Objectives

Amid severe flood conditions that have displaced an estimated 273,000 persons in Hiran and 20,308 persons in Middle Shabelle as reported by OCHA in its Flash Update released on November 6th 2019, AVORD is submitting this time-critical proposal to provide life-saving shelter assistance to most vulnerable households in humanitarian crisis. In close coordination with the OCHA-facilitated Multi-Agency Flood Task Force (MFT), AVORD will adapt systematic approach to beneficiary selection with clear criterion to prioritize most affected households especially those from marginalized communities, female headed households and households with the largest number of children under the age of 5, older persons, and/or persons with disabilities. Mindful of the Somali context and utilizing its expertise in target locations, AVORD will pay attention to issues of diversity in the targeting process. List of beneficiaries along with their contact numbers will be availed to the Somalia Humanitarian Fund (SHF) and other actors responding in the area to avoid overlap. 7,300 registered household will be provided with 1 NFI kit comprising of 1 Plastic Sheet, 3 Blankets, 2 Sleeping Mats, 1 Kitchen Set, 1 Mosquito Net, 1 Solar Torch and 2 Jerry Cans with the capacity of 10 Liters each. The proposed content in each set is based on current Shelter Cluster standards for people in humanitarian emergencies. In addition to NFIs, emergency shelters will be constructed for 300 most vulnerable IDPs (150 households in Beletweyn and 150 households in Jowhar). Each shelter will be constructed using assorted local sticks of various sizes, 4 plastic sheets, 1 kg of Nails of size 5, 1 kg of nails size 6, a drum door, door hinges and outer buul clothing, as per the BOQ and technical designs uploaded along with the present proposal. In the construction of these shelters, the project team will ensure adequate separation between individual household shelters and that pathways exist to provide all-weather access to individual dwellings and facilities. AVORD will closely coordinate with relevant line ministries of Hirshabelle to secure land tenure for a minimum of 3 years before the construction of emergency shelters. The effectiveness of the aid package will be ascertained through Post Distribution Monitoring exercise thus ensuring that beneficiaries access their services safely and in a dignified manner. An elaborate feedback and complain mechanism will be setup to ensure accountability to the affected population. In the delivery of the proposed package, AVORD will seek Integration with other clusters and own interventions in the region to ensure complementarity, value for money and efficiency of the response.

General

Fostering women’s empowerment and access to political, legal, economic, and social rights is a core dimension of peacebuilding efforts. In Sierra Leone, land tenure and access to natural resources with economic exclusion lie at the heart of this debate. The complex land tenure and ownership system and unequal access to natural resources are among the primary causes of conflicts in Sierra Leone. Farmers – particularly women – operate in an informal and precarious system without sufficient legal safeguards. The project is time-sensitive, as the new Government has committed to the implementation of a long overdue land reform as well as a National Gender Strategy, both of which, on paper commit to non-discrimination and gender equality within an overhauled land tenure system. The project is innovative, being the only initiative in the country that combines the promotion of women’s land tenure security, economic empowerment, and peacebuilding, anchored on the implementation of land policy. The project will enhance women’s access to and control over land and at the same time strengthen their economic opportunities through business skills and knowledge, gender-sensitive financial products and ability to cooperate effectively. The project is also in line with the Government’s efforts to foster national cohesion, as dialogue will augment local conflict preventions and peaceful resolution of disputes, with the support of a network of trained insider mediators. The project relies on innovative methods in its implementation, including the use of an innovative geospatial technology “System for Open Land Administration (SOLA)” an Open Tenure software developed by FAO, with a gender-sensitive, community-based approach to record land rights and tenure relationships in the field, including rules on tenure dispute resolution. Improving the governance of tenure will require engaging a broad range of stakeholders with different and sometimes conflicting interests. Building on the existing wide consensus on the need to strengthen women’s empowerment and participation at all levels of society, as well as to sustain social cohesion by preventing escalation and political use of land conflicts. The project will serve as catalyst to mobilize local and national political will to engage powerful elites who benefit from weak tenure governance and in a system that engenders women’s exclusion.

General

The objective of this PPG is to develop the project concept into a full project on Sustainable Forest and Forest Land Management in Viet Nam’s Ba River basin landscape to conserve forest biodiversity and maintain the flow of ecosystem services.