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Global Buzz Report: April 2021

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ICA Associate: The Development Institute South Africa


Celebrating World Wetlands Day 2021 – The Development Institute

It has been said severally that wetlands are vital for the proper functioning of the environment but how do we get people to understand this fact and act on it? How do we restore what has already been lost? Finally, how do we ensure that wetlands are kept clean and full of life? The Development Institute sought to provide solutions to these three questions to mark World Wetlands Day 2021.



The Development Institute (The DI) has over the years been working with a number of communities living within some wetland areas such as the Keta Lagoon Complex Ramsar site to ensure the sustainable management of wetlands. To this end, The DI organised a three-day programme (February 2 to 4, 2021) in collaboration with Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, District Assemblies and communities to mark the day under the theme, “Contribution of wetlands to the quantity and quality of water in the Volta Delta”. The global theme however was “Wetlands and Water” emphasizing the importance of wetlands as a source of freshwater and encouraging action to restore as well as put a stop to degradation.

The programme commenced with a radio talk show on the importance of wetlands and why they should be conserved. A number of stakeholders were brought together to discuss the importance of wetlands to them as individuals as well as the community, their livelihood and the environment as a whole amongst others. Speakers included representatives from the Wildlife Division, community women groups, salt miners and the Development Institute. There were also phone-in sessions where listeners were given the opportunity to engage with panelists. By the time the show was over, we had more people on board than before who were ready to help move the sustainable wetlands agenda forward.

Day two was all about restoring wet lands to their original state which is a "wetland" not "wasteland".TheDevelopment Instituteincollaboration with The Wildlife Division, the
AdaWest District Assembly and indigenes of Wokumagbe Community came together to clean the Kokusisi Lagoon in Wokumagbe. Members of the Wokumagbe community came out in their numbers to support this good cause and the transformation after the clean-up exercise was amazing. The area had been completely cleaned up with no sign of litter anywhere.

Finally, it was time to restore what had been lost and day three was all about restoration. It was exciting to see, The DI, Wildlife Division, members of the Anyanyui, Agbledome, Tunu and Dzita communities coming together to plant trees in communities around the Keta Lagoon Complex Ramsar Site. At the end of the day, 500 seedlings (Albasia, Cacia, Acacia) donated by the Wildlife Division were planted as avenue trees. Aside from this, awareness creation sessions were organised for communities at different levels to educate them once again on the importance of wetlands.

The programme ended on a very good note and we achieved much more beyond our expectations thanks to the massive support from all our stakeholders. The celebrations may be  over but the restoration agenda lives on because #wetlandsmatter.

   Dzifa          di@thedevin.org


COTE D'IVOIRE:

English translation below < click)
Cliquer pour agrandir les photos

Rapport de avril

Avec la fin des différents projets que réalise ICA-CI, nous avons mis se temps à profit pour écrire et postuler à de nouveaux projets suite à l’appel à Manifestation lancé par le gouvernement  pour  « l’alphabétisation fonctionnelle et aussi pour l’ouverture des classes passerelles pour des enfants de 9 à 14 ans ». Ses deux différents projets vont être réalisé par le gouvernement Ivoirien qui à fait le constat que le taux de scolarisation est beaucoup faible avec un nombre élevé d’analphabète dans notre pays.

En plus de ses projets écrits, nous avons travaillé avec des anciens collègues qui résident en Europe et au Canada pour une future collaboration sur la mise en œuvre de quelques projets de développement et aussi sur des projets d’autonomisation pour l’avenir de ICA Côte d’Ivoire.

Dans vision d’autonomisation, ICA Côte d’Ivoire avec les différentes réunions avec les autorités administratives et coutumières de Brobo vient d’obtenir officiellement la lettre d’attribution définitive d’un terrain de deux hectares pour la construction de d’autres salles de classes pour l’agrandissement son l’école Sainte Sato jusqu’à un cycle Universitaire.

