Building Resilience Capacity of Women to Climate Change Resulted Crises and Enhance their Role of Environmental Protection in Axum Zuria Woreda, Tigray Regional State

Executive summary (progress towards project outcomes and objective)

This project is intended to contribute towards the efforts being carried out in Tigray Regional State to strengthen the resilience of women and girls to climate variability and change by end of the project. Specifically, the project strengthens the level of awareness of 300 community members on women empowerment, climate change adaptation and environmental protection; diversify and strengthen livelihoods and sources of income for 5000 vulnerable women and girls through climate Smart Agriculture, Livestock and Agro forestry and build adaptation and disaster risk management capacity of local government structures, CBOs and CSOs to reduce risks associated with climate-induced socioeconomic and environmental losses in Axum Zuria Woreda by 2020.

In accord to this, the following activities are undertaken in this quarter to contributing achievement of the overall intention of the project:

Training of grassroots communities, including religious leaders and cultural gate keepers on threats of climate change and; adaptation and resilience measures
Linking Women headed HHs with weather information providing institutions
Preparing and printing posters and fliers
Supporting 14 women groups that are engaging on production of local energy saving stoves to enhance their skills and expand their production capacity
Distributing 1200 energy efficient stoves
Installing biogas plants for 70 women community members

Background of the project

New millennium hope development organization has implemented a project entitled “Building Resilience Capacity of Women to Climate Change Resulted Crises and Enhance their Role of Environmental Protection financed by SIDA/FARM AFRICA /UEWCA, in Axum wereda of Tigray Regional State.

New Millennium Hope Development Organization (NMHDO) has its growing experiences of implementing other Development activities and the best practices and hence with the experiences drawn from those exposures has been mandated to implement this newly project at Axum Zuria Woreda with full commitment and day to day follow-ups to the utmost satisfaction of the pertinent stakeholders.

Objective of the project: To contribute towards the efforts being carried out in Tigray Regional State to Strengthen the Resilience of Women and Girls to Climate Variability and Change by the end of the project period.

Specific Objective of the project:
- To strengthen the level of awareness of 300 community members residing in Axum Zuria Woreda on women empowerment, climate change adaptation and environmental protection by the end of the project
- To diversify and strengthen livelihoods and sources of income for 5000 vulnerable women and girls in Axum Zuria Woreda through climate Smart Agriculture, Livestock and Agro forestry by the end of this project.
- To build adaptation and disaster risk management capacity of local government structures, CBOs and CSOs to reduce risks associated with climate-induced socioeconomic and environmental losses in Axum Zuria Woreda by the project lifetime.

Location: Axum Zuria Woreda, Central Tigray Zone, Tigray Regional state

Target beneficiaries:5000 vulnerable women and girls residing in Axum Zuria Woreda,110 community members and religious leaders and250 staffs of local government structures, CBOs and CSOs

Major activities
- Conduct one launching workshop on climate change adaptation and mitigation for 60 diverse stakeholders.
- Training of Trainers for 60 community conversation facilitators, school teachers, female facilitators for women discussion group and DAs from across the intervention regions
- Facilitate inter-community conversations on climate change impacts, gender and climate change, climate change adaptation and role of women in climate change mitigation
- Organizing 120 village level women discussion groups that conduct discussion twice in a month regularly on environmental protection and sanitation. Each group will contain 20 women discussants
- Community facilitators (inter community conversation and village level women discussion group)
- Preparing and printing posters and fliers
- Preparing billboards
- Supporting local mass media and school mini-media to broadcast climate change adaptation and mitigation education
- Linking Women headed HHs with weather information providing institutions
- Piloting, testing and identify best climate smart agricultural technologies (e.g. drought tolerant crops, s-w conservation measures, mulching, planting dates, etc)
- Establishing seed bulking centre (seed revolving centre) per woreda of selected drought tolerant crops to ensure sustainable supply and access of seeds to targeted farmers
- Providing technical training for Women headed HHs and DAs on CSA/agroforestry
- Providing training for 120 Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) graduates on low cost biogas installation and energy saving stove production
- Providing training and technical support in improved soil fertility management techniques (e.g. composting, mulching, intercropping, appropriate chemical fertilizer application, etc.)
- Undertaking area closures and R/A for enhanced natural regeneration and production of biomass
- Establishing new or upgrade existing nurseries produce seedlings for A/R and woodlots
- Training 10 local/regional governments in gender focused climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation
- Training 5 CBOs/CSOs in gender focused climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation
- Organizing 4 climate change adaptation discussion platform at woreda level representing community members and government organizations including for joint planning for climate action(e.g. before growing season and after harvesting)
- Providing trainings for facilitators of the platform on climate change adaptation and mitigation, and the like
- Facilitate regular (quarterly) meetings of the committee to provide service on climate related issues for the community
- Quarterly review meeting with stakeholders at the project site
- Facilitating participatory monitoring & evaluation processes

Project Accomplishments:In accordance to this, the following activities have been fully accomplished over the period of July to December 2017:

Conducting Launching workshop
Training of Trainers for community conversation facilitators for mentoring the implementation process
Facilitating intercommunity conversation on climate change impacts
Organizing village level women discussion
Community facilitators (inter community conversation and village level women discussion group)
Preparing posters fliers and billboard
Supporting local mass media and school mini-media groups
Linking Women headed HHs with weather information providing institutions
Identify best climate smart agricultural technologies
Establishing seed bulking centre
Providing training on CSA/agro-forestry
Providing training for TVET graduates
Training and technical support in improved soil fertility management techniques
Undertaking area closures and R/A for enhanced natural regeneration and production of biomass
Establishing new or upgrade existing nurseries produce seedlings for A/R and woodlots
Training 10 local/regional governments in gender focused climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation
Training of grassroots communities