COMMUNITY BASED PARTICIPATION CAPACITY FOR NATURAL RESOURCES EFFICIENT USE TO ENSURE RESILIENCE IN AFRICA; CASE OF RWANDA

Gakumba John B. W,National Coordinator, Nile Basin Discourse-Rwanda and UNEP-UNDP CC DARE Project for Rwanda.Member of Regional Steering Committee, GWP-Eastern Africa,Member of SGP/UNDP-Rwanda,Fmr Africa CSO Seat Observer to CIF/CTF/World BankP O Box 7216, Kigali Rwanda,Opp. Amahoro National Stadium-Gasabo, Kigali City,Rwanda.coordinator@nbdfrwanda.orgwww.nbdfrwanda.orgwww.nilebasindiscourse.org

20-22nd March 2013.Mauritius

Growth exceeded 5% in the five years since 2001, driven by coffee and tea exports and expanding tourism; poverty is widespread and Rwanda is highly dependent on aid…what does this mean?

Full name: Republic of Rwanda Population: 10.9 million (UN, 2011) Capital: Kigali Area: 26,338 sq km (10,169 sq miles) Major languages: Kinyarwanda (official), French (official), English (official), Swahili Major religions: Christianity, indigenous beliefs Life expectancy: 54 years (men), 57 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 Rwandan franc = 100 centimes Main exports: Coffee, tea, hides, tin ore GNI per capita: US $570 (World Bank, 2011) Internet domain: .rw International dialling code: +250

INTRODUCTION

Both Poverty and Climate Change have become the main barriers for social-economic development in Africa being promoted by capacity and knowledge gaps, hence, rendering the greatest vulnerability levels to climate change for communities.Climate change impacts on African human settlements arise from a number of climate change-related causes, notably sea level changes, impacts on water resources, extreme weather events, food security, increased health risks from vector home diseases, and temperature-related morbidity in urban environments. Rwanda; landlocked, post genocide, Agri-based economy, After UNEP-UNDP CC DARE project which was funded by Danish Foreign Ministry for Nile Basin Discourse Forum in Rwanda between 2009-2010, a lot of emphasis has been awakened to build concrete capacity strategies to promote resilience for vulnerable communities.Since the NBDF Rwanda covers 80% of the Rwandan territory in the Nile Basin catchment, it also boasts of a population of 40 local and International NGOs.

MAIN CHALLENGES; BUT HOW!!!Without the skills and knowledge on sustainable use of natural resources, and climate change resilience programs, the twin goals of poverty reduction and sustainable development cannot be achieved in a changing climate. Local Communities play a vital role in achieving these twins.However, the main challenge is that community groups lack access to information, skills and the ability to participate in decision-making about how their natural resources are managed. Ambition; There is need to develop community based tools that demonstrate and support measures targeting poverty reduction in the context of sustainable development through Community Based Organizations, Academia and local authorities. The answer stand; Participative development of a capacity building strategy. The government through Vision 2020 and EDPRS 1 and 11 have emphasized on a sustainable economic build up with concrete engagement of stakeholders [PPP]- the will is present and we have to emphasize dialogue and engagement of the grassroot as a civil society through education, awareness raising, piloting, dialogue, etc

PROCEDURE AND BENEFITS Partnerships; Community based organizations leaders, Academia, Districts

authorities in four pilot districts to monitor the impact of climate change and integration of tools. Intern programs and academicians mainstreaming best practices in course contents.

Dialogue; Community groups with help of accurate information have link with policy makers in order to influence decisions to mitígate climate change risks, reduce poverty and meet their own needs sustainably. Joint action planning, Joint fundraising and extra budget support initiatives.

Merging Knowledge Gap; Non-state actors with access to a range of indicator tools that support work towards a sustainable future.

Stakeholder Engagement; Increased participation, awareness and dialogue on promoting sustainable education, climate change at decentralized level with policy makers, donor community, international organizations, etc; REMA, RNRA,UNDP, UNEP,World Bank, FAO, NBI,Experts, etc.

Development, Translating, Sharing of a tool kit through a Community Based Climate Change Adaptation (CBCCA) Program that will guide other stakeholders to upscale best practices to climate change adaptation.

Development of a communication strategy; media, public, government institutions, CSOs, Donors, Government Institutions, International NGOs, etc. This acts as a source for updates and database.

THE TOOLKIT PROGRAM Limited or lack of

Information Tools – there are no tools or

methods appropriate to build capacities of communities, academic engagement and non state actors to cope with climate change and achieve sustainable development.

Research – research into poverty-environment links tends to be too academic and inaccessible at the community level.

Capacity – there is limited opportunity to receive training that addresses poverty-environment and climate change linkages.

Best practices identified; there are no mechanisms and resources to scale up those best practices on a wider level.

Results/Outputs:1. written; Needs Analysis, Poverty-Environment Indicators Toolkit, Community Based Indicators Guide, Recording System, Community Indicators Training Pack, Sustainable Plan, Communication tools, etc2. Capacity outputs; Staffing, stakeholders and policy makers, Toolkit indicator fairs, National and local conferences, training of trainers, experience sharing workshops, policy analysis and dialogue, etc. Others are Web based outputs, Report outputs and . Public outputs• Multiplier effects which include

program, online and public; CBCCA can easily be built into other programmes. The CBCCA indicator tools provide data with a wide range of uses. They can be used as an initial assessment or tool to raise awareness. Alternatively they can be used to provide long term monitoring of change in education sustainable development to efficiently use natural resources in enhancing resilience to climate change adaptation for communities.

THANKS YOU

MERCI

MURAKOZE!