Avec l’ancien collègue, Monsieur Sidibé qui réside en Italie, nous avons entrepris un projet pilote d’utilisation d’engrais bio dans la culture des bananes de désert.

Ainsi nous avons fait une remise d’engrais bio liquide venu de l’Italie à M. Kanga dans sa plantation de banane de désert dans la Sous Préfecture d’Azaguié. L’objectif de ce projet est de créer un partenariat entre une Université Italienne, ICA Côte d’Ivoire, L’Ong Farafina que dirige Monsieur Sidibé et les planteurs de bananes de désert pour sa commercialisation de leurs productions en Italie.

M. Eugène KOUAME remet  à M. Kanga propriétaire de la
plantation  des fertilisants bios venus d’Italie
Jeune bananier  avec pour fertilisant  du
Bananier avec pour fertilisant  du compost  en fructification

Le choix de ces planteurs de bananes de désert est qu’ils utilisent comme fertilisant, le compost à base de fiente de poulets dans toutes leurs plantations de bananes de désert et plantain. Cette utilisation de compost leur permet de vendre aujourd’hui dans certaines grandes surfaces de notre pays.



COTE D'IVOIRE:
Click pictures to enlarge

Report for April

With the end of the various projects carried out by ICA-CI, we took advantage of the time to write and apply for new projects following the call for Manifestation launched by the government for "functional literacy and also for openness. bridging classes for children aged 9 to 14 ”. Its two different projects will be carried out by the Ivorian government which has observed that the school attendance rate is very low with a high number of illiterates in our country.

In addition to his written projects, we have worked with former colleagues who reside in Europe and Canada for future collaboration on the implementation of some development projects and also on empowerment projects for the future of ICA ivory Coast.
 
In a vision of empowerment, ICA Côte d'Ivoire with the various meetings with the administrative and customary authorities of Brobo has just officially obtained the final allocation letter of a two-hectare plot for the construction of other meeting rooms. classes for the extension of his school Santa Sato until a University cycle.

Together with the former colleague, Mr Sidibé who lives in Italy, we undertook a pilot project to use organic fertilizers in the cultivation of desert bananas.

So we handed over liquid organic fertilizer from Italy to Mr. Kanga in his desert banana plantation in the Azaguié Sub-Prefecture. The objective of this project is to create a partnership between an Italian University, ICA Côte d'Ivoire, L’Ong Farafina headed by Mr. Sidibé and the desert banana planters for the marketing of their productions in Italy.

Mr. Eugène KOUAME ICA-CI Director  hands over to Mr. Kanga, owner of the plantation, Organic  Fertilizers
Young banana tree with compost
for fertilizer
Banana tree with fruiting compost
for fertilizer

The choice of these desert banana growers is that they use compost made from chicken manure as a fertilizer in all of their desert banana and plantain plantations. This use of compost allows them to sell today in certain supermarkets in our country.

Kouame Konan         konaneug@gmail.com


NEPAL:

ICA Nepal
Brief March Activity Report 2021

1. Raising funds for promoting innovation in Nepal
Nepalese students are unable to excel in innovation and creativity due to inadequate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) equipment and innovation orientation. ICA Nepal plans to conduct innovative awareness training workshops and provide STEM equipment in 50 rural schools of Nepal. Hence, ICA Nepal has become a member of Global Giving Challenge. The project will start accepting donation from 5 April 2021. We urge our global colleagues to support us for becoming the vetted member by donating us at the following website
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/promoting-innovation-in-50-schools-of-rural-nepal/?fbclid=IwAR0jXBB7oaUweSOCDVjOFN7-yXroeEr3FVmTSoMNLWKH2ul7o0b6jI7QOS4

2. Ward level planning in rural communities      
Bhimad is a municipality with startlingly surreal landscapes and diverse ethnicities living in harmony, separated from other communities with mountains. ICA Nepal conducted ward-level planning at Bhimad Municipality for two days in March. Ward chair, provincial lawmaker, and local people provided full support to the program.

