekororo, Sedawa (8 tunnels). Bed Design Workshop;

Turkey, translation of handouts, report writing,

setting up E-survey on Pendragon, setting up

27 days

Sylvester

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Chameleon sensors (3 x 3 arrays) and VIA workshops,

gravimetric soil sample analysis

2018/03/12-16

DICLAD w/s 3 and write up of 3 workshops

6 days

Nozipho

2018/04/16

Agroecology workshop

1 day

Erna, Sylvester

2018/04/17

Intern interviews

3 days, 1 day

Erna, Sylvester

2018/04/18,19

Learning workshops Lepelle, Turkey – water, seed

saving

2 days

Erna, Sylvester

2018/04/20-22

Monitoring, travel, reports

3 days

Erna, Sylvester

2018/05/03-/05

Preparation, Pendragon forms, travel

3 days

Sylvester

2018/05/08-

10,12

Planning, Turkey baseline homestead visits (20

participants)

4 days

Sylvester, Betty,

Nozipho

2018/05/11

Learning Workshop Cropping calendars and Seed

Saving; Sedawa

1 day

Sylvester, Nozipho,

Betty

2018/05/15

Baselines and garden monitoring forms – Turkey

1 day

Betty, Sylvester

2018/05/16

Baselines and garden monitoring forms – turkey

1 day

Betty, Sylvester

2018/05/17

Trip to Hinesburg (potatoes seed) + Baselines +

leadership workshop by Hoedspruit hub

1 day

Betty, Sylvester

2018/05/18

introducing Betty to communities and measurement

instruments

1 day

Betty, Sylvester

2018/05/19

Seasonal calendar +Seed saving workshop

(Botshabelo)

1 day

Betty, Sylvester

2018/05/21-31

Write up of baselines and monitoring

10 days

Betty, Nozipho

2018/06/04-08

Garden monitoring – Sedawa, report writing,

Pendragon continuation,

5 days

Betty

2018/06/11-15

Captruing data, checking chameleons and tunnels in

Sedawa and Mabins

5 days

Betty

2018/06/18-22

PV training, Focus group discussion on water issues

Lepelle, Sedawa, water walks and plans

5 days

Erna, Betty, Sylvester,

Big Boy, Chris Stimie,

Neville Meyer

2018/06/25-29

Continuation with monitoring, case studies and

success story videoing – Sedawa, Botshabelo, and re-

setting of instrumentation – chameleons, weather

stations. Report writing and finalisation

5 days

Betty, Sylvester, Erna

2018/07/04-07

Milestone 2 writing and finalisation of reports

4 days

Erna

Sylvester:59 days, Erna:20days, Nozipho: 21 days, Betty: 40 days

4.2Progress and Results

4.2.1Learning and mentoring

Learning processes conducted are summarised in the table below

Table 3: Summary of learning sessions conducted: April-July 2018

Village

Date

Activity

No of

participants

Comments

Turkey,

(Sekororo)

2017/11/29,30

Climate Change

workshops (2 days)

CC impacts and local

adaptive measures

Turkey,

Sedawa

2017/12/06;

2018/12/07

CA workshop

38,22

Demonstration of CA, and

animal drawn planter, seed

distribution for

experimentation (Maize,

beans, cowpeas

Turkey,

Sedawa

2018/01/10,

2018/01/11

CA – replanting –

42,21

Replanting, incl cover crops

(millet, sunflower, Sunn

hemp, maize, beans)

Turkey

2018/03/05

Soil fertility training

(trenches, eco-circles,

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mixed cropping,

mulching)

Turkey

2018/03/08

Liquid manure and

natural pest and disease

control

Turkey,

(Sekororo)

2018/04/12,13

Tunnel construction (2

days); including drip kits,

re-cap on trench bed

packing and experiment-

planting inside and

outside tunnel

1 tunnel constructed, with

help from Sedawa

participants and 3 more done

by participants themselves

thereafter

Lepelle,

Turkey,

Sedawa,

Botshabelo

2018/04/18,

2018/04/19,

2018/05/10

2018/05/13

Planting calendars, seed

saving and seedling

production

16,48,26,6

Seed provided include

coriander, parsley, carrots,

rape, broccoli, beetroot,

spring onions and mustard

spinach. (small packets to all

participants)

Lepelle,

Sedawa

2018/06/19,21

2018/06/20,22

Water issues focus

groups, Part video,

collective action plans

27,6

20,6

Water committees have laid

out plans for water provision

to the groups, a water walk

has been conducted to the

respective sources and a

broad plan to be designed

for further action

Learning workshops are conducted as group discussions, starting with local practices and analysing the

potential benefits of the new ideas. Participants discuss their local practices, then compare those with

the new ideas introduced to assess potential strengths and weaknesses of the approach.

