Kyeema continues to build a culture of inclusion and equity at all levels of our organization. Our commitment involves fortifying our programs to tackle the unique barriers and challenges faced by marginalized groups within the diverse cultural contexts in which we operate.
Our new ANCP initiative in Mozambique focuses on empowering marginalized women by enhancing their poultry production capabilities, and fostering increased sales and consumption of village chicken meat and eggs. To evaluate the impact of our livestock-related efforts on women’s empowerment in this sector, we’ve initiated a trial using the Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index (WELI) tool.
By gaining a more precise understanding of the most effective interventions for creating empowering opportunities, the WELI tool holds the promise of more informed decision-making, ultimately enhancing our program.
Throughout this year, Kyeema’s various programs have had a direct impact on the lives of 8,332 women and girls, and 280 of them have taken on leadership roles.
Additionally, thanks to activities funded through the Humanitarian Relief fund, aimed at aiding communities affected by the Ukrainian conflict, we have extended our reach to 40,035 individuals. These outreach efforts encompassed sessions dedicated to the prevention, reduction, and response to violence, abuse, and the exploitation of children. Furthermore, we provided essential support and services to 192 female survivors of violence, addressing their unique needs and challenges, and empowering opportunities for women involved in livestock activities.
This year marks a significant milestone in our coral and mangrove restoration efforts in PNG. In Ala Ala, Central Province, PNG we trained 5 community conservation leaders and 20 young community members, equipping them with the necessary skills to set up and maintain a coral nursery. We are very grateful for the generous support of the US State Department under the Regional Environment, Science, Technology, and Health (ESTH) Grants for Pacific Island States which made this activity possible. Kyeema will continue to support and consult with the community to manage the nursery and subsequent outplanting activities.
World Environment Day in Papua New Guinea provided us with a remarkable opportunity to showcase the outstanding efforts of our local community-led team this year. Collaborating with 40 enthusiastic school students, we successfully planted 100 mangrove seedlings cultivated in our own nursery. The inclusion of Susan, an exceptional female coral gardener from Yule Island, who joined forces with our Hanuabada Village team and students from two nearby schools, allowed us to establish five A-frame nurseries at Ela Beach. This collective effort not only exemplified our commitment to environmental conservation but also served as an inspiring platform to nurture and empower the next generation of environmental champions.
We have also been actively collaborating with our Master Farmers in Papua New Guinea and engaging female participants in the Marracuene project in Mozambique to advance sustainable feed development, ensuring the responsible cultivation and utilization of locally sourced feed for their expanding flocks.
One Health and Welfare Education
Supporting sustainable growth and resilience through regenerative agriculture
As a normal part of our reflection and planning cycle this year, we sat down with key partners and tried to articulate how we can better support regenerative agriculture. Beyond education, inclusive community capacity building and investments in individual livelihood options, we want to support sustainable market linkages. This includes assisting farmers in forming producer cooperatives, connecting them with fair trade organizations, local markets, or even export markets. Strengthening value chains can enable farmers to access better prices for their produce and increase their income, thus enhancing resilience. In addition, we are also teaming up to help communities prepare for funds from carbon projects.
This year we have expanded our portfolio in the One Health and Welfare Education in East and West Africa, the Pacific and Australia. The activities targeted a range of learning audiences, who learned real world examples of the critical interdependence of humans, animals, and their environments and the global problem of emerging zoonotic diseases driven by land use and climate change and antimicrobial resistance. These included primary school students in Brisbane, being the first in Australia to pilot One Health Lessons on COVID-19, university students in Ethiopia consulted on supporting activities through One Health poultry clubs and veterinary paraprofessionals in Nigeria, Uganda and Samoa trained to ‘Improve Farm Biosecurity for Health and Wealth’ as a specific service offering to farmers, including reducing the need for use of antimicrobials on farms.
Nature-based solutions to climate change.
We were grateful to receive a two-year costed extension from DFAT and WWF Australia to further our Nature-based solution initiatives in the Pacific. With the successful completion of our Marine Science and community workshops, we are now gearing up for the next phase of our project.
In this upcoming phase, our primary focus will be to sustain our commitment to the marine science test sites and community coral nurseries, ensuring their ongoing maintenance and continuous monitoring.
This extended period will afford us the necessary time to gather essential data from these sites, which will be invaluable for evaluating the effectiveness of propagating heat-resistant corals. Our ultimate goal is to establish new reefs that exhibit higher thermotolerance, crucial for combatting the challenges posed by increasing ocean temperatures. The extension will also see activities expand into Kiribati.
In Papua New Guinea and Fiji, there will be renewed focus on supporting community leaders who are highly motivated to see ecological and social change in their communities. They will motivate community members through training (including use of a new video-based training package) on coral reef restoration for climate change and improved village poultry keeping.
This extension is a fantastic opportunity for us to further our research and make a positive impact on the Pacific ecosystem. We are grateful for the support from DFAT and WWF and look forward to the continued success of our nature-based solutions project.
One of our primary organizational objectives is to bring about substantial and lasting impacts on health and prosperity. To track our progress towards this goal, we use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and relevant indicators to measure our impact annually across all of our projects. This year, we have measured against 43 of our organisational indicators, which aligns with 15 out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across 29 diverse projects spanning 21 countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and South America.
A key focus for the organisation revolves around Nutrition, Health, and Livelihoods, and this year we have seen a notable increase in our impact towards Zero Hunger (SDG 2). Additionally, we have been consistently contributing to the promotion of Good Health and Wellbeing, making it a significant impact area across our projects.
Within our Resilient Communities portfolio, this year has witnessed a surge in projects centred on female empowerment and inclusion, resulting in an uptick in projects reporting positive impacts on Gender Equality (SDG 5).
Our innovation portfolio, encompassing innovative projects implemented under the Challenge Fund in addition to our focus on supporting small businesses and creating income-generating opportunities for marginalized communities often through vaccination campaigns, have led to an increased impact on Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8) and a substantial percentage of contributions to Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure (SDG 9).
Through numerous partnerships, especially those involving the Palladium funds for impact activities, through the Our Communities Fund, Humanitarian Relief Fund, and Challenge Fund, we actively support Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17), reinforcing our commitment to collaborative efforts for sustainable development.
