General

The rate of deforestation in Ecuador linked to unsustainable livestock and agricultural practices and illegal timber harvesting is one of the highest in South America; between 1990 and 2010 Ecuador lost 3.3% of its forest cover (978,537 acres). Deforestation and the ensuing land degradation reduces soil productivity leading to increased poverty and food insecurity in rural areas, while also threatening already endangered wildlife. The purpose of this project is to create the Jama Conservation Corridor spanning 69,189 acres in coastal Ecuador by supporting local, interested landowners with activities that will conserve and reforest parts of their land while encouraging sustainable livelihoods. This project will connect the last remnants of semi-deciduous tropical forests in coastal Ecuador through forest restoration, regeneration of abandoned cattle pastures, and groforestry, including silvopasture. Specific activities include: reforesting prioritized areas within the corridor; collecting baseline data for the flora and fauna in reforested areas; providing training to landowners in agroforestry; and facilitating educational outreach activities with local landowners, schools, and decision-makers on sustainable land use practices.

General

This proposal intends to directly contribute to the fulfilment of Agenda 2030 targets 1.4 on equal rights to economic resources andbasic services including land ownership; 2.2 on doubling agricultural productivity through secure and equal access and other productive resources and 5.a on undertaking reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources. It also contributes to Principle 4 of the VGGT on gender equality as well as AU Declaration on land issues and challenges in Africa that promote WLRs. At the national level, the Constitution and Land Act provide for equality and property rights, the National Land policy and the strategy for its implementation, National gender policy all these national frameworks work towards the fulfilment of the aspirations of the regional and international frameworks. The periodic reporting that is usually conducted at local level on the country’s adherence to the international standards. Partner Activities • Integration training of Gender Action Learning System into women’s land rights and transformative leadership. • Training of grassroots women councillors to strengthen their voice and agency in advancing women’s land rights Using the GALS methodology. • National-level advocacy with the Uganda Parliamentarian Land Management Forum (UPLMF) on their mandate to advance the women’s land rights agenda. • Record podcasts and keep playing them on radio stations for awareness creation on women’s land and natural resource rights. • Organise the international day of the Rural woman and 16 days of activism to amplify the grassroots women’s voices in highlighting their lived realities • Launch the report on the analyses of grassroots organising (conducted in the previous grant)

Objectives

While the risk of famine has reduced, humanitarian needs remain high across Somalia, with an estimated 1.5 million people expected to be in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) or worse through December 2018 (FSNAU/FEWSNET July 2018). The majority of those most in need of urgent life-saving assistance are displaced. Recent FSNAU reports (October 2018) indicate that IDP settlements constitute areas of greatest concern, which will sustain Crisis (IPC Phase 3) and Emergency (IPC Phase 4) until May 2019. In Woqooyi Galbeed region, 175,000 people are Acutely Food Insecure (IPC 3 through 5), with 6,000 people classified as IPC 5, all living in Hargeisa IDPs. Population groups classified as Crisis (IPC Phase) or worse require urgent interventions aimed at reducing food consumption gaps, saving lives and protecting and saving livelihoods. Conditions for IDPs are likely to deteriorate unless humanitarian support is scaled-up and safe access to services and assistance in selected sites is improved. To this end, ACTED will implement a cluster-specific intervention in Hargeisa district aiming at 1) improving the coordination and information management at site level, with a strong focus on advocacy for those sites that are receiving poor level of humanitarian assistance and 2) improve community participation and strengthen community self-management through capacity building, community-based projects, particularly on site maintenance and securing of land rights whenever possible. ACTED will implement these activities in 11 IDP sites in Hargeisa district in Woqooyi Galbeed region, targeting a largely undeserved area. Approximately 29,082 people (4,847 households) will benefit from this intervention, in addition to the community working in these sites including local authorities, clusters and other NGOs. These numbers might vary due to external factors such as the drought, which might attract more IDPs, excessive flooding or conflict with the landowners or the authorities, which may cause IDPs to flee to other areas.

General

Payment towards Objective 2: Communities are supported to adopt disaster risk reduction, land management and mitigation measures to enhance their resilience

General

Strengthening Nature-based Agriculture in Vanuatu is a targeted, 30-months development action that aims to enhance food security and improve productive land management. It will deliver benefits to 25,000 people by diversifying and expanding agricultural economies and niche-product value chain development, including the potential for Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES). The action will embed women in the local economy.

The logic behind this intervention is that the empowerment of women in farmer groups focused on agroforestry value chains can help to increase agriculture productivity and diversification, improve dietary diversification and food security and provide an inclusive response to resilience building.

The overall objective of this action is to increase socioeconomic resilience in Shefa and Torba Provinces of Vanuatu. The action will embed women in the local economy. The proposed action has the following expected outcomes:

· Outcome 1. Women in targeted Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and farmer groups are empowered and the operational capacity of farmer groups is enhanced

Farmer groups are an important mechanism for scaling nature-based agriculture and empowering women. Activities implemented under this outcome will provide a mechanism to increase knowledge and skills of both men and women so they can scale up activities, and will improve women¿s role in farmer organisations, ensuring that their needs and interests are adequately addressed.

· Outcome 2.Agroforestry is boosted in targeted area

Agroforestry provides an environmentally sustainable approach to farming that supports climate resilience (e.g., higher carbon storage, shade for crops) while also supporting nutritional diversification for household consumption, and the integration of species for value chains and niche markets (e.g., Canarium nut, peanut, vanilla). Proposed activities entail support to new plot establishment and the acquisition and application of skills in agroforestry and nature-based agriculture. A Payment for Ecosystem Services study will enable the identification of an alternative income stream as part of agricultural income diversification

· Outcome 3. Sharing best practices in agricultural nature-based economies for integration into government, and development partner operations.

Environmentally sustainable agricultural practices that are climate resilient are critical to dietary diversity, food security and agriculture development in Vanuatu will be documented.