These are followed by practical demonstrations and an assessment by the learning group related to the

activity. The table below includes some of the comments made by participants.

Table 4: Comments from participants on new practices introduced in learning workshops

Practise/Activity

Comments by participants

Visuals

Trench beds

•It is a lot of work (it takes someone

with the love for gardening to get the

courage to make a trench bed)

•Even though the work is too much

during design or construction of the

trench bed, it looks like once it is

made one will have less work

•It saves cost (we used the material

that was sourced locally at no cost)

even though some people pay so much

for manure in the areas

•Contributes to cost saving on labour

(less weeding)

•Easy to maintain

•Could potentially improve crop quality

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Tower gardens

•It is easier to make a tower garden

than it is to make a trench bed

•The ability of a tower garden to

accommodate for planting a wide

variety of crops, is good for food

security

•Increased plant population or

production per unit area

•Less bending and easy to weed

•We have improved the soil fertility in

this bed therefore, one would expect

to get high yields

•Continuous production at low or cost

•Might contribute significantly to water

savings (use of grey water with the

tower garden will make efficient use

of the limited water in the

homesteads)

Eco circle

•It is very easy to make

•Uses readily available meterial

•Less digging

•No cost

•Can only accommodate a small

nuumber of plants

•One can make a number of these

small beds easily

Liquid manure

•Intersting

•Initially thought we could use this

instead of other soil fertility methods

•Could to be able to boost plant grwoth

during the season

Natural pest

control

•Never heard of this before

•Can help us deal with the increased

pests linked to the increases in

temperature

•There is more damage due to pests in

the fields (Maize, pumpkins, cowpeas)

than in the vegetable gardens

•The brews are easy to make, but it

seems approrpaite for gardens only.

Not sure this can be done for large

fields

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•Good innovations that can be done at

low cost

Mixed cropping

•Traditionally this was done in fields

•In gardens having the same crops

together looks presentable and helps

with harvesting – awa having enough

to sell

•Companion planting sounds quite

complicated

•We did not know that this can help

with pest control

Drip kits

•It saves water (this became clear after

the system was tested)

•It irrigates very well

•Consistency (the soil is more likely to

always be at field capacity– even

spread of water across the bed)

•It is cheap, even though some still

think it is too expensive for them

•The participants were very impressed

with the bucket filter and were happy

that they can now use grey water in

their gardens.

Tunnels

•Participants are fascinated by the

thinking that went into designing a

drip kit and a tunnel. They have

always seen such structures as

something that was out of their reach

(something that could only be done be

large commercial farmers).

•Participants inquired about the size of

the shade cloth (nets) and whether

sizes were standard from the shop-in

thinking about constructing more

tunnels for themselves

•There process is easier than we

thought (If we are to build another

tunnel as a group we should be able to

remind each other of what we learnt

and should be able to complete the

construction)

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Seasonal

calendars and

seed saving

-Farmers are realizing that more

accurate / appropriate seasonal

calendars specific for their area will

have to be developed locally (and by

them)

-In some way the idea of using a

calendar is relatively new and foreign

to them (therefore making a habit to

use them is not going to be that easy)

-They are already making adjustments

to their planting dates and they are

also learning from these experiences

-In some way, they are running

experiments which are however not

documented (instilling the idea of

famer led experimentation could help

to monitor such changes closely)

-Farmers found the workshop to the

useful and the information shared was

just what they needed

-Use of the seasonal rainfall prediction

information (Weather Bureau) could

be useful in helping them making

decisions regarding planting dates

(especially for rainfed farming)

-Participants feel that they have

gained enough knowledge to allow

them to start saving vegetable seed

-Some are even thinking of saving seed

for selling, even though seed is not

one of the things they are used to

selling. They normally share it at no

cost.

Participants found the seed

selection procedure introduced in

the workshop very interesting and

as something they were not aware

of. They enjoyed an exercise where

they had toidentify the male and

female parts of a flower on

different flower types. This

process helped themrealize the

reason for butternuts and pumpkins

not forming in their gardens –they

did not know cucurbits have male

and female flowers and thesehave

to be pollinated by bees.

4.2.2Innovations and Experimentation

Garden monitoring has continued in this quarter. Summaries have again been made of local innovations

and introduced innovations being practiced by

participants. The garden monitoring for Turkey

included 20 learning group members (results are

presented in the case study below) and garden

monitoring has also been conducted for a further 19

participants from Sedawa and Mabins.

