Multi-stakeholder climate action plan in Njombe

  • Country: Tanzania
  • Organisation: Southern Highlands Participatory Organisation (SHIPO)
  • Support area: Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions
  • IKI funding: 213,612 euros
  • Project start: 01/09/2022
  • Project end: 31/08/2024
  • Website: https://shipo.or.tz/

Most of the population in the Njombe region lives from the agricultural sector, which is severely affected by climate change. The Southern Highland Participatory Organization (SHIPO) addresses the gap between understanding of climate change concepts and know-how at the local level and the need for coordinated action among different stakeholders working on climate change related areas. The IKI Small Grants project increases the awareness and participation of local stakeholders on climate change and environmental activities by holding different events, trainings, consultancy services and technological pilots. More than 1,000 people, including students, artisans, entrepreneurs, local industries, local governments and the civil society are learning about climate change and coordinating climate change mitigation and adaptation actions (e.g. clean ups) to become an example at the national level.

INITIAL SITUATION

Njombe region is a rapidly growing region with over 800,000 inhabitants located in the southern highlands of Tanzania. The town of Njombe is the capital of Njombe region and concentrates much of the trade in the region, in which 90% of the population earns its living from agriculture. The impacts of climate change such as higher temperatures, lower, irregular and unreliable rainfall, drought and extreme events affecting infrastructure and cultivable land, pose a risk to the agricultural sector. Over the next decades, population and emissions are expected to increase rapidly. Climate change mitigation measures, combined with increased international cooperation, are an opportunity for Tanzania to improve its resilience to climate change and promote sustainable economic growth. SHIPO addresses the gap between understanding of climate change concepts and know-how at the local level and the need for coordinated action among different stakeholders.

TARGET GROUP

Beneficiaries of the IKI Small Grants project are 40 local and district governments at different levels, 500 secondary school students from Njombe region, 80 artisans and entrepreneurs, 120 representatives of local industries and 500 civil society participants including children, mothers, traders, small business owners and religious leaders.

APPROACH AND ACTIVITIES

The IKI Small Grants project aims to increase the awareness and participation of local stakeholders in climate change and environmental activities. The overarching goal of the project is that stakeholders in Njombe Town and Njombe Rural District Council coordinate their climate change mitigation and adaptation actions to become an example at the national level.

SHIPO organises ten events where secondary school students and teachers are introduced to the topic of climate change and can learn about global and African climate school projects. This helps to increase the awareness of the students and they later become actively involved and participate in further projects.

Furthermore, the project facilitates events at different locations in Njombe every month, which are open and free for all citizens. With documentaries, presentations, games or discussions this events enable participants to perceive the climate change impacts and/or causes. The project creates and translates online material for the events to adapt the material to the local context.

To address the political level, the IKI Small Grants project organises four events inviting ten officials of different levels (village, ward, district) and local chiefs in each of them to learn basic concepts about climate change and climate change legislation.  Local, national, and international plans about worldwide and African climate friendly initiatives are presented and discussed to inspire authorities to develop such plans in the future. Furthermore, the project arranges similar events, for 20 small, medium and big industry leaders, 20 wood and metal artisans and 15 representatives of NGOs, farmers’ associations and forestry associations.

SHIPO does not only approach the theoretical base, but also encourages active local actions. Such activities include community clean ups and other waste projects. They organise several pilot projects tackling waste, energy generation, malnutrition, agriculture, forestry, soil quality, deforestation, waste and mobility with simple technologies and processes. For example, this includes technologies for converting forestry waste into efficient biofuel or for soil improvement. All projects are documented and disseminated at regional and national level in collaboration with the concerned institutions and organisations.

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

IKI Small Grants supports SHIPO in their organisational capacity development through:

  • Training to improve writing skills, capacity to use data analysis tools, ICT skills and overall monitoring and evaluation skills
  • Trainings to introduce self-management and agile practices

ABOUT THE ORGANISATION

Southern Highlands Participatory Organisation (SHIPO) is a non-governmental organisation in Tanzania mainland founded in May 2001. Its vision is to obtain sustained improvement in the living standards of poor people in Tanzania. The organisation supports communities to have sustainable access to clean water and improved sanitation standards, improves and develops the education and health sectors together with communities, and provides training on low-cost technologies to entrepreneurs.