Local-level planning is a bottom-up approach to development planning where local people participate in the development planning process. ICA Nepal used ICA tools such as Technology of participation (ToP) for conducting the ward level planning at Bhimad.
In the workshop, participants contemplated that they needed investment in tourism, a community hall, farmer’s cooperative, and small-scale industries that use local raw materials.

In the end, community people and leaders expressed their gratitude to the team for drafting a vision for the development of their village for the next five years. Ward chair stated that this was the effective mechanism he found for incorporating villagers in the development plan. Provincial lawmaker also recognized the tool of ICA to be valuable in directing towards sustainable development for communities.

3. New venture of ICA Nepal




ICA Nepal is thrilled to share this exciting news that ICA Nepal and its sister organization IIQA have jointly launched a new website- https://www.fundraisingforngos.com . We are actively promoting our services at the moment. We aim to expand this service to South Asia Pacific Region.


Fundraising for NGOs in Nepal is a membership-based web portal designed exclusively for NGOs, not-for-profit, community service providers, social enterprises, volunteers, and fundraisers seeking funds, grants, skills in fundraising. Our members have access to the information on funding opportunities for the developing world over various thematic areas like Agriculture, Climate Change, Advocacy, Human Rights, Child Rights, Nutrition, Health, WASH, Livelihood, Conservation, and various other cross-cutting issues. Members get information about grant-maker, donors, grants, resources, and much more access to relevant information at a click. This initiation is a strategy to develop the skills of NGOs on fundraising. Members also get training on writing proposals and reports and contacting relevant donors for support. They also receive consultancy service for developing local and global projects and fundraising.

The project team launched the website in March. Honorable member of the Nepal Planning Commission officially launched the website. President of the NGO Federation of Nepal and our ICA Colleagues from China, Indonesia, Australia, India, Taiwan, the US, and Canada were also present. We insist our colleagues to visit our website for further details.

4. Closing of the project
A one-year-long project, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan, supported by ICA Japan, and implemented by ICA Nepal and RYPCF completed in March. All the activities have been completed as planned by the project.

4.1. Handover ceremony of irrigation

4.1.C

A grand event was organized at the irrigation site to celebrate the completion of the construction of the irrigation tank. Farmers were more than happy to be in charge of the irrigation tank. Along with the celebration during the handover ceremony, a committee was also formed to take the responsibility for the irrigation tank. It was interesting to note in the handover ceremony that many farmers have already started to plant cash crops on their farms.


4.2 Operation of Dairy plant

 A fully-equipped dairy plant has been set-up at Sindhupalchowk district in Nepal. Farmer’s group received the responsibility to operate the dairy plant. Local people are thrilled as now they can earn through value-added dairy products. Their happiness knew no bounds. They are confident that their livelihood can improve significantly.


3.3 Operation of Sanitary napkin production unit

I CA Nepal is promoting menstrual hygiene awareness in the Sindhupalchowk, where feminine hygiene is in appalling condition. Ten women are actively participating in the manufacturing and promotion of disposable sanitary napkin production. They have appreciated the project team for creating a climate to empower women through better health, confidence and income generation opportunities.


5. Recreation at historical sites
The Shah Dynasty emerged as powerful rulers in Lamjung four hundred years ago. Lamjung is historically significant for laying the foundation on which their descendants ruled the whole kingdom for more than two hundred years until thirteen years ago

Besides the four centuries-old ancient architectures, lush vegetation sprawling all over the area encapsulated our attention. Situated at a high altitude and having fertile soil, the ICA team explored further opportunities to promote agro-tourism in the area.


Moving further ahead in a remote village of Manang, at an elevation of 11,000 feet, the team could not take their eyes off the breathtaking views of water springs, lakes, glaciers, and unique architectures. The visit was full of surprises and worthy because of unforgettable moments spared in the lap of glorifying nature and with welcoming communities.


Report prepared by:
Yunusha Kafle          yunushakafle@gmail.com
Program Officer,
ICA Nepal


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