Co-operative farming for sustainable livelihood

An institutional support is required for the beneficiaries to promote the products they make through this solution, in local, regional and national markets. Since a single farmer cannot meet the quantity demand of the market and the distributors look for bulk quantity, a functioning co-operative has to be formed at the local level. This cooperation serves the purpose of collecting the products, negotiating the price with the distributor, supervising the manufacturing and distributing the profits. 

There is a high demand for brooms and associated products in the local, national and international market and distributors always buy in bulk. By applying cooperative farming methods, it will be easier for a single farmer to supply their product and get a reasonable rate for it. Instead of approaching single farmers, distributers negotiate prices with the cooperative committee, which also guarantees more stable and profitable prices for their members.

  • The leadership of the cooperative committee should be entrusted to persons in the community who are knowledgeable about the market.
  • The co-operative should be made bipartisan and fair to everyone. 

 

Alliances

Various alliances had to be build to ensure the success of the programme. Collaboration was necessarry between the following stakeholders: 

  • Local and provincial government and administrative authorities
  • Social groups like youth clubs, women groups, agriculture committees
  • Forest and land protection committes 
  • Local, regional and national private sector businesses 
  • Various experts, researchers and scholars in this sector

Since this solution involves multi-level activities from planning, implementation, conservation, monitoring, marketing and promoting, it becomes essential to bring all the stakeholders together and interlink them through common goals and their ascribed responsibilities by the state and the society. 

- Stakeholders don't always have the same interests and goals

- Conflict between the stakeholders in the alliances are common because of their interests 

- The thoroughness of legal aspects while dealing with the local bureaucracy is needed

- The awareness of greater good has to be evoked to all the stake holders, time and again

 

Improving living conditions for Batwa indigenous peoples

The collective savings made by the Batwa were used to buy 3 ha of property. The community itself negotiated the cost of this property. It was the community that organized itself to share the land equally. It was the community itself that committed to making bricks for their homes. The partners came to the aid of their commitment by granting them sheet metal and cement. In this way, their situation is closely linked to the effective protection of the Bururi Forest Nature Reserve.

- Identification of the real major problem and identification of the real solution.

- Empowerment of beneficiary communities

- Consensus decision-making

- Ongoing communication

- Mutual respect

All problems can be solved through dialogue. Lack of dialogue, on the other hand, is a source of all kinds of conflict.

Dialogue creates a win-win situation for both biodiversity and communities.

Participatory management of natural resources

In 2017, 28 Batwa households (indigenous peoples of Burundi) were involved in activities to maintain 33 km of boundary and 15 km of internal tracks, open 2 km of tourist trails, fight bush fires and poaching.

- Mutual trust between the Batwa community and reserve managers.

- Commitment to ongoing dialogue between the protected area's conservation services and the Batwa community.

- Transparency in the management of funds allocated to the community's involvement in reserve management activities.

- Empowering the Batwa is a mark of respect and esteem that motivates them to become more involved in protecting the reserve.

Biodiversity management requires a holistic, ecosystem-based approach.

Nature conservation cannot be successful without taking into account the role of riparian communities.

Governmental Approval

Some of our programs involve coral transplantation. In Thailand it is illegal to touch or damage coral, so we had to seek approval for some of our programs.

To receive approval from the government involves first submitted a proposal for a coral reef restoration zone. Including with this proposal are the techniques for transplantation, the people involved and their experience and qualifications, and a long term plan for monitoring and maintenance.

The DMCR has fully approved our restoration related activities and we conduct transplant research and provide them with that data.

  • Coral restoration experience
  • Long term plan
  • Proposal to government
  • Assessment and approval

This is a long process to get approved. Being able to show that our programs are successful and being assessed and approved took over 2 years of communication, submissions, and assessments.

To be able to obtain permission requires a group of committed volunteers that have relevant experience and are willing to participate in the program for a long term period of time.

4. NATURE-BASED LIVELIHOODS

Under this UCRT builds strategic partnerships with ethical investors and organisations skilled in nature based enterprise development. Community benefits are then increased through building capacity to engage in natural resource based enterprises, such as eco-tourism, carbon projects, or easements. UCRT also supports the economic empowerment of women so that they are in a position within their households and communities to be stewards of their land and natural resources.

In order to enable the success of these building blocks participation is essential. We believe that empowerment is crucial for equitable engagement and representation for effective resource management. Conflict resolution is also a key piece of the process We meditate conflicts in order to gain stronger participation and for collective action in the sustainable management of community connected land.

NATURAL RESOURCE BENEFITS—the ultimate aim of UCRT’s efforts is to enable communities to benefit from their sustainably managed land and natural resources in order to improve their livelihoods. There are several key steps to this—building local capacity, strengthening governance institutions, securing rights and tenure, improving management, and finally generating benefits. We identified that UCRT needs to engage in all aspects of this process, or, through their foundational work on capacity building, governance, and securing rights are they delivering enough critical impact that only they can provide.

WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT— Capable women are often prevented from holding leadership positions due to their poverty. The entry point for these activities will be women in the Women Right’s and Leadership Forums that UCRT already works to strengthen. UCRT will build its internal capacity in order to directly assist women to develop nature-based livelihoods. UCRT will also work closely with partners who already have skills in naturebased enterprise development to bring additional knowledge, skills and opportunities to the WRLFs.