The more and more desperate situation with water

has led to learning group members coming together

and collective action in water provision.

ALTERNATIVE SOURCES (Percentage of

households with access)

Jo-Jo tanks at household level

12 %

Buying 210l drums of water

80%

Springs (Nov-June)

Wells (Nov-Dec)

36%

Municipal water (ave 1x /

week)

56%

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In Sedawa a water committee has been formed (informal) consisting mainly of members of the learning

group and those associated with them and have collectively raised around R 8000 for piping to bring water

from a spring in the mountains above the village. In Lepelle the Water committee has been formed to

renovate and maintain the existing water supply furrow, which was made in the 1920’s by members of the

community.

In both cases the groups have gained permission from their traditional authorities.

To support these processes AgriSI have run Focus group discussions with them to outline and clarify their

ideas and plans and also in bringing in an agricultural engineer to give them a technical assessment of

their suggested plans.

In addition this process has been linked to the participatory video training for staff, local facilitators and

community members as a way to create and amplify a voice for these people in their communities and

with relevant stakeholders and also as a way of documenting this success alongside their climate smart

Agriculture( CSA) success stories. Full reports are attached with this document.

Below is a visual summary of the processes.

Next steps include

•Learning to edit videos and making a rough edit of the focus group discussions and presentations

•Screening of this cut with the learning groups and water committees to further refine and edit the

clips

•Decision with the learning group where to screen and or send this video for best effect. This can

include government and non government organisations, the broader community and the

municipality. Assist in arranging these meetings and screening sessions

•Once the technical briefs are received form the engineer, meet to discuss the next steps in the

process, including exploring funding options for these initiatives.

FACILITATION OUTLINE FOR WATER FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS

For local initiatives, municipal water supply and local sources e.g. rivers, and spring explore the

following:

1. Define the sources, what they are, where, how they are manged, who has access

2. What is working (enablers)

3. Challenges/barriers the communities are facing with the systems

4. Who are the role players, what are their responsibilities (got, civil society and local structures)

5. Community led action, ideas and the way forward.

6. What do you think participatory video (PV) can do to assist with awareness raising and lobbying

After the focus group discussion, divide the group into three smaller groups to focus onwater (summary

of main points from the discussion), map (the plan) and timeline. Then presentations,which will be

documented/filmed with the key statements 3/4 people.

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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The focus group discussion on the water situation and the collective action planned by the learning group was

videoed as part of the participatory video learning process. A summary of the history of water provision in

the community was presented along with a time line and a map of the planned water provision strategy. This

was followed by a water walk where a group of participants and the facilitation team went to inspect the

source and discuss options

Sedawa

Lepelle

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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4.2.3Networking

Two processes are underway:

1.Agroecology network

2.Hoedspruit Hub partnership

The first Agroecology networking process was attended on 16 April 2018 in Hoedspruit. Various

networking opportunities have arisen from this interaction, including the present collaboration with the

Hoedspruit Hub

4.2.3.1Partnership between the Hoedspruit Hub and Mahlathini for customised agroecology

training

A MoU has been signed between the Hub and Mahlathini for two processes in agro-ecology, namely a

marketing process for organic herbs (with 20 participants mainly from Sedawa and Botshabelo) and an

organic Mango production training course (for commercialisation of mango production in Lepelle, for 30

participants). Both processes will contribute to the diversifications of livelihoods for the participating

smallholder farmers. The first activity here has been to conduct a baseline survey to ascertain needs and

next steps. Below is a report of that process.

4.2.3.1.1Mahlathini site visit report (By: Nelson Ngoveni & Anri Manderson-22 June 2018)

In June 2018, Mahlathini and the Hoedspruit Hub signed an MOU to co-create customised agroecology

training for two groups supported by Mahlathini: Herb growers to access markets through the Hub; and

mango growers with skills to better and expand their production.

As part of the Hoedspruit Hub process, Nelson conducted site visits for a baseline study on the 19th and

20th of June 2018. These site visits included two workshops, which were held in Lepelle village and the

other at Sedawa village. This is a short report on the Hub’s findings.

Herb growers

On the 19th the day started with a few stops at the various gardens of the herb growers. It was evident

that these ladies had water challenges, but were really trying and committed to growing herbs and

veggies. After the few stops we drove to the workshop, which was held at one of the cluster leaders and

herb grower’s home. The leader had a very impressive garden with many types of vegetables and herbs.

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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Above: Essinah Malepe’s trench beds planted with herbs and vegetables. Magdalena Malepe’s planting of spring

onions and coriander and vegetable planting in her tunnel. Christinah Thobejane’s trench beds planted to mixtures of

herbs and vegetables.

