HOPE 2020 Chancho-Kebenaya Kebele Community Based Sustainable Development Project
Jeldu Woreda,West Shewa Zone of Oromia Regional State Government
June 2007
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Project Summary

Project Title: Chancho-Kebenaya kebele Community Based Sustainable Development Project
Project Holder: HOPE 2020
Project Location: Chancho-Kebenaya kebele, Jeldu District,Oromia Region
Project Duration: 2years
Total Project Cost: 4,138,644.40 Birr ($459,849USD)

 

Contact Address

Head Quarter Location: Addis Ababa, Kolfe Keranio Sub-City
Kebele 13/14, Hirra Building/Ho.No.1014/

(Contact Person)
Gudeta Gelalcha, /Executive Director/
Tel.: (251)-(112)-707533 /Office/
Cell phone: (251)-(911)-175360
Fax: (251)-(112)-707534
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  
P.O.Box  24198/1000
Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia

 

Project Summary 

This is a project proposal designed in line with the standardized criteria to address the environmental problems in Chancho-Kebenaya kebele,Jeldu Woreda,West Shewa Zone of Oromia Regional State Government. The project is mainly focusing on community based sustainable land management activities to tackle land degradation and conservation of physical and biological diversity. Further more, the project works to solve the acute rural water supply problems and its related issues as well as to promote renewable alternative energy resources to reduce the forest clearance for fuel consumption and in the long run to address the climate change problems in the project area in the particular and ecological balances at the national level.

The overall goal of the project is to create environmentally conscious society through the adoption of the following specific objectives. These include:

• Sustainable land management activities
• Conservation of both physical environment and biological diversity
• Promotion of renewable alternative energy resources (Solar energy, wind and Biogas) in the targeted project areas to reduce forest clearance for the fuel consumption and further to address the problem of climate change in our country.
• Implementing Rural water supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Programs
• Promoting IWRM Programs

These project activities will directly create different benefits for the targeted communities, which may include income-generating activities that contribute for the improvement of their livelihoods.

For the mode of implementation, the project will establish the steering committee composed of the beneficiary community, the local government line departments as well as the concerned project partners/collaborators. This project is a two-year program having a total budget of 4,138,644.40 Birr ($459,849USD). Out of the total required fund birr 3,724,780 Birr ($413,864) is required for fund from donors and the reaming will be covered by the community, the local government and the implementing organization itself. The project will start at the beginning of the 2008 fiscal year and ended within two years (24 months).

 

Background Information 

It is obviously the known case that land degradation is a process that lowering the current or potential capability of land to produce goods (such as crops, Lives stock, forest and others) and service (such as unpolluted water). It infers lowering of land in quality and quantity mainly caused by anthropogenic activities (means human problem) when we say quantitative lowering of land depletion which defined as over deterioration, which clear as reduction in quality due to miss use which makes the landless stable for the desired purpose.

The continued deterioration and depletion of land might lead to permanent decreases of its biological potential and determination of living conditions for the inhabitants. So this difficult problem is already happen in the Woreda, especially in the targeted project areas. This problem is become the concerned issue for the entire expert, government, Non-Governmental Organization and community at all levels. Therefore, the struggles to solve this problem need the unity of every concerned body without any ignorance. Unless and otherwise, it is believed that the same problem is continuing to happen which will affect soil fertility that will result in loss of productivity, lack of health environment and generally in environmental deterioration.

Low basic knowledge of the community, absence of advanced sustainable land management practices and lack of adequate educated manpower in the project area have severally affected the environmental conditions of the project area which have also a direct implication on social, political, cultural and economic situations of the target community in the project areas. Increasing loss of topsoil through erosion has exposed the project area highly to the serious environmental degradation, which affects the communities' living condition in the target areas.               

Therefore, in order to tackle these problems the project has planned to contribute its maximum efforts to address the issues of proper use and protection of environment and natural resources against degradation, drought and pollution along with the stabilization of environmental parameters, which are of crucial importance for sustainable development at local, national and global levels.

 

Project Statement 

Among the West Shoa Zone’s Woredas, Jeldu district is the one with the most degraded land coverage's. This problem imposed the farmer's community unable to guarantying the food self-sufficiency and food severity. If this problems is not overcoming in time, some studies indicate that most kebeles will lost their environmental structure, so that many hectares of land will be out of the productivity with in short period of time. Therefore, to make reviving the most degraded land and to keep the sustainability and the productivities of the farmland, effective land management, soil and water conservation structures are essential. Up to now in the district there is no any NGO's or funding agency, which is engaged in environmental protection activities.

Therefore, the involvement of this project which is highly focusing on sustainable land management and soil conservation activities will be believed to minimize the risk of land degradation through time. If acceptable, according to this project there may be many problems to be solved especially with the collaboration of local community and environmental protection consciousnesses will be realized in these specific project kebeles. In the other way, the project needs the collaboration of international institutions as well as the local government line departments to tackle this problem.

According to some critical sample studies made in the project area during the project proposal development, it was found that one of the main problems is land degradation due to lack of sustainable land management among the community. The increasing number of the populations is the other issue that has been highly affecting the environmental structure of the project area. Forest clearance (deforestation) for search of subsistence agricultural places, building houses and fuel consumption are common parameters threatening the environment in the project area.

