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RESILIM-OLIFANTS: Resilience in the Limpopo Basin Program

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RESILIM-OLIFANTS: Resilience in the Limpopo Basin Program RESILIM-OLIFANTS Resilience in the Limpopo Basin Program Final Report October 2020 1 | RESILIM-Olifants FINAL REPORT 2020 Project Details The USAID: RESILIM-O project is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development under USAID/Southern Africa RESILIENCE IN THE LIMPOPO BASIN PROGRAM (RESILIM). The RESILIM-O project is implemented by the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD), in collaboration with partners. Cooperative Agreement nr AID-674-A-13-00008. Full Title: Building improved transboundary governance and management of the Olifants Catchment of the Limpopo Basin for enhanced resiliency of its people and ecosystems to environmental change through systemic and participatory approaches Program dates: 1 December 2012 to 30 June 2020 Acknowledgements The Directors at the Association for Water and Rural Development express their deepest gratitude to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for the sustained support for AWARD and its partners over the seven years during which the RESILIM Olifants program was conducted. During this time the organization had the opportunity to build relationships, innovate around resources management and climate change as well as make a considerable contribution towards transformation in the region. Without the generous grant and confidence in AWARD’s ability none of this would have been possible. For this AWARD, its staff and partners are grateful. We thank the team at USAID that supported our co-operative agreement — in particular Doreen Robinson, Paul Vacik, Roopa Karia and Jeanette Normand – the program AoRs and contract managers. AWARD thanks its partner organisations and NGOs in the region, civil society organizations of the Olifants catchment, research organizations and the many government officials with which it interacted over the life of the RESILIM Olifants program. A special thanks goes to all the dedicated staff, partners and grantees that worked on the RESILIM-O program over the years — without you it would not have been possible. We would also like to thank our reference group members Dr Harry Biggs, Prof Eureta Rosenberg and Prof Ray Ison. They joined us tirelessly over the years, offered us important links to other work and helped us steer the program. Finally, AWARD thanks its board members: Lephai Maunatlala, Mathew Prior and Dr Sharon Pollard for the encouragement and support over the seven years of the program. © Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD) Authors Dr Sharon Pollard, Derick du Toit, Dr Karen Kotschy and Julia Williams Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD) P O Box 1919 Hoedspruit 1380 Limpopo, South Africa T 015-793 0503 W award.org.za RESILIM-Olifants FINAL REPORT 2020 | 2 Association for Water and Rural Development U.S. Agency for International Development DISCLAIMER Views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government or the AWARD Board. RESILIM-Olifants FINAL REPORT 2020 | 3 Project partners AWARD worked with a variety of partners in the implementation of the RESILIM O. We recognize and acknowledge the valuable contribution they made to the program. A full list of partners is beyond the scope of this report – the logos of the major partners are included here. RESILIM-Olifants FINAL REPORT 2020 | 4 RESILIM-Olifants FINAL REPORT 2020 | 5 Contents Project Details ........................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... 2 Project Partners .......................................................................................................... 4 Contents ................................................................................................................... 6 List of Figures ............................................................................................................ 9 List of Tables ............................................................................................................ 10 Acronyms & Abbreviations ............................................................................................. 11 1 Executive Summary ............................................................................................. 12 PART 1 .................................................................................................................... 19 2 Background ....................................................................................................... 19 2.1 The RESILIM-O Program ........................................................................................ 20 2.2 About AWARD ................................................................................................... 20 2.3 The Olifants Catchment: An Overview ...................................................................... 21 2.4 Overview of the Resilience Building Activity ............................................................... 25 2.5 Key Design Features ............................................................................................ 26 2.6 Theory of Change ............................................................................................... 28 3 Report Overview ................................................................................................. 31 4 Methodology ..................................................................................................... 32 4.1 Systems Thinking: Understanding Complex Systems ....................................................... 32 4.2 Resilience ........................................................................................................ 33 4.3 Social Learning .................................................................................................. 34 4.4 Collective Action ............................................................................................... 35 4.5 Strategic Adaptive Management .............................................................................. 36 5 Summary of Activities under RESILIM-O ...................................................................... 40 5.1 Communications Materials, Publications and Resources .................................................. 41 5.1.1 The RESILIM O Resources library ...................................................................... 43 Final project reports .......................................................................................... 43 Technical reports .............................................................................................. 44 Booklets and brochures ....................................................................................... 44 Guidelines, handbooks and manuals ........................................................................ 45 Policy and practice briefs and flyers ........................................................................ 45 5.2 Context: Areas of Application ................................................................................ 45 5.2.1 Conceptual bounding ................................................................................... 46 5.2.2 Geographic areas ....................................................................................... 46 5.2.3 Priority areas ............................................................................................ 47 5.2.4 Hydrological zones and mean annual runoff ........................................................ 47 5.2.5 Areas of significant biodiversity ...................................................................... 49 5.2.6 Climate context ......................................................................................... 50 5.2.7 Administrative context ................................................................................. 50 5.2.8 Institutional context.................................................................................... 52 RESILIM-Olifants FINAL REPORT 2020 | 6 5.2.9 Practice context ........................................................................................ 53 5.3 Considerations for Size, Scope, Extent of Activities and Application ................................... 54 5.4 A Partnership Approach ........................................................................................ 55 5.5 Governance and Institutionalization ......................................................................... 56 5.6 Capacity Development Processes ............................................................................ 58 5.7 Management Approach......................................................................................... 61 5.8 Project Design: Team Composition, Grants and Contracts ............................................... 62 5.9 The MERL Approach: Innovation of Monitoring and Evaluation for Complex Systems ................. 63 5.9.1 Data management ...................................................................................... 66 PART 2 .................................................................................................................... 67 6 Results ............................................................................................................ 67 6.1 Phase 1: Understanding Context for Resilience Building .................................................. 67 6.1.1 Collaborative scoping of
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