Deadline: 4-Oct-22
United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is inviting applications for the Zimbabwe Idai Recovery Programme (ZIRP), a four-year response to Cyclone Idai which affected the eastern part of Zimbabwe in early 2019.
ZIRP which is funded by the World Bank seeks to rehabilitate the damaged community infrastructure in the districts of Chipinge and Chimanimani and restore the livelihoods of the affected communities.
The programme intends to carry out activities to rebuild damaged infrastructure under the build back better principle. In addition to UNOPS, ZIRP involves 7 other UN agencies, FAO, IOM, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP and WHO (referred to as Technical Agencies), providing support in health, nutrition, food security, education, agriculture, and resettlement.
To build resilience within local communities, UNOPS aims to assess the watershed schemes in several areas in Chimanimani and Chipinge in the Manicaland Province, paying close attention to the effects of climate change on the perennial sustainability of surface and groundwater sources in the targeted areas. The assessment will focus on areas affected by Cyclone Idai in 2019.
Objectives
The overall objective of the initiative is therefore to reduce the vulnerability of communities in the Chimanimani District to severe weather and to increase their resilience to weather-related shocks through the participatory management of community-led micro-watershed schemes as well as ecosystem services in response to the uncertainty of future climate change.
The project is designed to approach the water-related risk and vulnerability through an integrated strategy that targets several aspects of disaster risk reduction and provides a scalable implementation of the project through a modular pathway and the development of case studies in target flood and landslide-prone areas.
The completion of this activity will contribute to the achievement of two specific outputs identified under the Zimbabwe Idai Recovery Project namely:
- The development of risk mitigation features in the Nyahode Valley in Chimanimani.
- The establishment of watershed management schemes in Nyahode Valley, Chimanimani, aiming to benefit approximately 200 households in the catchment area.
The grantee will support UNOPS in the establishment of micro watershed management schemes targeting communities and households that were affected by Cyclone Idai and, as a result, have experienced lost livelihoods, reduced agricultural output, increased food insecurity, and unstable water supply from the ground and natural water sources such as rivers, springs, and wells.
Funding Information
- The maximum Grant amount requested should be USD 180,000.
Activities
- Identify viable communities and households that can be engaged in micro-watershed management schemes. The targeted communities and households should be able to implement the watershed schemes on land that they formally own and manage.
- Support UNOPS with the engagement and consultation of the communities targeted for the micro-watershed schemes, as well as other stakeholders in the areas of operation.
- Provide training to the targeted communities on a suitable curriculum that promotes sustainable land use and help them develop the layouts for their watershed management schemes.
- Work directly with the members of the targeted communities to establish the micro-watershed management schemes based on the layouts that were developed.
- Some examples of the water resource management solutions that could be used are given below;
- Establishment of small drains and gabions.
- Linking miter drains from the road to existing and new in-field contour ridges.
- Planting Vetiver grass along the waterways and on contour ridges.
- Establishment of small earthen check dams or gabions to reduce runoff velocity, erosion and gullying in the channel and allow sediments to settle out.
- Establishment of community earth storm drains to protect infrastructure located on steep slopes and water harvesting swales.
- Agroforestry for the high rainfall areas.
- Gully claim.
- Stabilization of earthworks and uphill origins of high-hazard sites with gabions and biological barriers.
- Work with the communities to formally establish Water-Users’ Associations that will manage the micro-watershed schemes and ensure that all of the households involved have equal access to water.
- Integrate basic systems for monitoring the impact of activities for future use once the project has ended.
- The grantee will develop basic systems which are easy to implement and use by the communities to measure the impact of the activities. These could include but are not limited to the following;
- Monthly weather patterns: weather stations linked to electronic systems.
- Rainwater harvesting capacity: volume of swales & infiltration pits related to rainfall and catchment above.
- Soil moisture at interval distances from swales/check dams.
- Borehole/measuring pit recharge related to landscape structures.
- Biological monitoring of rangelands (plant population density & species diversity / m²).
- Livelihood indicators (water availability / HH, food & nutrition security).
- Livestock data (herd composition, herd performance & livestock sales).
- River flow volume in different seasons.
- Agroforestry species plant growth and yield over years.
Deliverables
- The grantee is to develop a plan (template provided) demonstrating how their approach, methodologies, actions and deliverables will be implemented within a specific timeframe. The plan should indicate intervals at which key milestones are met and the deliverables or targets that will be used to measure progress towards completion.
- All relevant stakeholders are consulted in the process of identifying the communities before the initiation of any activities for the identified micro watershed schemes.
- A minimum of 100 households (per Lot) is identified and mobilized for engagement in the establishment of the micro watershed schemes.
- Micro watershed schemes are established covering all of the households (per Lot) identified and registered.
- All households identified for the watershed management schemes are registered under Water Users’ Associations, which exist under formal agreements that the participating households have entered.
Eligibility Criteria
Minimum requirements/qualifications:
- Only national NGOs, national community-based organizations registered in Zimbabwe.
- Only entities with proven experience operating in the Chimanimani District of Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe.
- Expertise in natural resource management or biodiversity conservation.
- Expertise in hands-on training communities at grassroots level.
- The maximum Grant amount requested should be USD 180,000.
- Restrictions:
- Only not-for-profit organizations with demonstrated expertise in natural resource management or biodiversity conservation and hands-on training communities at the grassroots level are eligible to apply.
For more information, visit https://www.ungm.org/Public/Notice/182960