In addition, to kick start a more intensive process of growing herbs

Mahlathini has provided herb seedlings for sale to the participating

farmers (coriander, parsley, basil and thyme), given that progress with

planting from seed has been a little slow.

Right; Participant members buying their herb seedlings. The process is being

organised by the Local Facilitator- Christinah Thobejane

Questionnaires were completed with some of the participants and from

a summary of outcomes, the following can be said:

•The herb growers are mostly female

•The women are experienced vegetable growers, and new to

growing herbs

•Most of the surplus vegetables is sold to the community

•The farmers are keen to produce more surplus for market,

including herbs

•They don’t keep records, thus making it difficult to determine amount of previous harvest

•The garden layout and planting makes very difficult to determine quantities

•The produce(all) is washed with borehole water

•There is currently no solution to transporting produce halfway towards the Hub

Based on these few findings, HH suggestions include the following:

•Conduct a one-day workshop with the herb growers to explain how the process would work,

•co-developing a logistics solution to get herbs from their gardens into Hoedspruit.

•Also include modules on garden layout and mapping, basic planning, planting schedules, and

record keeping. This will assist the Hoedspruit Hub to determine how much herbs they have, and

how much they plan to harvest, to organise collection periods more efficiently.

•Timing: Early July 2018. The workshop was held on 9 July and record of the process is to be

included in the next Milestone report.

Mango growers

On the 20th we drove to Lepelle village where a workshop was scheduled with the community. From

coming into the village one could tell that almost every household had a couple of old mango trees. As the

workshop proceeded Nelson was

given a slot to introduce himself and

explain his reasons for the visit.

During the workshop he had another

chance to complete the

questionnaires with the various

mango growers.

Right: George Sebatane’s mango orchard,

where he has included basins and

improved furrows for irrigation

management of his trees.

After capturing the data from the

questionnaires, the following can be highlighted as key findings:

•Almost everyone had a couple of mango trees around their homes

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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•Most of the mango trees have been in their families for a very long time, some even date back to

the 1970s. Some of these trees are still productive.

•Apart from watering, the trees are not actively managed to improve yields

•The trees are attacked by pests

•The community has lots of water, but water is managed poorly

•Most of the mangos they produce is sold in bulk to achar producers and or street vendors

•Most of the participants have land and water to expand

Based on these few findings, HH’s suggestion include the following:

•South Africa currently has no organic mango producers, which opens up the market for interested

candidates. The Bryanston Natural and Organic Market has indicated that they would take all

available organic mangoes from these producers, on condition that their practices are PGS-

endorsed.

•We thus suggest a five-day workshop on how to improve current yields on the trees, using organic

methods. It’s important to note that this may take another cycle, as trees are already starting to

flower, which ultimately determines yields.

•There may be some things to do now that could slightly improve yields, but ultimately the trees

would need to go through an entire well-managed cycle, and potentially even a few to reach

ultimate production.

The training will thus include the following: Organic practices for optimising mango yield, ideal tree

varieties for expansion, grafting, and an introduction to PGS and its’ required record keeping.

The diversity of ages within the group requires a programme that caters for people with low levels of

literacy.

Timing: Early August 2018.

4.2.4Other Activities

DICLAD module 3 with AgriSI stakeholders and participants in the Lower Olifants was carried out as a one

day workshop for the 7 villages involved (Botshabelo, Sedawa, Willows, Lepelle, Oaks, Turkey and Finale).

Attendance was as follows:

- Sedawa, Willows, Turkey; 33 participants

- Botshabelo;14 participants

- The Oaks, Willows and Finale; 15 participants

The overall purpose of these workshops wasto build climate change literacy among stakeholders and

participants with regards to climate change adaptation options related to small scale agriculture. As a

continuation of this aim, two themes were addressed for this purpose: 1) recapping work that was done in

previous workshops to reinforce learning; and 2) improving risk management and planning (namely, how to

make decisions in a dynamic context).

The ’Five Finger” principle was revisited alongside the impacts of climate change and potential adaptive

measures participants suggested as well as those they have tried or are trying already.

Then a number of different aspects were explored including; traditional signs of weather –traditional

forecasting methods and what they use weather/climate information for. Then seasonal and daily weather

forecasts were explored looking also at sources of information (e.g. TV, cell phones, internet, radioetc)

and how that information is used. Participants also discussed their understanding of the reliability of these

forecasts.

Participants also discussed seasonal calendars and drew up cropping calendars for their villages. Below is a

combined seasonal calendar for the Lower Olifants- including information from all the workshops.

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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Figure 1: Combined seasonal calendar for 7 villages in the Lower Olifants Basin.