3.COMMUNITY NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

UCRT works to dually support the rights and wellbeing of communities and the flora and fauna of northern Tanzania by helping communities adaptively improve and strengthen their management systems and practices. This is done by facilitating village formulation of land use plans and natural resource management by-laws and building community capacity to sustainably manage the rangelands across village borders.

In order to enable the success of these building blocks participation is essential. We believe that empowerment is crucial for equitable engagement and representation for effective resource management. Conflict resolution is also a key piece of the process We meditate conflicts in order to gain stronger participation and for collective action in the sustainable management of community connected land.

  1. SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT— Building on the development of land-use plans and bylaws, UCRT expanded its approach by:
    • Ensuring communities protect connectivity between migratory livestock routes;
    • Integrating scientific knowledge with customary management approaches to improve pasture; and
    • Mainstreaming information related to climate change impacts and population growth.
    UCRT now works with elected Grazing Committees comprised of Traditional Leaders and build their knowledge and skills on rangeland management at the village level, by communicating relevant scientific knowledge in ways that can be understood in a traditional context. UCRT helps them engage with other Grazing Committee representatives from connected villages to develop cross border grazing and land use agreements. These cross-border MOUs between villages with communal grazing CCROs supports livestock and wildlife mobility and ensure resources are shared fairly and sustainably beyond village borders.

     
2.GOVERNANCE
UCRT builds the capacity of local governance institutions and the communities they serve to understand their rights, roles and responsibilities. Communities are supported to put in place governing structures to support sustainability of land and natural resources. Also capacity building is carried out to ensure that these governing structures are transparent and accountable. This also promotes the rights of women to take leadership positions and have their voices heard in decision-making processes. UCRT engages in advocacy and policy dialogue to help shape supportive conditions for sustainable community-based natural resource management. As part of the management process, communities come up with natural resource governing by-laws to support enforcement and implementation of practices to support sustainable ecosystems. Also for pastoral groups, grazing plans and calendars are set to ensure a holistic approach in the use and to sustain natural resources for now and the future.

In order to enable the success of these building blocks participation is essential. We believe that empowerment is crucial for equitable engagement and representation for effective resource management. Conflict resolution is also a key piece of the process We meditate conflicts in order to gain stronger participation and for collective action in the sustainable management of community connected land.

NATURAL RESOURCE BENEFITS—the ultimate aim of UCRT’s efforts is to enable communities to benefit from their sustainably managed land and natural resources in order to improve their livelihoods. There are several key steps to this—building local capacity, strengthening governance institutions, securing rights and tenure, improving management, and finally generating benefits. We identified that UCRT needs to engage in all aspects of this process, or, through their foundational work on capacity building, governance, and securing rights are they delivering enough critical impact that only they can provide.

WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT— Capable women are often prevented from holding leadership positions due to their poverty. The entry point for these activities will be women in the Women Right’s and Leadership Forums that UCRT already works to strengthen. UCRT will build its internal capacity in order to directly assist women to develop nature-based livelihoods. UCRT will also work closely with partners who already have skills in naturebased enterprise development to bring additional knowledge, skills and opportunities to the WRLFs.

1.COMMUNITY LAND TENURE -

About 70% of Tanzanian land falls under village land owned and managed by local communities. Due to this, the Tanzanian Land Act allows for ownership and management of land by communities through local governing bodies. To secure Land Rights for these communities therefore means that a village must have a Village Land Certificate which defines the official boundaries of each village and to get that, conflict resolution must be carried out for neighbouring villages to amicably agree on the boundaries of their respective villages. After that, Communities are supported to undertake a village Land Use Plan guided by the National Land Use Planning guidelines. Having done that, communities are then supported to secure through a communal certificate of Customary Right of Occupancy (CCRO) a communal title to their land in which they continue to practice their traditional practices that are friendly and help conserve the environment. These communal CCROs are connected to each other to support mobility of livestock and wildlife from one area to another which helps these animals access crucial shared resources such as water points and salt licks

In order to enable the success of these building blocks participation is essential. We believe that empowerment is crucial for equitable engagement and representation for effective resource management. Conflict resolution is also a key piece of the process We meditate conflicts in order to gain stronger participation and for collective action in the sustainable management of community connected land.

SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT—Significant effort has been invested in supporting communities to secure formal rights over land, but tenure security alone does not mean that those lands are productive and healthy, particularly given the growing pressures created by human population growth, livestock impacts, land-use pressures, and climate change. Does work need to be done to improve the condition and sustainably manage rangelands and natural resources once they have been secured? And if so, what should UCRT’s role be in this? Building on the development of land-use plans and bylaws, UCRT expanded its approach by:
• Ensuring communities protect connectivity between migratory livestock routes;
• Integrating scientific knowledge with customary management approaches to improve pasture; and
• Mainstreaming information related to climate change impacts and population growth.

Interagency Data Standards and Access

Rather than harmonize data after it is collected, interagency standards for collecting underlying data for physical and monetary accounts will allow data to be aggregated and disaggregated, merged and filtered with ease. These standards should cover data storage and collection so that data collected over time are comparable. Further, sharing data across ministries and departments will prevent recollecting data when they exist.

  • Interagency cooperation
  • Statistical offices empowered to set standards
  • Data security and underlying support infrastructure

Fit-for-purpose data collection to answer particular policy questions may be redundant unless the full scope of existing data collection efforts are accessible and able to be disaggregated. Data to support ocean accounting may already exist, but are collected by environment ministries as well as by commerce and transport ministries.