To date, SECCA has successfully managed several impactful projects focused on environmental conservation, community awareness, and women’s empowerment in Tanzania.
Project Title: The Greening of Mkata, Handeni
Supported by: Members contributions (Jan 2022 – to date)
Project Objective: This project aims to increase vegetation cover and manage natural resources in drought-prone areas. Using participatory methods, the project highlights the connection between food security, environmental degradation, poverty, and human rights issues, especially the sexual violence risks faced by young girls and women.
Project Title: Pesticides Hazards Awareness Program
Supported by: Organizational staff and members (January 2021 - December 2021)
Project Objective: To raise awareness on the safe use of chemical pesticides, promote alternatives, and support informed decision-making on pesticide use. This project focuses on environmental justice, ensuring users understand both the impacts of pesticides and available safer alternatives.
Areas Covered: Riparian villages of Lake Nyasa and Lake Victoria
Achievements: The project significantly raised awareness of pesticide hazards among community members, retailers, and local governments, with some local governments beginning to implement SECCA’s recommendations.
Project Title: Rural Women Empowerment through Agroforestry and Renewable Energy
Supported by: Government of Canada via Tanzania Forest Research Institute (TAFORI) (June 2022 – to date)
Project Objective: To empower rural women through agroforestry and renewable energy, fostering livelihood improvements and climate adaptation. Project activities focus on training and resource access for women in renewable energy and agroforestry across various Tanzanian regions.
Key Activities:
- Empowering 1,500 rural women in Njombe and Mbeya regions to adopt renewable energies and agroforestry techniques by June 2026.
- Promoting dairy cattle husbandry, avocado farming, and pasture management to 1,500 women in Songwe, Njombe, and Mbeya.
- Supporting 1,500 women in adopting biogas as a renewable energy source.
- Enhancing market access and marketing skills for the project's 1,500 beneficiaries.
Project Title: Corroborative Conservation and Restoration of Grumeti River Valley of the Serengeti ecosystem
Supported by: GEF/SGP/UNDP
Project Objective: To restore and protect natural habitats in the Grumeti River Valley, Serengeti. This project enhances local community skills in conservation technologies, emphasizing water conservation, natural resource restoration, and sustainable use practices.
Areas Covered: Songwe, Njombe, Mbeya, and Mara regions
Major Outputs:
- Capacitated 12 households in Songwe, Njombe, and Mbeya to adopt renewable energy solutions.
- Trained 1,500 rural women in agroforestry and renewable energy practices, including dairy farming and avocado production.
- Successfully planted and maintained 123,000 avocado and multipurpose trees across Songwe, Njombe, and Mbeya regions.
- Established 1,500 acres (600 hectares) of multipurpose trees intercropped with pasture grasses.