A full report is attached (DICLAD Module 3 with AgriSI stakeholders in the Lower Olifants

14th – 16th March 2018

Report)

4.3Success and Challenges in meeting milestone.

Lack of water is the primary concern in a number ofvillages and until headway is madewith water provision

for productive activities, it is unlikely that much progress will be made. Lepelle and Sedawa in particular

return to this topic repeatedly. Thus a process has been put in place with formation of water committees,

to manage the planning and implementation of local water actions in these villages. This process also is

central in the participatory video initiative as it is hoped these small videos will alert the local authorities

to the communities’ plight and initiate more constructive engagement.

Learning groups in Willows and The Oaks are mostly inactive. A slow process of garden monitoring with the

new intern is hoped to assist in understanding the issues to plan specific interventions in these areas.

In Finale, the learning group members are once again engaged in daylabour activities on the nearby fruit

estates. The meetings have now been moved to weekends to accommodate for this; although from last year

our experience has been that participantsdo not apply themselves to their gardening activities once their

seasonal farm works starts up.

Betty Maimela has been introduced to all communities and is takingtaxis to the villages todo her support

and monitoring work. She needs to give a concerted effort to practicing her driving skills before another

arrangement will be possible.

4.4MERL.

4.4.1Indicators: Assessment July 2018

Figures in the table reflect numbers for the period of reporting, in this case May-July 2018.

JanuaryFebruary March April MayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctober November

December

Mango Fruits

vegetables

Indigenousknowledge signs

rainfall

winter

summer

droughts

fliesAutumn

millipede Spring

StarsBirds

Autumn

Spring

SEASONAL CALENDER FOR LOWER OLIFANTS VILLAGES

Rainfall

Onion

Droughts

Rainfall

Winter

Summer

watermelonand melon

Green beans

Sugarcane

Banana

Maize

Butternut

Carrots

Cabbage

Tomatoes

Spinach

Dry beans

Cattle mate

Summer

morogo

sorghum

pumkin

watermelon

Groundnuts

Sweet potatoes

Beetroot

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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A combined team meeting to review this assessment sheet was conducted on 18 June for this reporting

period and numbers have further been summarised from field reports and discussions with the field team.

Table 5: Summary of indicators assessments for the duration of the AgriSi project:April-July2018

Indicator

Overall target

Actual July 2018

No of participants in learning groups

120

DICLAD w/s 3 (63); Lepelle

(16), water. Turkey (48) –

soil fertility, tunnels.

Botshabelo (6), Sedawa

(28), Turkey (48) –

calendars and seed saving.

Lepelle (20) Sedawa (27) -

water focus groups

No of learning groups

6-7

No of local facilitators

Percentage of participants engaged in CC adaptation

responses

1-2 (45%)

2-3 (25%)

>3 (10-15%)

1-2 (67%)

2-3 (16%)

>3 (1%)

No of participants experimenting with new

innovations

-local

-co-designed

15%

45%

43%

No of participants showing increased knowledge

35%

Percentage of participants engaged in collaborative

activities

35%

44%

Percentage of participants with improved livelihoods

-increased availability of food

-increased income

-increased diversity of activities and livelihoods

options

40%

38%

Qualitative assessments;

-stakeholder engagement

-Increased understanding and agency to act towards

achieving increased resilience

- Adaptation and innovations into local context

-Potential for increased resilience

-Social engagement

Stories, case

studies (5), CC

impact summaries

(4), best practices

booklet

Turkey (1)

Stakeholder engagement

MoU with Hoedspruit Hub for sale of herbs and

veg from 2 learning groups

Agro-ecology network

COMMENTS ON INDICATORS IN THE TABLE ABOVE

The indicators have been jointly compiled with the MERL team also to reflect and provide information for

the overall indicators for the ResilmO programme. Some are process indicators that can be assessed

continuously, some are assessed through the garden monitoring and yet others are more evaluative and

are assessed during review sessions and workshops.

•The number of Local Facilitators have been reduced, as some of the village learning groups are

not very active and LF’s there have not been active themselves

•The percentage of participants engaged in CC responses changes over time and is somewhat

different for each milestone, as it depends on the practices introduced and worked with in that

period and how active the participants involved are. For example, the uptake in villages such as

Turkey is higher than villages such as Lepelle. These different percentages are then averaged over

the period of the project to create a final percentage at the end.

