General

The Local Democratic Governance (LDG) program is a program manged by a consortium of four International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) working together since 2005. This consortium includes NCA (Norwegian Church Aid-from Norway), Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation (from Switzerland), SNV (from Netherlands) and Diakonia (from Sweden). The program is led by Diakonia who will be accountable to the Embassy for program’s performance, risk and financial management. This phase has been accepted after several consultations regarding the aim of the program, its link with the 2016-2020 Swedish cooperation strategy with Mali and its operationalization as well as the duration of the Sida support to the Programme for twelve years. The two parties concluded to move towards a responsible phasing out during a final fourth phase of the program. This will be done through the set-up of a three-year program from 2018-2020. This last phase will enable to consolidate and capitalize on results, knowledge and experience acquired during previous phases of the program from 2005 to 2017. The intervention is designed to tackle issues on land and natural resources governance. This will be done by 1) Strengthening local land management arrangements as well as citizen control of natural resources management; 2) Improving performance of local government authorities in natural resources management and 3) Improving inclusive management of natural resources by local stakeholders. For tackling these issues, land commissions and other local arrangements will manage inclusively conflict related to natural resources, the intervention will feed the permanent secretariat of agricultural orientation law with support tools for setting-up and opertionalization of land commissions and CSOs will engage advocacy at the level of national and local policies. In addition, the municipalities will delegate the management of  collective infrastructures previously realized by the program to socio-professional organizations  and local actors. The total budget is 35 MSEK and ist is totally funded by Sida. Out of this budget, 1 MSEK will be borne by Sida for the purpose of external final evaluation

Objectives

Implemented since 2005 by four INGOs, the exit phase of the LDG program aims at contributing to equitable, peaceful and sustainable exploitation of natural resources between communities. The program intends to consolidate the results achieved so far and to transfer tools and approaches previously developed to appropriate authorities and share good practices. This will be done through 1) Strengthening local land management arrangements as well as citizens' control of natural resources management, 2) Improving the performance of local government authorities in natural resources management and 3) Improving inclusive management of natural resources by local stakeholders.  The desired changes are threefold: 1) pacific access to natural resources and ensuring citizens' control over the management of natural resources,  capacity of local government authorities and socio-professional organizations respectively in the management of natural resources and in the delegated management of natural resources strengthened and local stakeholders (local government authorities, socio-professional organizations, small-scale farms) are equipped with tools and approaches for sustainable management of natural resources (provision of family-farm advisory tools. 

General

Despite a clear trend toward sustainability within the private and public sector, many challenges remain with regards to production, land rights, labor rights and environmental pollution and climate. Swedwatch is an organisation which through research and multistake-holder dialogue works for a normative change within business to reduce its negative consequences and to align it better with social, economic and environmental goals. Through a core support of 53,9 MSEK Sida is supporting Swedwatch's work for sustainable business and its contribution to the normative discussions on a global level. Through its sector-specific and thematic research, Swedwatch seeks to contribute to 1. Responsible and equitable management and use of natural resources 2. Sustainable and fair global supply chains: global supply chains for production of goods and services are increasingly sustainable, fair and transparent 3. Empowered rights holders and expanded civic space: civil society within the area of business, human rights and environment is increasingly informed and active In order to do this, Swedwatch has a clear emphasis on rights-holders where they cooperate with local groups and indigenous people in order to make their voices heard. Swedwatch also engages in dialogue with corporations to influence them and to jointly create positive examples of sustainable business, for example by encouraging human rights due diligence. Swedwatch works for public procurement to increasingly emphasize issues of sustainability. Swedwatch use their research to influence and challenge business in a variety of networks, such as the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the EU and OECD.

Objectives

Swedwatch's vision is a world in which economic systems are just, transparent and sustainable. Human rights and the environment are protected and respected and businesses contribute to sustainable development and inclusive growth within the means of the planet. Swedwatch aims to contribute to the empowerment of rights holders and will promote responsible business practices that respect human rights and the environment. Through research, investigations and multi-stakeholder dialogue Swedwatch aims to contribute to behavioural changes of business actors, public actors and civil society actors in order to safeguard human rights and environmental sustainability. To this end, Swedwatch's strategy has three main objectives:  1. Responsible and equitable management and use of natural resources 2. Sustainable and fair global supply chains 3. Empowered rights holders and expanded civic space

General

An estimated 80% of the global population lack secure water resources. Many also lack ready access to fuel wood and other tree derived benefits. However, the current scientific paradigm says that we must choose which problem to solve as increasing tree cover always reduces water availability. Consider the costs if this thinking is wrong. In Africa, 175 M ha of degraded lands are judged suitable for tree planting which could significantly enhance people’s livelihoods. Our previous research in the seasonally dry tropics indicates that an intermediate tree cover can often improve groundwater recharge. This need testing on a larger scale, but if confirmed will upend the prevailing view in hydrology and have profound implications for policies affecting millions of livelihoods and the environment.  Thus, the aim of this project is to provide evidence for better policies and management that will benefit poor people in drylands by evaluating the novel “optimum tree cover theory” for groundwater recharge across African drylands. The project involves four leading institutions; SLU, ICRAF, WU and NMBU. We will use the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework; a unique dataset that is available across Africa. It consists of multiple variables, including tree cover and key soil variables. We will do complementary strategic measurements of soil water flow and tree water use to model groundwater recharge as a function of tree cover under common conditions of the seasonally dry tropics.