Improving climate resilience through integrated land management and alternative livelihoods in refugee hosting districts in Kigoma, Tanzania

Partner: UNHCR in conjunction which World Food Programme (WFP)

Type of organization: Non-Governmental Organization

Country of Operation: Kigoma, Tanzania.

Climate Adaptation Sector Thematic Area: Economy, Poverty, and Livelihoods

Adaptation best practice: Restoring degraded landscapes while enhancing community resilience and adaptive capacity through strengthened sustainable livelihoods and skills.

Activities

The project seeks to restore degraded landscapes in and around the Nduta and Nyarugusu refugee camps and refugee hosting districts (Kibondo and Kasulu), while enhancing community resilience and adaptive capacity through strengthened sustainable livelihoods and skills. This project is implemented by UNHCR in conjunction with World Food Programme (WFP).

The project proposes a holistic landscape approach that combines interventions that increase vegetation cover (reforestation), reduce soil run off, improve water retention and soil restoration (applying a community led environmental restoration and asset creation approach), coupled with activities building community adaptive capacity such as promotion of sustainable agriculture practices, including agroforestry, perma- and kitchen gardens, and diversification and promotion of use of agriculture by-products to produce alternative cooking fuel to mitigate negative environmental impacts. As a result, degraded landscapes are restored to provide their various ecosystem services and household resilience and food and nutrition security is improved.

The project is implemented within the framework of the UN supported area- based Kigoma Joint Programme, which ensures full engagement and oversight of the Kigoma regional authorities. The project is implemented by a range of partners, including from the government. Specifically, WFP, Danish Refugee Council (DRC); Local Government Authorities, Government Agencies (Tanzania Forestry Services Agency, Small Industries Development Organisation) Ministry of Home Affairs; as well as refugees and host communities.

Tanzania Forestry Service Agency’s operational capacity has been strengthened, including through the construction of centralized tree nurseries that will also be used for community capacity development trainings. Landscape restoration activities have improved overall environmental protection, notably conservation of water sources and controlled flood and soil erosion contributing to sustainable housing and settlements. The application of community led landscape restoration combined with asset creation using a cash for work approach has contributed to community engagement and environmental awareness while building community resilience. Training on the fabrication of bio- briquettes for host community beneficiaries has had positive impacts to both beneficiaries. The beneficiaries now spend less time to fetch firewood and more time on productive livelihood activities. Beneficiaries in the refugee camps are supported to establish kitchen gardens resulting in improved nutritional outcomes, which is particularly important in view of recent cut in food rations, and building vegetable growing skills that can be applied in case of return to their country of origin.

The approach to project implementation follows an AGD (Age, Gender, and Diversity) approach. This approach ensures vulnerable people are consulted, provided tailored information, and are engaged throughout project processes from designing to monitoring and evaluation. This project leaves no one behind as it seeks to protect, conserve, and restore natural landscapes, while building community resilience and adaptive capacity for everyone including the most vulnerable. Specific gender and youth targets have been considered to ensure inclusiveness.

The close involvement of the LGAs in the project is believed to have a positive effect on future public planning and budgeting of environmental activities at the district levels, as they are owning the achievements and impacts of the project activities, providing scope to scale up/sustain the interventions. Collaboration with government agencies such as TFS and SIDO will contribute to realizing sustainability of the interventions, while building local knowledge and operational capacity to replicate and scale up similar interventions.

Promoting nature-based solutions using locally and cost-effective materials such as indigenous trees in landscape restoration initiatives and seeds in climate smart agriculture interventions. Pursuit of partnership approaches in fundraising and implementation to complement UNHCR limited financial resources for environment and climate action. Additional resources for similar activities are expected to be mobilized for the Kigoma region, including potentially through the Green Climate Fund, and the project is expected to provide valuable lessons learned which can be institutionalized and scaled up.

Good practices and lessons learned

• Promoting nature-based solutions using locally and cost-effective materials such as indigenous trees in landscape restoration initiatives and seeds in climate smart agriculture interventions.
• Close collaboration with Local Government Agencies
• The approach to project implementation follows an AGD (Age, Gender, and Diversity) approach.
• Embedding capacity strengthening of local actors including the Tanzania Forestry Service Agency.
• Use of a holistic landscape approach that combines interventions that increase vegetation cover (reforestation), reduce soil run off, improve water retention and soil restoration

Further information

For further information please visit UNCHR https://www.unhcr.org