The project is strongly recommending/worried that the following problems would be the consequences if the proposed objectives will not be achieved.

• Problem of the land sustainability
• Damage of agricultural land and other important assets due to erosion (land degradation)
• Land sliding
• Socio-Economic imbalance
• Decreasing the productivity of the farmland
• Decreasing the base flow of streams and rivers
• Decreasing the soil fertility of the common farm areas
• Desertification due to drought/deforestation
• Climate change problems

In the case of the project area, it is seldom to deal with and address the environmental problems. As a result of the above-mentioned problems in general, the peoples in the project area were forced to encounter the challenges of resettlement and internal displacement from their original residences. Serious environmental degradation and subsequent soil erosion has led to periodic droughts and resulting in crop failure even under the normal rainfall conditions.

Therefore to address these all mentioned problems the intervention of this project is believed to be very essential.

 

Objectives 

General Objectives

The result of this project proposal will benefit the local peoples to participate in the project identification up to decision-making in connection to the government through common understandings. This also enables them to share benefits from the sustainable land management, soil and biological diversity conservation and water resources.

The result of this project also helps the beneficiaries and the local government to know the perception of the society on the soil and water conservation so that future sustainable environmental management system would be designed based on the interests of the local people/target beneficiaries.

This ensures the conservation of the soil and water resources in sustainable way. It creates job opportunities for so many local peoples/target beneficiaries. And finally the project will contribute sizable efforts for the knowhow of the local community, so that they will become food self-sufficient through increasing the soil fertility and secure the balances of their socio-economic environmental and political conditions.

At the end, everybody must realize the rationale of the project for the fact that it will contribute to the efforts that have been started at the national level for the creation of environmentally conscious society in general and believed to bring the changes in the livelihood of the target community in particular through adoption of the following practices:

• Protect, conserve and improve the land resources for efficient and sustainable production.
• Protect and enhance water resources moderate floods and reduce soil erosion
• Utilize the local natural resources for improving agricultural and allied occupation, so as to improve socio-economic conditions of the local residents
• Create environmentally conscious society/generation
• Infiltration and recharge of rain fall. This helps in increasing the base flow and makes the stream or river more sustainable.
• Prevent soil erosion in the farmland.
• Prevent any structures, which are constructed on areas prone to land slide and other similar problems.
• Increase the productivity of the farm land through soil and water conservation activities
• Reduce run of velocity by different mechanical and physical methods
• Conserve water by storing it on the surface
• Save disposal of run off
• Reducing overgrazing and forest clearing for traditional agriculture through the adoption of environmentally friend agricultural practices
• Promotion of mechanized micro irrigation practices and renewable alternative energy resources to reduce forest clearance for fuel consumption.
• Implementing  the rural water supply, Sanitation(Environmental and Personal) and Hygiene programs
• Promoting the IWRM Activities

The Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of this project are to improve the living condition of the disadvantaged community and internally displaced society through sustainable environmental protection activities. These are:

• Conducting sustainable land management activities such as aforestation and tree planting practices in order to reduce land degradation
• Establishing a role model sites for environmental education
• Aforestation and tree planting activities in order to reduce land degradation
• Soil and biological diversity conservation works to reduce soil depletion and erosion
• Promotion of renewable alternative energy resources to reduce forest  clearance for fuel consumption
• Implementing the rural water supply, Sanitation (Environmental and Personal) and Hygiene programs
• Promoting the IWRM Activities

Environmental Impact and Compliance 

The environmental deterioration has now become one of the most serious problems confronting mankind. On the other hand, the world nation in general and our country in particular could not pay sufficient attention yet to the global long term consequences of the environmental problems to be occurred due to the humans' unconscious activities. As a result negative impacts will be expected to threat our planet earth, which will also be vital challenges for the existence of all life on this earth. Therefore, this project has a great positive impact in the targeted project area to increase awareness and create environmentally conscious society, especially in the area of sustainable land management, soil and water management as well as biological diversity conservation activities.

 

Technical Assistance 

HOPE 2020 is the implementer of the project and during the project implementation stages it will take decisions in all technical, financial and managerial issues. Project staff will be located at different project sites, while supervision and back up assistance will be provided from the head quarter of HOPE 2020 (Located at Addis Ababa) with the collaboration of volunteer partners, the steering committee composed of the targeted community and the local government. The project will have personnel who are working at different level of the all duration of the project.

 

Activities 

The project has planned to undertake the following activities as per the project   

Objectives:

     * Preparation of nursery site
     * Biological and Agronomic erosion control measures                 

               * Reforestation => Seedling plant

                                                   => Grass

Farming system training for farmers

·    

      Mechanicial/Physical/Ersoion control Measures    

• Contour Building
• Terracing
• Contour trenching

Gully Erosion Control 

• Check dam Establishment
• Gabion check Dom
• Area closure by local people/community participation

 

IWRM & Mechanized Irrigation Practices 

Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Promoting Programs 

Implementing and Promoting Alternative Energy Sources