HoAREC&N, 2019 - 2026, Environmental Sustainability & Resilience Support

The Horn of Africa Environmental Sustainability and Resilience (HoA-ESR) is a regional project implemented by HoAREC, aims to contributes towards achieving long-term environmental sustainability in the Horn of Africa. The goal of the project is to enhance environmental sustainability and resilience through research, policy, and development as a pathway to promoting sustainable natural resources management, conservation of biodiversity and regional integration, peace, and stability in the Horn countries. The project has five major thematic components, these components, namely: Landscape restoration and resilience and sustainable natural resources management and Botanic Garden establishment; Food security and community resilience; Energy security and energy-efficient technology development and promotion; Demand-driven action research, evidence-based policy dialogue and decision making; and Public-Private Partnerships engagement for landscape restoration and resilience building. During the reporting period (1st January to 31st December 2023) the contribution has made significant impacts to increasing social capital and community resilience across the intervention sites. Activities implemented both by the Implementing Partners (IPs) and the coordination activities of HoAREC has created the necessary effect in the transboundary landscapes. One significant outcome of the period was the formation of model farms and the development of income-generating enterprises for community groups. Community owned enterprises, established through the regional contribution, have produced important benefits in a variety of ways. This includes economic assistance for the local community as well as social benefits such as increased income and group collaboration. Numerous cooperatives have been established across project intervention sites, and they are positively contributing to the development of social cohesion, which is required to increase smallholder farmers' competitive advantage. Members who earn more money can help their families and their siblings' schooling. This program has also yielded significant environmental benefits. The project was purposefully designed to reduce people' dependency on extracting environmental resources as a means of survival in protected regions. Income from community companies has helped to solve societal challenges like education, healthcare, and social services. The seed money distributed to groups empowered marginalized groups, enhanced social cohesion, and built community solidarity. Members of various community-led enterprises have joined groups to participate in collective decision-making processes related to the design and implementation of their small-scale businesses. This communal decision-making process ensures that the enterprise's benefits are shared by all members, while also instilling a sense of ownership and pride in the community. The call to encourage women- and youth-led firms fosters collaboration around long-term solutions to environmental degradation. It also emphasizes a commitment to inclusivity and equity via the lens of environmental conservation. The project assisted communities located in the different landscapes in diversifying livelihoods and enhancing sources of income aiming at improving household food security, reduce poverty, and build community environmental resilience. The Demand Driven Action Research (DDAR) component of the contribution has been successful helping students and academic staffs develop long-term research capacity and serve as an instrument for collaboration and knowledge exchange among researchers and academic institutions in the Horn of Africa. The DDAR's multidisciplinary approaches have offered an excellent platform for marketing scholarship and internship possibilities for students, as well as a better awareness of the region's environmental policy needs and research prospects. The grant's capacity-building activities were critical in guaranteeing the long term viability of the research initiatives, as some of those who benefited were university staff who will continue to provide services to the institutions. The award contributed to long-term community impact by providing individuals with the required skills and resources. The project has created possibilities for networking across Horn countries and beyond by exposing community members to best practices for adoption. Exposure visits allow community people to observe and learn from effective environmental practices, potentially motivating the adoption of sustainable measures in their businesses. This initiative takes a proactive approach to fostering learning, knowledge exchange, and the adoption of best practices, all of which contribute to a larger effort to combat environmental degradation. The Public Private Partnership component was very successful in supporting two crucial resource sharing agreements for villages along the Kenya-Ethiopia border,

The overall objective of the proposed intervention is enhancing environmental sustainability and resilience in the region through research, policy and development as a pathway to promoting sustainable natural resources management, conservation of biodiversity and regional integration, peace and stability in the Horn countries. The intervention principally focuses on promoting an integrated multi-dimensional approach to planning and development in four intervention landscapes (Kafta - Shiraro and Gash-Setit (KS-GS) (Ethiopia-Eritrea) Transboundary Socioecological Landscape, Southwest Rift Valley Socioecological Transboundary Landscape (SWRV-SEL) (between Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan), Lake Abbe and Lake Assal-Dafo (LAA) Transboundary Landscape (Ethiopia-Djibouti), and Geed-Deeble landscape (GD-Botanical Garden) – Somalia).