Sindisa Foundation - Save Heal Protect
Projects
Programmes - Zimbabwe
Sindisa Foundation, through David Peddie, has strong ties to
Zimbabwe. The Foundation believes, especially under current
circumstances, that the protection of the countries
wildlife, wildlife areas and conservation system, as well as
the alleviation of poverty by including rural communities in
that conservation system, is critical. Zimbabwe is a key
component of five TFCAs and it is essential to see beyond
the present and to support efforts to ensure that Zimbabwe
plays its part in the whole initiative.
Sindisa has identified core programmes which could make
a substantial contribution to the survival of Zimbabwe
wildlife, the re-development of rural communities based on
wildlife utilisation and on the Zimbabwe contribution to the
development of the TFCAs.
The Leadwood Institute Trust
South East Zimbabwe, Greater Limpopo Trans Frontier
Conservation Area
The Leadwood Institute is an initiative of the Save Valley
Conservancy, a 350000ha private wildlife reserve of international
significance located in the south east of Zimbabwe and the Sindisa Foundation. As a registered
Non-Profit Trust, the Institute’s objectives are to provide facilities,
funds and expertise that will contribute to competent natural resource
management, wildlife conservation and sustainable rural community
land-use systems within the Zimbabwe portion of the Greater Limpopo
Trans Frontier Conservation Area. The concept calls for the Leadwood
Institute to include a research and conservation centre, an environmental
and health education and vocational training centre and to provide a
logistics and administrative base for a wide range of projects.
Sindisa has facilitated the planning
of the Institute and funded its registration. The next Phase
involves the preparation and submission
of institutional and private funding proposals, with the sourcing of
funds and with the development of programmes. The Sindisa Foundation
will continue to facilitate the process and also to offer donors a
secure, effective and transparent vehicle for the management and
distribution of funds for the project.
The Leadwood Institute Project has the potential to
significantly influence the ecological and economic
viability of large portions of Zimbabwe, South Africa and
Mozambique, including the Save River Delta.
Mahenye Integrated Conservation and Community Programme
The Leadwood Institute Trust (LIT) has begun an Integrated Conservation
and Community Programme (ICCP) aimed at establishing an innovative and
holistic approach to sustainable development for rural communities living
on the borders of protected wildlife conservation areas, using the Mahenye
Community Ward as a pilot programme.
The Programme is a joint effort by the LIT, the Mahenye Community and the
Gonarezhou National Park (GNP). Coordinated by the LIT, the Project focuses
on the economic development of the Mahenye Community through the utilisation
of the wildlife and other natural resources of the area in a cooperative
effort with the GNP.
The GNP is the core of the Zimbabwe contribution to the Greater Limpopo Trans
Frontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA). At over 5000 km2, the Park is a substantial
protected area that is both biologically diverse and ecologically critical to
the Lowveld region in which it lies. Bounded and dissected by three large river
systems flowing into Mozambique, the GNP also influences the Banhine and Zinave
National Parks in that country.
The Mahenye Communal Area is located on the north-eastern border of the GNP
between the Save River and the Mozambique border. The Mahenye people are Shangaan
and most lived within the GNP prior to its proclamation. In 1980 the Community
were given the right to use the wildlife on their land in a controlled safari
hunting concession based on the wildlife which raided their crops and livestock.
A second concession in the 1990’s saw two safari lodges built with a shareholding
and a percentage of income going to the Community.
The principle behind the project was that to encourage conservation of a natural
resource such as wildlife, the resource should be given a real economic value for
the people who lived with it. However, the situation in Zimbabwe since 2000 has
curtailed employment, revenue and further development.
The ICCP will establish a diversified, local economy that will incorporate
- an area of irrigated agriculture protected from wildlife damage and producing both food security crops and high value, low volume cash crops that can be processed on site;
- a domestic cattle production system which produces food, draft, biogas and organic fertiliser;
- the re-stocking of an area of 10000ha set aside by the Community for game ranching and tourism;
- a micro-funding programme for women for entrepreneurial activities;
- an indigenous and crop plant nursery;
- the re-planting of indigenous trees to rehabilitate areas cleared under slash and burn agriculture;
- an environmental education programme for Community schools, adults and community leaders;
- a vocational training scheme for Community members to implement the ICCP.
- Research – ecological, socio-economic, cultural and political inventories
- Planning - land-use, business development and marketing, infrastructure, natural resource management
- Implementation – agriculture, game ranching, tourism, micro-enterprise, infrastructure
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