Objectives

To build the socio-ecological and economic resilience of the Jesus Maria and Barranca watersheds, the lower and middle watershed of the Grande de Tarcoles river and the Paso Las Lapas Biological Corridor in Costa Rica through community-based initiatives for global environmental benefits and sustainable development.

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

The GEF SGP Costa Rica Country Programme will tackle the root causes of biodiversity loss in five prioritised landscapes covering approximately 199,627 hectares. These include the three most degraded watersheds in Costa Rica (Jesus María, Barranca and Tarcoles), and two Biological Corridors (Paso Las Lapas and Montes de Aguacate). These landscapes present historical environmental challenges with regards to biodiversity loss, climate change and land degradation, whereby soil erosion and soil loss has been traditionally exacerbated by inappropriate farming practices, especially on steep slopes exposed to intense rainfall and run-off. More notably, extensive cattle ranching in the Paso Las Lapas Biological Corridor, especially on exposed, steep slopes has led to landslides and slumps, soil loss and threatens ecological recovery. The Project Objective is to “build the socio-ecological and economic resilience of the Jesus Maria and Barranca watersheds, the lower and middle watershed of the Grande de Tarcoles river and the Paso Las Lapas Biological Corridor in Costa Rica through community-based initiatives for global environmental benefits and sustainable development”. Through the support provided by SGP and the mobilization of resources to community groups engaged in the implementation of projects, both MAG and MINAE, through their network of regional agencies, are able to provide long-term and concrete technical support to these local actors, by developing tailored strategies at a farm level, continual training and technical assistance, including training manuals and methodologies, and by facilitating exchanges, and elevating the effectiveness, impact and sustainability of individual projects. Overall, the objective is to benefit 3,000 persons (1,500 men and 1,500 women) and their families and other community members from ostensibly rural communities through developing organizational, administrative and technical capacities, value chain strategies and increased market access, towards increased adaptive management skills and build social and ecological reliance. A particular focus is in youth and women. SGP, together with CADETI has also looked to strengthen multi-stakeholder platforms and strengthen strategic community participation and representation within these governance structures in the JMRB and BRB through the formalization of river basin Committees (one for each basin). GEF-7 will allow for the continual participation and monitoring of these, extracting lessons learned to be applied in the lower Tarcoles river commission. These governance platforms are essentially mechanisms for coordination at the landscape level, integrating formal institutional representatives, as well as NGOs, community groups, farmers’ associations and local government. Likewise, the Local Committees (COLAC) of each of the two Biological Corridors found within the intervention area, namely, Paso Las Lapas and Montes de Aguacate are multi-actor governance platforms involving community organisations and state institutions.

General

Centro de Capacitao Zumbi dos Palmares (CCZP). CCZP will help beekeepers resettled in the semiarid region of Alagoas pursuant to Brazil's program of land reform transform subsistence honey production into a viable source of income by developing a processing facility and marketing strategies. The project will benefit 120 rural families directly and another 1,500 area residents indirectly.

General

The programme will build environmental; economic; and social resilience among vulnerbale populaitons in the central parts of Mozambique.

