The Gender Empowerment Team has taken the lead for increased crop yield and agriculture intensification activities in the project area. A few decades ago, fungi were destroying the cassava crops around Mai Ndombe, leading to crop failures around the country. A university study was conducted to explore other cassava varieties more resistant to fungi and […]
Farming of fish is not traditionally undertaken by the local communities. Whilst some villages are home to fisherman, they predominantly use the wild caught method and as such, aquaculture is a very new concept. Unfortunately, traditional wildcaught fishing has proved to be unsustainable in the Mai Ndombe region, leading to depletion of the wild populations […]
Providing clean water is a top priority of the Mai Ndombe REDD+ project as water related illnesses are the second leading cause of death in the area after malaria, associated with the lack of access to safe drinking water despite the general abundance of water in the region as villagers dig shallow wells or fetch […]
Improved healthcare is one of the most important activities in the Mai Ndombe REDD+ project given the very poor health and nutritional status of community members across the project area. Over 1/3 of children under 5 are malnourished and many are at high risk from malaria, together leading to a high mortality rate of 220 […]
Biodiversity assessments have confirmed that Bonobos were once distributed within the forest far away from villages and lake shores, but have recently started approaching villages due to reduced pressure from the local communities. Camera traps have also revealed that elephants seem to be slowly returning to the area, migrating from Yumbi and Lukolela into the […]
The building of new schools is expanding across the project area to provide better access to quality education for children living in the project area. 11 schools have been completed with a further 7 in progress and 14 planned, totaling 32 schools to be build during the project.
Within the project area’s buffer zone near a sugar cane economic land concession, 20ha of former slash-and-burn land was allocated for village agricultural activities with guidance from the project’s Community Orchard Program team. The area is under the management of the Ministry of Environment, but has been reserved as community land for agricultural purposes. Many […]
The Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project has multiple avenues of engagement with women’s groups throughout the project area. One of the most impactful and widespread initiatives is the Hadithi Crafts Support Community Based Organization (CBO), an umbrella organization that represents 61 women’s groups which make traditional handicrafts, providing economic alternatives for sustainable livelihoods to 1,773 women […]
The continuous monitoring of wildlife populations across the Kasigau Corridor is a core element of the project’s theory of change, and one of the requirements for reporting under the Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) standard. The project is located between the Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) of Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks – representing […]
Through an innovative, inclusive governance mechanism known as Locational Carbon Committees (LCCs), the community members have allocated a significant amount of the REDD+ funds to build and renovate classrooms to provide adequate learning spaces to local students. To date, 10 new classrooms have been built, 36 classrooms have been renovated and 15 water tanks and […]