Luwire Wildlife Conservancy

Mozambique, L7, Niassa Special Reserve

Luwire is shifting to a carbon-neutral, sustainable solar energy model to reduce environmental impact, as well as ongoing running costs. As part of this approach, Luwire will provide basic solar power access for the Manhuri village, a remote community with a population of 380 people that historically had no access to electricity. Luwire will be enhancing and rebuilding basic infrastructure needs for the community.

This includes the construction of a solar powered Protected Agricultural Outpost (PAO) as well as an adjacent Community Centre in the form of a sheltered gathering social point, to allow charging of mobile phones and physical hub for raising awareness and advocacy among community members on pertinent topics such as Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC). The PAO will be protected with an electric fence and equipped with a borehole to provide safe water access to villagers.

The electrification of the classroom will open evening classes for adult literacy and additional artisanal courses, offering education and money earning opportunities especially for women working in the fields during daylight hours. Communication between villages, particularly between Manhure and Mussoma will be enhanced with the support of the mobile phone recharging station which will allow for constant communication between villages in cases of emergency as well as with Luwire Community Programme Management and HWC emergency ground teams.

Currently, this community takes part in illegal, unsustainable, and inefficient practices such as slash and burn, and streambank farming on the Lugenda River. Crops adjacent to a river and within the boundaries of a wildlife conservancy are a recipe for potentially dangerous human-wildlife conflict, as farmers will risk their lives to protect the crops. A PAO (Protected Agricultural Outpost) will improve crop outputs, ensure year-round access to irrigation, and allow for crop diversification, and eventual cultivation of cash crops. The solar powered, open-air community center will be an additional enticement for the farmers to shift their traditional methods to more sustainable and efficient practices. This protected and solar-powered agricultural area will be the pilot project, with equivalent PAO’s being rolled out across four more communities within Luwire. Eventually ensuring all farmers and their crops are fully protected and Luwire’s greater community of over 5,000 people benefit from enhanced food security.

Expected outputs:

Education:

• Consistent light in the school, allowing for teaching after 6pm
• Local adult literacy levels rise from zero to basic reading and writing within a six-month period, starting with initial class of 30 students

PAO:

• Agricultural outputs double because farmers can plant and harvest second crop in the dry season
• Reduction in rate of wildlife crop raiding by 80%
• 50% reduction in erosion along the Lugenda riverbank within three years of building the PAO
• Increased attendance at agricultural trainings by 50%
• Host at least 20 community events (such as weddings and festivals) within the first year of completion

MILL:

• Introduction of a mill in the village of Manhure to shorten walking distance of approx. 7kms walk of women to mill corn crop production in nearby village of Mussoma
• The mill will allow for increased economic growth by allowing Manhure vilagers to charge women for milling processing services locally rather than in the nearby village as in the past
• Introduction of a mill will maximize time efficiency, particularly of women to dedicate additional time to their economic activities as well as their daily responsibilities to care for their smaller children, families in general and households

Status December 2022:

• Consultations with local traditional governance structures to agree on the location of the project and the next steps regarding the implementation  
• After a period of insecurity due to insurgency movements in the area, that suspended the implementation, the works were resumed 
• A Social Center and a Mill were built and together with the School, the 3 buildings were electrified 
• 4 boreholes dug for water pumping and 4 PAOs with electrified fences 
• Livelihood development classes took place, with over 50 people learning crochet, bee keeping and duck creation 
• The community decided to set up a cooperative with help of Luwire 
• Execution rate: 100% 

Impact (results)