NAMIBIA - Living in a Finite Environment (LIFE Plus)

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Namibia is a vast, sparsely populated country situated along the south Atlantic coast of Africa. Namibia's population numbers slightly over 2 million ('07 est.) and the annual growth rate is estimated to be 0.5 % ('07). Namibia's GDP of $5.3 billion is growing about 4.1% annually ('06 est.), mainly driven by the mining sector's 20% contribution to GDP. However, mining employs only 3% of the population; the majority of the population depends on subsistence agriculture for its livelihood. Per capita gross national income is estimated at $2,370 ('04). The country's agricultural products are millet, sorghum, peanuts, grapes, livestock, and fish. An estimated 84% of the population is literate ('03 est.).

History
Program activities since 2004

Current Project
Living in a Finite Environment - LIFE Plus (September 2004 - August 2009)

Funding
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Partners
CLUSA is a partner to World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Other cooperating partners include the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET).

Goal
Improve rural livelihoods through sustainable integrated natural resource management.

CLUSA Objectives

• Increase economic growth for conservancies to be viable and self-sustaining;
• Strengthen institutional capacity for conservancies which are presently run by committees and rarely have access to internal business experience or advice; and
• Build the capacity of conservancies as business entities.

Strategies
In Namibia, CLUSA is expanding the benefits of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) to ordinary households located in the project intervention areas within the Caprivi and Kavango regions. CLUSA activities aim to increase the income received by households while also improving their food security. In doing so, households' commitment to and ownership of the CBNRM program will deepen.

As a key consortium partner on Life Plus, CLUSA is developing community conservancies and forests as frontline guardians of the community natural resource base. CLUSA assists conservancies directly, helping them attract active and well-informed membership. Conservancies' work is enhanced by training in establishing business-driven income-generating enterprises that are diversified beyond wildlife and tourism. Finally, CLUSA guides conservancies to understand their legal authority in relation to natural resources and the benefits that can be realized through careful management of natural resources.

With CLUSA assistance, village facilitators are organizing communities to identify and carry out a variety of activities related to income generation, including:

• Generation of cash income for the conservancy - The implementation of practices and a conservancy management plan is resulting in increased income for the conservancy.
• Employment income - Conservancies are increasingly becoming vehicles for private sector investment and community-based tourism (CBT) enterprises, thereby creating new employment opportunities for community members. In addition, community members benefit from the income reaped by staff employed by the conservancy.

Impact (as of April 2007)

• Conservation Agriculture (CA) - Introduced a new minimum tillage farming system adapted to the erratic rainfall and poor soils of the northeast which previously produced extremely low cereal yields; promoted extension of system through a farmer-to-farmer network. Over 500 farmers participated in the third CA season.
• Birdseye Chili Production - Supported farmers to organize their own out grower schemes of birdseye chili, both a cash crop and useful deterrent for elephants. 100 commercial and 175 households grew chili last season either on irrigated semi-commercial plots or on family compounds.
• Natural Product Harvesting and Marketing - Trained community members to sustainably harvest and collectively market devils claw and Kalahari melon seeds.
• Savings and Credit Cooperatives - Organized savings and credit cooperatives (SACCO) to serve as local financial institutions to supply financing from mobilized savings. This activity directly responds to the need for greater access to capital and technical know-how about small enterprise development, both of which were identified as priorities in household surveys conducted in collaboration with village development committees (VDCs).
• Improved Poultry and Fishponds - Farmer facilitators, modeling the best practices in production for their peers, promoted these two activities.
• Collective Marketing - Assisted VDCs to serve as marketing agents for both maize and maize seed.