The Story Behind This Programme
ABOUT USAID: RESILIM USAID’s Resilience in the Limpopo River Basin (RESILIM) program is designed to address ongoing degradation in the Limpopo River Basin in southern Africa, where people face water shortages, increased floods, and declines in crop productivity as climate change further stresses an already water limited region. There are 2 components to the program; 1 operating at a basin-scale (USAID: RESILIM-B) and a catchment-scale project (USAID: RESILIM-O). Both projects share the same overall objectives. USAID: RESILIM-B USAID: RESILIM-B facilitates transboundary cooperation at a basin level to prevent further degradation of critical river ecosystems, to secure biodiversity and ecosystem services, and to support robust livelihoods in the Limpopo River basin. The five-year program supports the integrated water resources management objectives of the Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM), which falls under the a sub-structure of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), by building the capacity and resilience of working with stakeholders from Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. This basin-wide project is being implemented by Chemonics (www. chemonics.com) USAID: RESILIM-O USAID: RESILIM-O focuses on the Olifants River Basin and the way in which people living in South Africa and Mozambique depend on the Olifants and its contributing waterways. It aims to improve water security and resource management in support of the healthy ecosystems that support livelihoods and resilient economic development in the catchment. The 5-year program, involving the South African and Mozambican portions of the Olifants catchment, is being implemented by the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD: www.award.org.za).
Our Journey So Far
Start
2013-01-01
Complete
Completed
Complete
2020-03-01
What We’re Aiming For
OBJECTIVE 1 To reduce (climate) vulnerability by promoting the adoption of science based adaptation strategies for transboundary Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and biodiversity conservation in the Olifants catchment. OBJECTIVE 2 To enhance long-term water security and reduce (climate) vulnerability by supporting informed adaptation strategies for transboundary Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in the Olifants catchment. OBJECTIVE 3 To conserve biodiversity and manage sustainable high-priority ecosystems in the Olifants sub-catchment. OBJECTIVE 4 To build the capacity of stakeholders to manage sustainable water resources and biodiversity in the Olifants catchment. OBJECTIVE 5 To facilitate the exchange of experience with other basins and especially catchments within the Limpopo basin. OBJECTIVE 6 To ensure continuous reflective and collaborative processes that promote integration, synergies, and coherence between the preceding objectives. OBJECTIVE 7 To develop and maintain internal organizational capacity and effectiveness through tenable management systems and sub-contract management.
What We’re Doing
At AWARD, we recognize that the natural world’s resources are limited, and undergoing rapid depletion and transformation. We know current practices of use and management are inadequate to deal with the changes and challenges we are facing. Our approach has always been one that involves thinking across disciplines, boundaries and systems. We have a record of designing practical interventions to address the vulnerability of people and ecosystems, and merge considerations from both environmental and social perspectives. We specialize in participatory, research-based project implementation aimed at addressing issues of sustainability, inequity and poverty, by building natural resource management competence and supporting sustainable water-based livelihoods. Our work helps provide a foundation for robust development policy and practice in southern Africa that can stand up to an increasingly complex world. Our innovative work with USAID: RESILIM-O involves not only quality science studies towards developing an inter-disciplinary assessment of the Olifants River, but also an engagement with the socio-political context of the catchment. The realm of politics and scarce resources is fraught with complexity and we know that change is mediated by deeply social and political processes. Our focus on systems thinking and social learning are key innovations of this project, designed to institutionalize integrated, resilience-based practices in the Olifants River catchment. It calls on people and organizations working in the water and biodiversity sectors; community members, traditional authorities, farmers, the mining sector, research institutions, local and national government and other interested and affected parties in South Africa and Mozambique to be part of a process to develop a more resilient Olifants catchment.
What We Hope to Achieve
Our work on USAID: RESILIM-O aims to improve how the Olifants River basin is managed. The Olifants River and its contributing waterways are critical for supporting life in the area, “yet unchecked pollution, inappropriate land and resource use, weak and poorly enforced policies and regulations and poor protection of habitats and biodiversity are degrading the Olifants at an alarming rate.
Where We’re Working
Olifants River Basin
Funders
USAID
Our Collaborators
Programme in Pictures
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