•In terms of local innovations, this has to do again with what is focussed on during the period of the

milestone and who was visited. The point of tracking local innovations is to understand how much

participants innovate in a certain field themselves and how we can enhance the impact of such

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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practices by appropriate interventions. In this case an example could be small dams that are dug

in the yards- this is a local practice, implemented only by a small number of farmers; but is

significant and interesting for the process as a whole

•Number of participants showing increased knowledge is an indicator that is assessed primarily

through review workshops and processes with the learning groups. This was thus not done during

the period of the present milestone.

4.4.2Turkey case study

4.4.2.1Implementation of new ideas in Turkey

The learning process is designed to start with the gardening practises known to participants and to build

on those and add new ideas and practices that participants can try out.

Learning activities in Turkey to date include: Climate change and adaptation, Conservation Agriculture

Soil fertility and bed design, grey water management (tower garden and drip kits), tunnel construction,

farmer experimentation, liquid manure, natural pest control, cropping calendars and seed saving

The table below gives an indication of which new ideas/innovations participants have been trying out in

Turkey after the learning sessions were conducted. 90% of participants have tried out at least one of the

new ideas introduced.

Table 6: Summary of new ides/interventions being tried out in Turkey: Jan-May 2018

From the above table and figure it can be seen that around 85% of participants are implementing the

trench beds, 65% have planted legumes, 55% have tried out the eco-circles and smaller number of

participants have followed through with the seedling production, diversified cropping, mixed cropping,

0 2 4 6 810 12 14 16 18

Cut off drains

Diversion ditches

Stone bunds

trench beds (ave 3)

eco-circles(1-2)

Diversified crops

Seed and seedlings

mulching

Contours, line levels

Liquid manure

Green manures, legumes

inter cropping

Nat P&D control

Bucket filters

tower gardens

keyhole beds

Tunnel

RWH storage

Cut

off

drains

Diversi

ditche

Stone

bunds

trench

beds

(ave

eco-

circles

(1-2)

Diversi

fied

crops

Seed

and

seedli

ngs

mulchi

Conto

urs,

line

levels

Liquid

manur

Green

manur

es,

legum

inter

croppi

Nat

P&D

contro

CA Bucket

filters

tower

garden

keyhol

e beds

Tunnel

RWH

storag

Series1 020 17 116 5 1 1 713 7 0 2 1 1 0 1 0

New interventions and innovations adoption Turkey - May 2018 (N=18)

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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liquid manure and mulching. Some of the soil and water conservation practices such as contours, diversion

ditches and the like still need to be introduced. The number of participants who mentioned implementing

the Conservation Agriculture is small, due to the complete crop failure for these experiments, which were

abandoned mid-season. Also, thus far only a few tunnels with drip kits have been constructed- more as

pilots and demonstration sites, for the learning group to get an idea of how these work, prior to more

extensive implementation.

The garden monitoring process tracks both the local good practices and new innovations/ideas

implemented by participants. The idea is that each garden is monitored at least once a season to

ascertain progress overtime. In addition, an assessment is made of food security for the household

(showing no of different crops/ vegetables harvested on a weekly basis and how often the family can have

food form their garden.

The monitoring is undertaken jointly between the local facilitators for the area and the new local intern

that has been employed for this purpose. An e-survey format has recently been set up, so that these

monitoring processes can be done on tablets and the data uploaded for easier access and formatting into a

coherent database.

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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Below are some photographs showing implementation in Turkey

Figure 6: A small dam dug in Ms Mogale’s yard- it holds water for

around 3 months/year

Figure 1: Magdeline Shai-Turkey 2 – eco-circle with

mixed cropping including green beans, and spinach

Figure 2: Magedline Shai- seedling production –

including newly received seeds of rape, mustard

spinach and beetroot

Figure 3: Shade netting structure put

up by Mafogo Maapule – Turkey 1

Figure 4: Further small netting

structures for individual beds in

Mafogo’s garden

Figure 5: 3 trench mulched trench beds, one planted to

mustard spinach – Magalangake Mgaale – Turkey 1

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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Figure 8: Spinach planted in a container and protected from heat and

browsing by netting. In Mabiletse’s yard.

Figure 7: 4 trench beds prepared by Mabiletse Mogofe- Turkey 1

Figure 11: Left: Hand dug well in Sarah Madire-

Madire’s homestead (turkey 2) and (Right) 3 of the 5

trench beds she has constructed.

