SKI Project

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE USE OF RESOURCES ORGANISATION TRUST’S SEED KNOWLEDGE INITIATIVE (SKI)PROJECT SUMMARY:  

1. Background

SKI Phase 3 Year 2 Project is one of the projects being implemented by TSURO Trust covering all the wards of Chimanimani District. The project is being funded by The Seed and Knowledge Initiative South Africa and has a total budget of US$ 281,552. The project was built on the first and second phases of cooperation with Biowatch to strengthen food security and seed sovereignty in Chimanimani. This is phase 3 running up for 4-years starting March 2023 up to February 2027. The project focuses on improving food sovereignty through resilient farmer-led seed systems and more biodiverse and multifunctional landscapes.

• What the project seeks to do?

The project focuses on improving food sovereignty through resilient farmer-led seed systems and more biodiverse and multifunctional landscapes. The following activities are going to be implemented in support of the project goal:

1. Practising farmers are supported to lead in spreading and promoting practicing AE and FLSS, farmers practice, spread, and advocate, for AE and FLSS in their communities. This is being achieved through trainings and practical works on soil and water management, climate change, HLLM and beekeeping, tree and seedling production, agroforestry, resilience building, seed production, biofertiliser production, and AEL landscape restoration,

2. Practicing farmers are supported to lead in spreading and promoting the practice in AE and FLSS through the involvement of farmers in research, knowledge generation, and documentation processes. To attain this, an AEL video will be produced and shared stimulating discussion and awareness creation, participatory mapping, and AEL community dialogues on Agroecology, conflict transformation, and common pool resources to share information within the landscape community. 

3. Farmers demand and protect their rights through the involvement of farmers in advocacy campaigns. Farmers and staff to participate in the national and regional conferences as well as facilitate the local spreading of messages on farmers’ rights and AE through Radio airing and road shows.

4.Change makers influenced by a stronger movement for AE, FLSS and Farmers’ Rights

5.Evidence for advocacy efforts is developed, packaged, and disseminated and have a wider number of publications and media on seed and AE produced and shared. The project intends to partner with research institutions / universities to develop, package and disseminate evidence on AE work for advocacy purpose (e.g., National Gene bank, Dept of Climate Change, Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre, Bindura University, Midlands State University)

6.Farmers’ rights and other campaigns (nutrition, climate change) supported. TSURO conducts district, provincial and national dialogues/meetings on Climate Change, Watershed management and AE where farmer representatives and stakeholders participates. The project to continue support cluster, district, national seed and food festivals, seed market days and conduct learning dialogues on farmers rights and culture.

7.Effective collaborative processes in place to enhance collective learning which improves the level of take up of the learning and planned actions from SKI collaborative processes in partner organisations. The project to conduct multi actors dialogue and/or training of district and provincial stakeholders on AE and farmers rights, district stakeholders’ reflection meetings on AE as well as farmer level planning and review meetings on landscape activities.