PROGRESS ACTIVITY ON ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION PROJECT AT ILEMBULA IN WANGING’OMBE DISTRICT

PROGRESS ACTIVITY ON ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION PROJECT AT ILEMBULA IN WANGING’OMBE DISTRICT

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background information

Southern Highland Participatory Organization (SHIPO) is a non-governmental organization based in Njombe Region. The organization works in three Districts which are Njombe, Wanging’ombe and Ludewa, SHIPO also works in partnership with other organizations in and outside Njombe Region in providing services to the community. SHIPO involves it self 100% to help the government in solving different challenges as part of its responsibility to the community, however SHIPO supports local communities in rural and urban in their efforts to improve their standards and alleviate poverty.

Some projects that SHIPO implements include building infrastructures like; class rooms, teachers houses, kitchen with dining halls, blocks of drop holes for pupils and teachers, building health centers, contraction of gravity water systems and bore holes and other simple technologies, provision of education on health, hygiene and sanitation, getting safe water, rain water harvest and retaining water into the ground.

SHIPO also has a long track of records implementing projects in the education and health sectors. HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, gender and good governance are cross cutting issues taken up in all projects.

More than that SHIPO works to struggle against global environmental issues-climate change where as on 16^th December 2022, SHIPO with the community of Ilembula, started the process of establishing Moringa tree nursery at Ilembula village in Ilembula ward -Wanging’ombe District. The activity started with the initiation meeting where by a team of organized farmers who were ready and willing to cooperate with SHIPO in implementing the project were identified. Immediately    after the identification of organized farmers, training on nursery preparation was done, this was accompanied by planting of seeds in nursery. On 20^th January 2023, the project was introduced to the government authority where by the District representative sent on behalf of the district Executive Director, ward officers, village leaders and members of the group identified during the initiation meeting attended the project introductory meeting at Ilembula ward hall. On 31^st January 2023, there was a conduction of training on planting and management of the moringa tree, but also good governance training was done for the purpose of making proper supervision of the project implementation. On 13^th Feb. 2023 a surprise visit was done just to see the progress of the project.

        1.2. Objectives of the visit

• To see how people are motivated with the project by observing their participation in planting seedlings in farms.
• To validate the supervision processes during distribution of seedlings to group members and leaders.
• To validate the number of seedlings planted and geographically to know the fields planted with seedlings so as to simplify monitoring activities.

2.0. Achievements

• People were found planting seedlings at their farms with a very high motivation.
• People are collecting seedlings from the nursery to their farms ready for planting, is also a sign of motivation of people to the project.
• 4144 seedlings were already distributed to community members by 14 Jan 2023.

2.1.   Challenges

• Moringa tree is very much interested by animals like cows and goats some thing that was seen threatening its existence in farms.

2.2. Way forward

• They went back referring to what was agreed in the training meeting, that if somebody’s cattle will be found eating moringa the owner will be responsible according to set out rules during the training and the owners of farms have fence their farms so as to maintain the safety of moringa trees.

Picture 1: Moringa tree seedlings are packed ready to be taken to the farm for planting, the packing goes hand in hand with registration of the name and number of seedlings taken.

Picture 2&3: Group member at their group farm planting moringa tree collectively & Monitoring of the planted seedlings by SHIPO staffs and community members representatives is going on.

4.0. Conclusion

The planting of moringa tree is still going on at Ilembula ward. The Ilembula village authority and  Ilembula village environmental committee having realized the necessity of moringa tree and the initiatives of the group members towards planting moringa tree, have decided to provide them with an area to plant moringa tree which will be owned by the group it self.