Land with the FR reclaimed from encroachers
Ponsillio Bwallo
Capitalizing on strong local leadership and partnerships with government and others
Community sensitization meeting
Ponsillio Bwallo
The following building blocks have contributed to the success of the restoration realized to date.
- Strong local leadership: Strong leadership by the Traditional Authorities and local committees facilitated participation, engagement, and buy-in.
- Partnership with government departments: The GoM delivers timely training and support
- Partnership with local and international NGOs.
The organization supported beneficiaries with resources including data, training/capacity building, and in some cases tools.
The factors that enabled success to date included building on the recognition that local leaders are the most trusted agents of development. Without the buy-in and strong leadership of the Traditional Authority (and his Group Village Headmen), getting the buy-in of the communities would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible.
Lessons learned to date include:
- Information, awareness, and advocacy are critical to community-led problem identification and problem-solving, and are prerequisites to community participation in "solutions".
- Community participation in development work results in less costs in the implementation of activities.
- Partnerships and collaboration with District Council and the Area Development Committee, and with non-governmental organizations are key to sourcing required technical support e.g., ANR and firebreak construction.