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2000 Annual Report
ACORD's Livelihoods work: ensuring sustainability
Overview
Achievements in our
Livelihoods Work
Overview
Supporting communities in their
efforts to achieve sustainable livelihoods through both material and
non-material interventions has always been at the core of our work. As
an early adopter of participatory planning and implementation for
interventions in pastoralism, food security and microfinance, the
increasing focus on livelihoods by other development agencies mirrors
our experience in the remote and marginalised areas in which we work.
Central to the evolution of our interventions,
particularly as many are relatively long-term, are the connections we
make between the alleviation of material poverty, building the
capacities of community-based organisations (CBOs), and initiating and
strengthening dialogue with other development partners, such as local
Government agencies responsible for the delivery of local services.
Our long-term presence in many marginalised and conflict-affected
areas has enabled strong relationships of trust to be established that
greatly assist in this dialogue process.
Our pastoralism approaches are primarily
implemented in Ethiopia, Sudan, Angola and Mali. With animal health
and livestock management as the key issue, diversification of income
generating and livelihood strategies to improve the standard of living
and coping mechanisms has become particularly important in the remote
areas where we work.
Our Food security interventions generally focus on
sustainable agriculture and are widespread in our programming,
covering activities in most of the countries where we work.
Microfinance has been our third key strategy to
strengthen sustainable livelihoods. An important feature of our
microfinance approach has been the use of participatory methodologies
that result in the development of credit schemes that reflect local
economic, social and cultural circumstances.
Our thematic approach to livelihoods not only
focuses on the direct alleviation of poverty, but includes addressing
the factors that are a priority in the environments in which partner
communities and clients live and operate. In practice this means
establishing a dialogue and working with local stakeholders and local
Government structures. It can also mean raising sensitive issues that
are perceived to have less space for change such as natural resource
rights and gender. Judging this space is never easy, but our position
as an implementing agency with locally recruited staff at the
programme level greatly assists this process.
Achievements
in our Livelihoods Work
Pastoralism
Our livelihoods approach in the Red Sea Hills of Sudan included
addressing priorities of migrants from the programme area that had
moved in search of seasonal work to the urban areas of Port Sudan, a
coping mechanism that is particularly important in drought years.
- Key to the success of our work in promoting animal health and
productivity through paravet training and support in Gambella, was
addressing the problems of conflicts over resources between Nuer
communities.
- A key part of our work in Mali is our involvement in the
formulation of the pastoralists' charter to improve the protection
of pastoralist rights and to support research in natural
resources.
- Our work with pastoralists in Gambos improved the health of both
the pastoralists and their livestock and the pastoralists now
appreciate the value of vaccinating their livestock. We also
continued to work closely with local groups who will eventually
take over the activities.
- We established a sub-regional pastoralist programme in West
Africa, combining Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso's
methodological approach to pastoralist communities.
Sustainable Livelihoods (Food Secuirty)
In Somalia, despite widespread lawlessness and unpredictable
outbreaks of conflict, we managed to increase food production by 15%
by increasing irrigation land from 3,374 hectares to 9,824 hectares.
This has resulted in a sustained improvement in household incomes.
- In Burundi, more than 2000 beneficiaries who were allocated land
were able to cultivate it with high market-value produce. This
afforded them some protection from the effects of the drought
which gripped the region, as well enable them to start addressing
the educational needs of their children.
- Our approach in Biharamulo that integrates food security with
environmental activities and conservation at village level was
adopted by local Government at the district level.
- Our support in rehabilitating flood-affected communities in
Mozambique and providing post-conflict support to displaced
households in Eritrea enabled communities to resume agricultural
activities and to rebuild their lives.
- Sustainable agriculture which continued to be central to our
farmer support and training approach in Uganda reduced reliance on
expensive chemicals and enhanced the environmental sustainability
of farming systems.
- Most of the southern Sudanese refugees and nationals we
supported in Adjumani succeeded in produced most of their own food
requirements in 2000. Over the years, agriculture has become their
way of life and the mainstay of their livelihoods in the
settlements.
- The food security activities of the Gambella programme were
successfully handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture
.
Microfinance
Despite extremely difficult conditions, the independently owned
and controlled credit and savings systems we helped to establish in
Eritrea arranged loans to over 6000 people (37% women) in 276
villages. This indirectly benefited 30,000 people. Plans were also
made to initiate similar activities in the Central Zone.
- A sample survey of 150 clients in Eritrea showed that 83% of
agricultural loans had led to increased food security and income
and that 95% of trade loans had led to sustained increase in
profitability of their enterprises.
Our microfinance work in Eritrea has attracted organisations such
as the UN, DANIDA, and the British Council to work closely with us
and to use our approach and structure to channel assistance to those
affected by the war.
- Seventy-five percent of the beneficiaries of our microfinance
programme in Kassala stated that their lives had improved since
receiving microcredit loans, and that their households incomes had
increased which enabled them to meet their families' needs and
even to save money.
Developing a village banking structure in Mali and Eritrea was
central to the facilitation of institutions that will continue to
provide investment to beneficiaries once our programmes close.
In Port Sudan, a local NGO was
successfully established for the same purpose towards the end of the
year.
- Introducing microfinance activities to existing traditional CBOs
in Ethiopia led to a national advocacy network across four
programmes. This helped to raise the profile of CBOs and of a
diversified livelihoods approach that not only focuses on credit
and savings, but also on social development activities such as
gender awareness, HIV/AIDS issues and urban services. Similar
urban credit approaches were adopted in Mwanza.
We set up a regional microfinance network in the Horn to share
experiences across our six microfinance programmes.
- We undertook research in collaboration with HelpAge
International on access to credit for older people.
- The Islamic mode of credit was used in Sudan and Mauritania,
reflecting both client preference and local cultural norms.
- We initiated a new strategy in Rwanda to support small-scale
credit and savings units in rural areas. These units have grown
into competitive structures rivalling established financial
institutions. Priority was given to villagers torn by ethnic
hatred who are now confronted with the new challenge of ‘cohabitation’.
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