Objectives

The programme aims to build and strengthen social, climate, and economic resilience by accelerating the shift from humanitarian aid to long-term sustainable development and increasing communities ability to absorb, adapt, and transform in the face of recurrent shocks and stresses. It comprises three Strategic Objectives. Strategic Objective 1: Social Resilience Socially resilient communities demonstrate high levels of social cohesion and integration, where marginalization and exclusion are low or nonexistent and opportunity is not constrained by age, gender, or political affiliation. The Triple Resilience Programme will pursue social resilience through several key interventions: Integrating vulnerable groups: The programme will work with local partners to foster spaces for constructive dialogue and problem-solving around specific issues facing ex-combatants and IDPs, ensuring that the most vulnerable are able to have their voices heard and their needs met. Local organizations will receive training and capacity building in humanitarian principles and operations. Strengthening social structures: By building the capacity of farmer associations, VSLAs (especially women- and youth-focused), Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) Committees and other local groups, and CSOs, we will foster social cohesion and interdependence and encourage mechanisms for locally led development and investment in resilient markets. This includes building these organizations capacity to advocate for their needs with the local government and providing an evidence base for national-level advocacy. Securing tenures and assets: The programme will work to educate smallholders, share legal advice around land rights and encourage and support smallholders to work with local authorities to secure land tenure. We will train paralegals within the targeted communities to support this process and will work to assist vulnerable groups especially women and IDPs in obtaining land delimitation certificates and Direito do Uso e Aproveitamento de Terra (DUATs). These activities will help prevent disputes, empower women, and build confidence for smallholders to sustainably invest in their farms. Strategic Objective 2: Climate Resilience To increase climate resilience in the Beira Corridor, local communities must be protected from short-term climate-induced shocks while they build sustainable and durable agricultural and entrepreneurial ecosystems capable of generating a surplus of nutritious food and income. In this way, men, women, and youth will ensure that they are better prepared to absorb future shocks and have the skills, knowledge and resources to steadily adapt to a changing climate. The Triple Resilience Programmes inclusive approach will ensure that even the most vulnerable will be able to apply improved agricultural approaches and diversified income strategies within their own communities. Climate-smart agriculture: Focusing on the needs of smallholders and rural entrepreneurs, this program will work with the private sector to increase access and availability of climate-smart agricultural inputs, technologies, and services, and will promote improved natural resources management, primarily through trainings facilitated by women-led committees. These strategies will be promoted through rural entrepreneurs and around demonstration and training plots. As a meaningful shift from past technology transfer models, these strategies will adopt an approach focused on long-term soil and ecosystem health that includes perennial fruit trees hedges as windbreaks, and other practices that fit within the smallholder farmer socioeconomic context in the program area. Income diversification: To build household resilience, the programme will encourage and support smallholder farmers to diversify their production (including horticulture and animal production), create post-harvest value-added goods, and/or develop off-farm income sources that increase overall income, smooth out seasonal fluctuations in agricultural income, and ensure that when one income source is threatened by acute shocks or long-term stresses, the household can depend on other avenues for generating income. The programme will seek to identify farmers with the capacity and interest to pursue seed multiplication opportunities and provide relevant training and support, promoting a business model to address a key gap for sustainable, profitable commercial agriculture in the Beira Corridor. For vulnerable groups, especially those without access to land, the programme will offer off-farm entrepreneurship and employment opportunities. Where appropriate and desired, community members will be offered the knowledge, skills, linkages, and resources to start their own businesses in apiculture, fish farming, tree nurseries, agricultural services, and agro-dealerships. The programme will continue to support agro-dealers, especially those from the TEAMS programme, to grow their businesses while supporting others to address the need within their communities for a reliable, last-mile delivery of agricultural inputs. These businesses also offer non-entrepreneurs an opportunity for meaningful employment within their communities. Preparation and consumption of nutritious foods: Although proper nutrition is a cross-cutting issue that affects resilience at household, community, and regional levels, Triple Resilience has chosen to anchor household nutrition with activities that reduce post-harvest losses to support climate resilience. Household food and nutrition security and resilience depend upon awareness of, availability of, access to, and consumption of more nutritious foods. The programme addresses household nutrition by diversifying local production and building awareness and demand for more nutritious foods. It will ensure access to nutritious and safe foods and healthy, local agricultural products that improve both nutrition outcomes and incomes, especially for adolescent, pregnant, and lactating women and children under five. Working through existing groups, especially mothers groups and VSLAs, the program will improve womens knowledge and skills in understanding the nutritional needs of women and children at different stages and providing an appropriately varied diet. To smooth food consumption variables during lean times, Triple Resilience will teach households, and especially women, proper post-harvest handling, processing, and storage techniques. To further improve the nutritional status of rural families, the program will encourage adoption of good hygienic and sanitation practices during the handling and processing of food. The Triple Resilience Programme will collaborate with health centers and other development programs operating within the districts to integrate nutrition education efforts and raise awareness of new and more nutritious foods available from project farmers. Decreased vulnerability to shocks: The programme will work to build the capacity of local CSOs by supporting their ability to plan for and respond to humanitarian crises at the local level, in alignment with humanitarian principles and standards. Strategic Objective 3: Economic Resilience The Triple Resilience Program aims to forge a path to equitable and sustainable economic prosperity for the targeted communities. By building resilient market systems, supported by an engaged private sector investing in durable supply chains designed to serve systemically excluded communities, the program will foster a variety of sustainable and prosperous economic opportunities in agriculture and agribusiness, livestock, value-added goods and services, retail, and more. The Triple Resilience Programme aims to apply a market systems development approach, centered on women and youth, with smallholder women farmers having the opportunity to access incentive markets through aggregation of their products by youth agents on behalf of larger trading companies. Market strengthening: Triple Resilience will work with the private sector and academia to build capacity and extend supply chains for appropriate inputs, technologies, and services to support commercial smallholder production and develop well-functioning and more equitable output markets that allow smallholders to earn fair prices for their crops. The program will also work to establish technology transfer and research centers with selected domestic institutions. The programme will encourage small commercial farmers to aggregate their produce so they can meet market demand and command higher prices for their product. The programme will further facilitate service provision to be responsive to the needs of farmers. For instance, its focus on women will take into consideration their time and distance burdens. Service providers, including input supply and extension services, will actively seek to meet women where they are and integrate their needs and products into their practices. Access to finance: Access to finance will be promoted through VSLAs. If, as the program matures, some small commercial farmers demonstrate readiness for access to more formal financial services, Triple Resilience will examine what opportunities might fit within the scope of programming. With right-sized, affordable financial products, smallholders and rural entrepreneurs can make investments in growing their businesses and developing savings and assets. Private sector engagement: The programme will work with medium- to large-scale upstream private sector actors to develop and refine appropriate products and services for systemically excluded communities. It will engage LevasFlor in developing skills in youth to establish and manage natural resource-based businesses in line with the Swedish-owned, Mozambiquans sustainable forestry practices that maintain and improve the productivity, diversity, and resilience of forest ecosystems.