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Figure 9:Dinah Masete’s 2 eco-circles planted to spinach, mustard spinach, rape and tomatoes and

mulched. (Turkey 1)

Figure 10: Sarah Mohlale’s tunnel and outside trenches- for her experiment, 3 drip kits and (Right) her mixed

cropping eco-circle (Turkey1)

Figure 13: Mothouane’s 2 eco-

circles (Turkey 1). Rest of garden

not that well developed

Figure 22: Tower garden for Nkurwane Shaai,

Turkey 2

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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Figure 15: Interesting garden layout of furrows

and ridges that are on contour and includes

basins for rainwater harvesting –Mtshego Shaai’s

garden, Turkey 2

4.4.2.2Farmer Experimentation

An integral part of the learning process is for participants to take on farmer level experimentation with

the new ideas and technologies introduced. They try out these new ideas alongside their normal practices,

to be able to observe and compare any differences in growth and production as a result of implementing

the new or improved practices.

The percentages of participants who are implementing a certain technique such as trench beds for

example differs form the percentage of participants actively “experimenting” with trench beds. For the

latter the participant consciously undertakes an experiment, with a control and observes and measures

the differences between their normal practice as the control and the new technique they are

experimenting with. In this way they can make informed decisions around the impact of the technique.

The figure below indicates the individuals who have taken on experiments and what they are trying out in

the Turkey Learning group to date (January-May 2018). Around 43% of participants are experimenting with

Figure 14: Left-Lydia and Phelicia Shaai’s garden in Turkey 2. They have focused on herb planting and

mixed cropping; incl lemon balm, rosemary, coriander, and spring onions. Right an eco circle with

mulching and mixed cropping

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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trench beds, 24% with eco-circles, 16% with mixed cropping, and 3% respectively with furrows and

mulching. Around 11% of participants are not implementing farmer experiments.

Figure 3: farmer Experimentation; numbers of participants experimenting with a range of new ideas/innovations.

Turkey, May 2018

4.4.3Project Life Change Questions:

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

related to CC? (adapt, reflect and respond to….) and examples of what this adaptive

management is?

Some of the stories shared at a workshop in Turkey relate to this question, for example:

43%

24%

16%

3% 3%

11%

Farmer experimentation with new ideas

Experimentation trench

Experimentation eco-circle

Experimentation mixed cropping

Experimentation mulching

Experimentation furrows

Experimentation None

Mr Shai is able to sell spinach worth R 100 a week

from the towergarden. He haspraised the tower

garden for its ability to save water and said the

soil fertility in the tower garden is very high. He

wants totry more of them and encourages others

to try it as well. Other members of the learning

group have passed by Mr Shai’s gardento see how

the spinach grows in a tower garden

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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It is becoming clearer to participants that using the agroecological practices and or techniques introduced

work better if they are tried together. For example mulching on it’s own, without also looking at soil

fertility, water management and mixed cropping has limited benefits. They have also adapted mulching

processes by experimenting with different materials such as tree leaves and wood chips. Others have

found that mulching may attract termites and so have thought of using small pieces of shade netting to

protect their beds and eco-circles. The shade provided has a similar effect to mulch in terms of reducing

evaporation and decreasing temperature.

9.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)

Isaac Malatje is impressed with how well trench beds are doing in Sedawa and he wants to try this on a

somewhat larger scale to see if he cannot use gardening as an income generating activity. Others are

following his lead, including Christina in Sedawa who is now making longer trench beds and this has

increased her production. During one the workshop held at her homestead she was able to sell spinach

worth R 230

10.

Above left to right: The large trench beds constructed by Isaac Malatjie in Turkey, which have been used now also by

Christina Thobetjane from Sedawa, having listened to his explanations. She has been selling spinach to the

community and is doing well with this activity

Mrs Mogadi was also amazed by the amount of

spinach she wasable to produce from a small eco-

circle (1 meter diameter). She mentioned that if

such easy to do techniques work, then tunnels

combined with drip kits will work even better. Mr

Malatji added toher story to say, these are the

simple things which we can all try.

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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As facilitators we have noticed that certain innovations are taken up more easily than others. The initial

drivers here are short term benefits and ease of implementation and functionality. Some of the practices

are not that easy, such as trench beds for example and with these people have now seen others succeed

and have noted the benefits through word of mouth. This then creates a situation where people adopt

these practices themselves.

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

action? What insights have we gained into how self organisation can lead to collective action?

In Turkey learning group participants mentioned that it is possible to invite other stakeholders (Landcare,

the Department of Agriculture and the municipality) to these meetings (it looks like your (MDF’s) process

is focusing more on educating us, but we might need support (financial) in implementing some of the

things you introduce/ what you might introduce in the future). They followed on by inviting the extension

officer to the learning workshops.

Two water committees have been set up (Lepelle and Sedawa) to organise participants to take action in

local water provision schemes. In both cases participants are collecting monies for the purposes (for

buying cement and piping) and have asked for technical assistance with the design of the system.

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 gained about how to learn together?

