TNRF Updates - April 2009
Community Forums: New women's leadership forums in Ngorongoro District
New resource: TNRF Information Brief on the biofuels industry
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Activities
In partnership with Ujamaa Community Resource Trust, Honeyguide Foundation and TAS Consult a new project has been launched at TNRF to pioneer a process in Tanzania for community based tourism management. The project addresses a need in communities around highly trafficked tourism areas in northern Tanzania to become more involved in tourism planning and ensuring that tourism businesses are responsible and benefit communities in the wildlife-rich areas.
Tanzania's de facto tourism policy has only just begun to realise the significance of community-based tourism models for local conservation and development outcomes, and there are now examples of businesses engaging successfully in sustainable business partnerships with communities.
After one year the joint project will produce tourism management plans in a participatory and adaptive way for four villages in Loliondo and Sale Divisions of Ngorongoro District. To share the methods used during the planning processes the project team will compile its accumulated experiences into an informational toolkit for use in other tourism initiatives between private investors and communities.
Beginning with a series of introductory planning workshops the project team will address management and capacity issues which impede sustainable tourism, environmental management and improved livelihoods. These workshops will be structured around different priorities and exercises which will bring the stakeholders to the final goal of developing adaptive tourism management plans for the four villages. The workshops will bring together all stakeholders involved in or affected by tourism activities.
The project, which is known as "Social Learning for Adaptive Tourism Management" is funded by IUCN, Sand County Foundation and the Bradley Fund for the Environment.
Following the successful introduction of Community Forums in Longido District in March 2009, the Community Forums team facilitated the formulation of women's leadership groups in Loliondo and Sale Divisions of Ngorongoro District.
In April 2009 the Community Forums team led by Ujamaa Community Resource Trust itravelled to Ngorongoro District to help local women's groups form leadership forums as a counterpart to the existing customary leadership institutions. The formation and support to customary leadership institutions is part Community Forum's effort to widen participatory leadership at the village and district levels in northern Tanzania.
In Loliondo and Sale Divisions, Community Forums visited five wards to facilitate the selection of women's representatives for the District and arranged for a meeting of all representatives for May 2009. The representatives were chosen by the women in each ward based on their ongoing commitment to local women's leadership and development in Ngorongoro. The formation of the team of women leaders generated hope for the positive impact of their participation in District level decision-making on the lives of women and the community as a whole. The women expressed appreciation for the role of the all-men customary leadership institutions in resolving conflict between the various ethnic communities in Ngorongoro. However, the women placed their hope in the new all-women leadership forum to guide the resolution of conflicts related to domestic violence and other gender-based marginalisation. Key partners in the ongoing process of women's leadership institutions are the Pastoralist Women's Council and the Maasai Women Development Organization.
TNRF Information Brief on the biofuels industry
TNRF has released a new publication on the emerging biofuels industry in Tanzania. The information brief, titled "Developing commercial biofuels through securing local livelihoods and land rights", is a summary of a research study commissioned by the Tanzania Forestry Working Group in collaboration with and supported by the IIED with additional support from IUCN. In the coming two months the Tanzania Forestry Working Group will organize public meetings to directly address the key findings in the study. To download the information brief please go to: http://www.tnrf.org/node/9587.
29 May: Public meeting on biofuels in Dar es Salaam
The Policy Forum will host a public "Breakfast Debate" in collaboration with TNRF on the opportunities and threats from the biofuels industry in Tanzania on 29th May at 7.30am-9.00am at the British Council in Dar es Salaam.
Speakers from government and civil society will discuss their perspectives on the impact of the emerging biofuels industry on rural livelihoods, land rights and national economic growth. The event is not to be missed as it is an important opportunity for the general public to hear diverse views from institutions and organizations involved in decision-making for the forthcoming policy on biofuels in Tanzania. For more information on this public event please contact info@tnrf.org.
22 June: Book launch in Arusha for "Wild Heart of Africa - The Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania"
In collaboration with TANAPA and GTZ , TNRF is organizing the launch of "Wild Heart of Africa" at the TANAPA headquarters in Arusha on 22nd June at 3.00pm.
The book launch is open to the public. To confirm your attendance, please contact info@tnrf.org.
This book is the story of the Selous, a game reserve in southern Tanzania. It is the largest protected wildlife area in the world. There are no people living within its boundaries and it contains some of the greatest wildlife concentrations on the continent, including 70,000 elephant, over 120,000 buffalo, more than half a million antelope and a couple of thousand large carnivores roaming freely in its forests, riverine thickets, steppes and mountain ranges. "Wild Heart of Africa" is published by Rowland Ward, edited by Rolf Baldus and written by leading conservationists in Tanzania. For a complete description of the book, please visit http://www.tnrf.org/node/8914.