Kyeema is dedicated to fostering, cultivating and preserving diversity and inclusion across all levels of our organisation. We are committed to building and strengthening our programs to address barriers and challenges faced by those from marginalised groups across the various cultural contexts in which we work. We now have a dedicated Gender Equity, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) focal person and Safeguarding focal person to ensure that we are continuously growing and strengthening our approaches within this space. Kyeema measures inclusion and safeguarding indicators across not just its projects but the organisation as a whole to track progress and continuously improve its approach to inclusion. In the 2021-22 year a total of 1,786 people across our projects participated in sessions on prevention, reduction and response to violence, abuse and exploitation of children and other vulnerable people. In addition, 45 people were trained in disability awareness and inclusion, 3 disabled persons organisations were engaged across Africa and the Pacific and 49 people received disability support services specific to their needs.
A key organisational outcome for Kyeema is the increased participation of women and girls in education, community initiatives and leadership. This year, we worked directly with 1,026 women and girls across our projects, with 271 of these supported to assume positions of leadership.
Growing a portfolio in nature-based solutions
In 2019, Kyeema commenced work in Central Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG), beginning an exciting new program. Our food and nutrition security project launched well with local communities familiar with the hardy village chickens found in PNG. Entering the coastal villages of Central Province provided an insight into a way of life dependent, almost entirely, on the ocean and its linked ecosystems. We were lucky to engage a local family interested in restoring the degraded reefs and marine habitats around Tubusereia, a village in Bootless Bay which is very close to the capital Port Moresby. It was from this start and through our engagement with Corals for Conservation (C4C) in Fiji doing similar work, that our complementary coastal restoration/alternative livelihoods model in PNG developed. Village chicken keeping providing a protein source and alternative livelihood for communities undertaking coastal restoration activities and reducing their dependency on the ocean.
As this model developed, so too did our strategic approach. With a strengthened emphasis on One Health and a new strategic direction (through our Strategic Plan 2021-2026), our coastal restoration/alternative livelihoods model was well positioned for the arrival of the Australian Government’s Climate Resilient by Nature (CRxN) Challenge Fund. DFAT’s unveiling of the CRxN program at COP26 in 2021 was the catalyst for our entry into the nature-based solutions (NbS) for climate change adaptation space. The DFAT AUD9.5 million investment signalled a fight against climate change and biodiversity loss by advancing high-integrity, equitable NbS for climate change in the Indo-Pacific region. CRxN’s focus on inclusive, community-led projects incorporating local knowledge together with multisector engagement, matched our own approach and provided an ideal platform to grow our work and impact. Our experience in coastal restoration is evolving into more targeted climate change adaption work with our partner C4C and engaging through a wide range of local stakeholders throughout PNG and the Pacific.
Kyeema is part of the NGO cluster of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock. Through this, we share in a partnership of livestock sector stakeholders committed to the sustainable development of the sector.
The offset funds for the 21-22 financial year will be spent on community-led coastal ecosystem rehabilitation as part of our nature-based solution portfolio in the Pacific.
One of our key organisational outcomes is to enable significant, enduring health and prosperity impacts. We measure our progress against this outcome using the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and relevant indicators measured annually across each project. This year we measured 36 indicators against 14 of the 17 SDGs across 23 projects in 16 countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, UK, US and the Middle East.
We have nine high priority organisational SDGs: no poverty (1), zero hunger (2), good health and wellbeing (3), decent work and economic growth (8), gender equality (5), climate action (13), sustainable cities and communities (11), industry, innovation and infrastructure (9), and partnerships for the goals (17).
