Menu

Transforming catchments

 

Building resilience

 

 

The Association for Water and Rural Development

AWARD uses a range of innovative approaches to inform the development and implementation of a number of programmes that build social and ecological resilience. Current programmes include: RESILiM-O; Networks for Farmers; Wise Use of Wetlands; Wetlands and Livelihoods in Craigieburn. Through these programmes, we are building institutional, community and individual capacity to manage and restore water, land and biodiversity sub-systems in the context of climate change. Current areas of engagement include the upper, middle and lower Olifants catchment as well as regional and national initiatives on water governance. To enhance our work we are constantly improving our monitoring, evaluation, reporting and learning (MERL) processes within the organisation. A broad selection of resource materials have been, and continue to be developed and adapted through the various project activities.

Why?

We are a region facing significant water quality and quantity issues that impact on biodiversity and human livelihoods. These issues are exacerbated by climate change. This requires that we build resilience across a range of sectors…

Discover More…

What?

AWARD has implemented a number of projects aimed at building resilience. These are broadly clustered around the themes of Water, Land, Climate Change with an overarching focus on Capacity Development…

Discover More…

How?

AWARD’s innovative approach involves working with Systems Thinking for understanding complex systems, Social Learning and collective action, Resilience Support Initiatives as well as a unique and robust Monitoring and Evaluation, Reporting and Learning (MERL) process…

Discover More…

Who?

We recognise that building resilience is a collective effort. Therefore we work with NGOs, government, community groups, water management institutions, Ara-Sul, municipalities, service providers, civil society, farmers, interns and private landowners…

Discover More…

Where?

AWARD works in catchments across the southern African region. We have worked in all the easterly flowing catchments and recent focus areas have been Venda, Olifants and Inkomati river catchments…

Discover More…

AWARD Programmes

RESILiM-O

AWARD’s RESILiM-Olifants Programme is funded by USAID and focuses on resilience-building in the transboundary Olifants River Basin, shared between South Africa and Mozambique. The Olifants is the largest contributor of water to the Limpopo basin.

Networks for farmers

This project’s main objective is to support increased capacity, agency and resilience of smallholder farmers in targeted communities in the middle and lower catchments of the Olifants River. These farmers face multiple challenges including climate change.

Wise Use of Wetlands

The original objective for Wise Use was to develop and test a framework for assessing the feasibility of Working for Water rehabilitation leading to wise use, through exploring the resilience and adaptive capacity of the socio-ecological system.

Save the Sand Programme

The Save the Sand Programme (SSP) promoted the practices of Integrated Catchment Management and Land Care in South Africa, using the Sand River Catchment as a test case. The objective was to address the rehabilitation of the Sand River and its tributaries in a holistic manner through effective and integrated catchment management.

The SWELL programme

The Securing Water to Enhance Local Livelihoods (SWELL) programme sought to to enable collaborative, participatory planning to increase water security for villagers in order that poor and vulnerable people have greater water and food security, improved income and better health, and so contribute to more robust and sustainable livelihoods.

Latest News

Implementing capacity development for disaster risk reduction as a social learning system
 By Mark McTaggart on 15 June 2021

Abstract: Climate change can lead to changes in the frequency, intensity, spatial extent, duration and timing of weather extremes, which pose disaster risks to exposed and vulnerable communities. Capacity development...

Read More
A fifth of countries worldwide at risk from ecosystem collapse as biodiversity declines
 By Mark McTaggart on 15 October 2020

Among G20 economies, South Africa and Australia top the rankings of fragile Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services Index. The well-known impact of water scarcity is a driver for these countries, alongside...

Read More
Help Needed for Vulnerable Households in rural areas of ‘The Oaks- Mametja’ (Limpopo Province)
 By Mark McTaggart on 04 June 2020

South Africa has been in lockdown since late March and we have started to see the impacts in many of the areas where AWARD has been working for over 18...

Read More
AWARD Launches the RESILIM [Olifants] RESOURCE PACK!
 By Mark McTaggart on 17 March 2020

AWARD is approaching closure of the USAID:RESILIM O programme this month. As a celebration of this milestone, it will be releasing for distribution of the RESOURCE PACK. These documents can...

Read More