People learn the most when they share their experiences with each other. Through the workshops, having

people from different places/villages helps with this. It has become more common for members of the

Sedawa group to join workshops in Turkey and vice versa. These forums are providing platforms for people

to share

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

gained?

Regarding water management we are now seeing farmers starting to integrate knowledge and play that to

their situations. Some individuals have designed their own catchment areas in their gardens for harvesting

rainwater working with some of the principles that were introduced in the learning workshops. They are

starting to appreciate that soil holds the most water or holds water like a reservoir and that promoting

infiltration and water holding improves this process. They are using different water sources and are

becoming more comfortable with use of greywater as they start to experience the possibilities of cleaning

this water for re-use.

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).

Through the agroecology learning network set up earlier in the year a working relationship has been built

with the Hoedspruit Hub to collaborate in efforts around capacity building in the community and in starting

a small organic herb marketing scheme. In this way the community can be better supported through these

joint efforts, while the organisations focus on their core activities; complementing each other.

More and more government officials (agricultural extension officers), councillors and indunas are becoming

involved at the learning group level, asthey are joining in on workshops and participating in community led

actions for improvement. This process is working a lot better than the more formal invitations that were

provided to these stakeholders to join past workshops.

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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4.4.4Work Plan for next period (7 July-10 October 2018).

1.Learning sessions; review of S&WC and CSA, for all groups (1 day), Seed saving and seed banks,

crop calendars training- continued for Finale, Oks and Willows. Start on Poultry production

training in Botshabelo, Turkey, Sedawa).

2.Group editing of the participatory videos in water management and success stories for initial

community level screenings and planning for interventions with service providers and other

stakeholders.

3.Individual farmer experimentation - prioritized, garden monitoring.

4.N initial group of 20 participants (Sedawa, Botshabelo) are planting their first round of herbs

(parsley coriander, basil, thyme to provide a test run for the organic herb marketing process in

conjunction with the Hoedspruit Hub. Thee farmers will be provided with ongoing support and

further planning sessions are to be held regarding supply, quality, pricing and logistics

5.Tunnel construction continued in Turkey, Sedawa, Finale

6.Cluster network session; Impacts of activities

7.Agroecology network- sessions on a CoP for best practices in CSA

8.Continuation of garden monitoring and support for Local Facilitators and learning groups (now

using the e-survey format)

9.Finalise and run fruit production training in conjunction with Hoedspruit Hub

10.Use of participatory video as a tool to build agency in the villages for CCA activities and

communicate successes and issues with relevant stakeholders

5Overall Progress of Project

5.1 Integration of milestone status.

The table below indicates overall completion of activities according to milestones.

Table 7: Milestone target completion May-July 2018

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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5.2 Project risk and mitigation summary.

5.2.1Implementation risks and mitigation

Implementation is proceeding well at this stage, with no further risks identified. Risks that exist and are

being managed include:

•Lack of water which hampers participants’ ability to do any gardening or farming. This has

reduced the number of active participants as the situation is slowly and markedly worsening.

•There are some internal conflicts regarding traditional councils and chieftainship in the Mametje

area, where two chiefs are conflicting over who is in control in those villages (Sedawa,

Botshabelo, Mametje). This has caused some individuals to withdraw from the learning groups

MAHLATHINI

MILESTONE COMPLETION: Completion to date % (in black)

Key activities /

Milestones

MILES

TONE

MILESTONE

MILESTONE 5

MILESTONE

Inception report

100% /

Setting the scene

50%

New villages,

baselines, visioning

scenarios

Turkey, CCA

workshops,

visioning

and baseline

New village,

CCA

workshops,

visioning and

baseline

Learning and

mentoring

25%

Learning sessions x 3-5

for ea learning group,

value adding activities,

mentoring LFs (24

sessions total)

Turkey (3

sessions)

Sedawa,

Botshabelo,

Lepelle (1

session)

Experimentation &

intro to innovations

20%

Individual

experimentation

New innovations –seed

saving, fodder

production etc

2 villages

(Turkey,

Sedawa)

6 villages

Collaborative work

20%

Joint experimentation

on new ideas

Collective action

RWH, erosion control

activities

3 villages

(Turkey,

Sedawa,

Lepelle)

Networking and cross

visits

15%

Community level cross

visits

Stakeholder engagement

-Agroecology

network

-Hoedspruit

hub

MILESTONE 2: PROGRESS REPORT NO 1

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•The demand for implementation of tunnels is much higher than the project can provide. A set of

criteria have been put in place to prioritise participants to receive support in this aspect. These

include women headed and poorer households

5.2.2Financial risks and mitigation

The project is on track and is being managed within the budget confines set out.