General

In the Irala Fernandez District, in the dry Chaco region of Paraguay, we have been working together with the municipality, the Ministry of Agriculture, a national research institute, the three major dairy cooperatives, and three indigenous communities to improve production of food crops, enhance land management through silvopastoral grazing schemes, and increase the communities’ climate resilience. The latter is important to deal with prolonged periods of droughts as well as severe flooding, increasingly common in this region. The establishment of a MSP was key to this end, in order to bring actors together, define priorities and identify corresponding action plans. Through the MSP we engaged vulnerable groups, which had the opportunity to make their needs heard and we supported them to prioritize actionable plans. Through this process we have learned that building trust takes a long time and stakeholders need to be involved in every step of the way, from the planning to the execution of the solution, because this gives them a sense of belonging and creates an environment of shared development. At the start of the programme the Mennonite cooperatives and the Paraguayan cooperatives were not on speaking terms, and also the leadership of indigenous communities were reluctant to join the MSP. By investing in a preparatory stage of bilateral meetings with stakeholders, Solidaridad could understand their respective challenges and gain credibility as a trusted partner. In addition, to overcome the hesitation of stakeholders at the start, continuous efforts were made to ensure all actors remained on board. For the indigenous communities, this platform offered the opportunity to co-design and implement solutions to address their main needs, opened a communication channel with the local authorities and successfully engaged with local business. As a result of the joint work, sesame production was introduced as a viable option for income generation in these communities. School orchards were introduced to tackle food insecurity, and water reservoirs were built to collect rain water and facilitate the access during drought periods. The dairy production system in the region was also transformed by the introduction of Climate Smart Practices linked to a Technical Assistance Scheme, reaching 430 producers in 12,900 hectares. Productivity levels increased, the quality of milk improved and dairy producers have become more resilient to the extreme weather events, typical of this region. A major result of the project was that producers have gained better access to credit from the Crédito Agrícola de Habilitación CAH (agricultural finance provider), because we supported CAH to close the information gap and helped them to introduce improved (business) data management systems that is used to de-risk loans. The CAH disbursed around €200,000 in soft loans, thanks to which producers were able to buy new livestock, hay, and invest in silage, water reservoirs, and resizing of paddocks. The work with the CAH triggered the interest of other financial institutions that were initially reluctant to invest in small producers because they were perceived to be of high risk. Solidaridad helped to close the information gap, effectively connecting producers with finance. We see clear signals of scaling up after the project's end: the State government is assisting other dairy producers and indigenous communities. 377 dairy producers in the region have started to replicate the better dairy production practices via their cooperatives, inspired by the positive outcomes from the pilot farms.

General

AGS convene a diverse global community of innovators, thinkers, and practitioners to create and curate geographical knowledge, learning, and exploration, and to advance geographic science and technologies to address society’s challenges and opportunities. Omidyar Network supported to launch EthicalGEO to instigate, inspire and elevae proactive thought and action about the ethical challenges and opportunities associated with geospatial data and technology. The Locus Charter, ten principles guiding the ethical use of location data, was one of the results of this grant in collaboration with Ordnance Survey.

General

MSB's Somalia programme for the period October 2014-September 2015 has three components: 1) Secondment of an Aid Coordinator to Somalia's Ministry of Finance; 2) Secondment of three experts to UNMAS; and 3) Secondment of a Humanitarian Aid Coordinator to the Informal Humanitarian Donor Group. The intervention has been requested by the embassy and the programme has been developed with a terms of reference from the embassy as a basis. Initially there was another component, regarding temporary offices to the Ministry of Health, included in the programme. Since it was recently discovered that there was uncertainties regarding the land ownership of the suggested construction site together with IDPs living there and comments by the embassy's Quality Assurance Committee regarding sustainability and ownership, it was decided that this component should not be implemented for the time being. The dialogue with the Ministry of Health continues and support might be provided through another implementing partner. This change implies that the risk profile of the programme is significantly reduced.

Objectives

The programme had three overall objectives:1) UNMAS: To enhance FGS capacity to mitigate explosive threats and improve weapons, ammunition and explosive management capacity. 2) Ministry of Finance: To increase MoF institutional capacity, functionality and efficiency to better serve as a coordinator and recipient of donor and tax revenues to the benefit and needs of the Somali people, with a particular focus on women and girls. 3) Humanitarian Aid Coordinator: To improve the quality and effectiveness of humanitarian action in Somalia in its capacity of benefit and needs of the Somali people, with a particular focus on women and girls.