General

The Gran Chaco Americano is a vast, relatively flat, wooded region occupying south-eastern Bolivia, western ..Paraguay and northern Argentina. In Paraguay, it covers the lands west of the Paraguay River and is characterized ..by tropical savannas, dense thorn-scrub forest and more open vegetation in areas with sand dunes. Due to increased ..deforestation rates in the past decade, the Paraguayan Chaco is undergoing a rapid change, with the remaining ..forest patches being so small that they are essentially islands in an entirely man-made landscape. Lack of a regional ..vision regarding land use management and land protection is one of the main problems to get to a sustainable ..balance of the use of the Chaco. Many Neotropical Migrants depend on the Paraguayan Chaco during migration and ..overwintering including 14 species of Neotropical Migratory Landbirds that depend on the forests in the Chaco and ..of which several are in steep decline. Rapid action is required as a recent analysis of economic drivers indicated a ..realistic possibility that all suitable land will have been transformed for cattle production by 2025. Guyra Paraguay ..will advance long-term conservation of Neotropical Migratory Landbirds in the Paraguayan Chaco through targeted ..habitat management and protection, support for more effective land-use planning, and public outreach. To achieve ..this, Guyra Paraguay aims to: 1) improve management and effective protection of Neotropical Migratory landbird ..habitat in six protected areas in the Paraguayan Chaco; 2) assess and evaluate the impact of land use change in ..the Paraguayan Chaco on Neotropical migratory landbird species through, monitoring, data compilation and ..analysis; 3) stimulate sustainable land use and strategic land planning by working with local stakeholders ..(authorities, ranchers, land owners) and, 4) raise awareness and built support for the conservation of the ..Paraguayan Chaco and its migratory species.

General

Sweden has during 2011-2014 funded Forest Peoples Programmes (FPP) through the contribution "REDD Financing, Human Rights and Economic Development for Sustainable Poverty Reduction of Forest Communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo". The effort has supplemented the national REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) process, by funding activities that helped to support and strengthen the population by providing information about its rights, combined with investment and economic development activities and assistance to self-sufficiency. The initiative has been implemented in 300 communities, spread over the six provinces, Bas-Congo, Equatuer, Orientale, Bandundu, North and South Kivu. Sweden and FPP has now agreed to build on the last three years of cooperation and results, and to extend activities to include two additional provinces (Kasai Oriental and Kasai Occidental). FPP will interact with six local NGOs and 307 villages from each of the 13 REDD pilot areas in the DRC. The initiative has the following objectives: 1. To promote the application of strong REDD safeguards; strong VPA governance reforms, agreements and standards and to strengthen forest community land tenure, governance, regulation and laws. 2. To build the capacities of communities in REDD pilot areas and their support organisations and government institutions with regard to finance, gender, participatory mapping, project management and human rights, as well as the national REDD programme and pilots affecting them. 3. To support the establishment of community Monitoring, Verification and Reporting (MRV) systems, and to test and validate MRV on deforestation drivers linked to benefit sharing systems supporting REDD+. 4. To improve application of commodity chain safeguards by supporting the implementation of voluntary social and environmental certification and safeguards in commodity supply chains. 5. To promote dialogue, learning and collaboration in order to institutionalise the successes of Phase 1 outcomes into DRC’s national REDD strategy by sharing lessons; by extending outreach and communication with civil society and the government; by working directly with the Coordination Nationale-REDD (CN-REDD) on FPIC and by the development of benefit sharing mechanisms at the national level. The total budget for this contribution is 4.2 million Euros, approximately 39 million SEK, for the years 2014-2017.

Objectives

The overall objective of the intervention is to promote community customary land rights and livelihood security, economic development and sustainable poverty reduction in REDD pilot areas and key forest zones in the DRC, supporting protection for human rights and sustained investments in economic development activities with forest communities on the basis of their free, prior and informed consent, with specific focus on marginalized groups including indigenous peoples, women and youth.

General

The project contributes to inclusive and sustainable peace in Ethiopia by increasing social cohesion and enhancing peacebuilding engagement by religious actors on national and regional levels. The project also focuses on strengthening the capacity of programme providers and local peacebuilders to carry out peace work, including psychosocial support, and developing approaches and practices for quality interventions.

Objectives

The overall goal of the programme is Peaceful and resilient communities, and that individuals, civil society groups and institutions contribute to good social co-existence in the Ethiopian society. Outcome 1: Social cohesion including psychosocial well-being increased in target communities affected by violent conflict. Outcome 2: CSOs, religious actors, women and youth are engaging in peace-building on local, regional, and national levels. Outcome 3: Communities in conflict-affected areas are integrated in the programmes HDP nexus approach, leading to increased resilience against food and economic insecurity. Outcome 4: Programme providers capacity is enhanced and approaches and practices are developed to strengthen the quality of interventions.