Mangroves for the Future (MFF) |12 February 2018

Two small projects receive MFF grants

Two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been awarded a grant of US $25,000 each from the Mangroves for the Future (MFF) to carry out their projects.

Green Islands Foundation (GIF) will implement a project entitled ‘Mangrove habitat rehabilitation through fostering of joint school-NGO custodianship’. The project, which will be conducted in partnership with Independent School and SIDS Youth Aims Hub (SYAH) Seychelles, will rehabilitate the wetland near Independent School, Ile du Port, through the setting up of an education driven rehabilitation programme.

The second project, entitled ‘Preparing for Tomorrow Today: Women as Agents of Change for Climate Change Action’, will be carried out by  Gender and Media Association of Seychelles (Gem Plus), in collaboration with government agencies, NGOs and civil society organisations (CSOs).

The MFF hosted a workshop last week at the STC conference room to launch the two small grants projects.

The workshop was also the occasion to formally close a medium sized project by Sustainability for Seychelles (S4S) entitled ‘Community Based Management of the Port Launay Mangrove Ramsar Site in Seychelles’.

Started in November 2014, it was implemented in partnership with Constance Ephelia Resort, Seychelles (CERS) and the Port Glaud Environment Club (PGEC) project and came to an end in March 2017.

During last week’s workshop the projects’ representatives made brief presentations about their projects and the stakeholders were able to discuss, question and make suggestions.

Both new projects have been given a timeframe of 11 months so they are expected to be completed in October 2018.

Presenting GIF’s project, its chief executive Wilna Accouche said this project seeks to promote the importance of wetlands and encourage similar community-driven mangrove restoration initiatives as students, teachers and SYAH members will restore, protect and monitor the wetlands near Independent School while learning about their biodiversity value and ecosystem functions.

“Wetland habitat has been significantly altered in Seychelles especially in the northern and central region of Mahé due to reclaimed land which has resulted in a loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functions. There is also lack of awareness on the value of the wetland ecosystem on a national level and at the same time the school wishes to increase the students interaction with nature,” she said.

During the following months they expect to train the environment club leaders and SYAH members as well as school children on mangrove rehabilitation best practices, host clean up session in the designated area which is a wetland approximately 80m wide between Mahé and Ile du Port (around the bridge which crosses over from Independent primary to Independent secondary school). Awareness sessions will be hosted, wetland themed activities will be implemented and around 500 mangrove seedlings will be planted.

Project manager Benjamin Vel presented the second project to be carried out by Gem Plus. The aim of this project is to reduce the impacts of climate-related shocks on food security and personal safety in households headed by women living in Perseverance Villages 1 and 2, by empowering these women with the knowledge, skills and tools in rainwater harvesting, home gardening, composting and food processing.

The project will also set up a community-based organisation (CBO) to continue supporting women engagement in community activities and work for betterment of their district.

“To begin with we have already started hosting consultative meetings with stakeholders and other partners. There will be awareness raising  for vulnerable and disadvantaged women and girls who will be  trained in rainwater harvesting, home gardening, composting and food processing. After they have developed their capacity, they will implement their projects at their homes in Perseverance,” Mr Vel said.

They are targeting 60 homes and they are considering including Roche Caiman as part of the project as some women are unwilling to join the programme when they are labelled as vulnerable or poor.

Talking about S4S’s project, chairperson Marie-Thérèse Purvis said it successfully strengthened community capacity to contribute to the sustainable management of the Port Launay Mangrove Ramsar site located in Port Glaud, ensuring it remains healthy and vibrant and is used sustainably to the benefit of the local community.

Among the challenges S4S faced, there was limited time for community members to do volunteer work, significant delays from contractors and partners to get the boardwalk completed and working with partners took more time to get things done.

The national coordination body (NCB) chairperson Denis Matatiken said the MFF is a unique partner-led initiative established in 2006 to promote coastal ecosystem conservation for sustainable development.

“It provides a platform for collaboration among the many different agencies, sectors and countries which are addressing challenges to coastal ecosystem and livelihood issues. The goal is to promote an integrated ocean-wide approach to coastal management and to building the resilience of coastal communities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam,” he said.

MFF has been providing support to the Seychelles NCB for the past 11 years and to date it has invested nearly US $830,000 in Seychelles to fund projects targeting mostly NGOs.