Objectives

To promote sustainable livestock management and conserve ecosystems in the Northern Ukraine landscape.

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

As elaborated in notes regarding beneficiary numbers following the core indicators summary table, this project will target thousands of small holders, providing new livelihood opportunities by engaging in ecosystem restoration, and cooperative activities in production of local livestock products and marketing. Direct benefits will also be gained by protected areas staff and private sector livestock enterprise employees. Project beneficiaries are listed in the Prodoc in Section 3.2 on Partnerships, Stakeholder Engagement, and Coordination (pp. 21-26), and in Annex 14 of the Prodoc, the Stakeholder Engagement Plan. The project is expected to have a minimum of 9,000 direct beneficiaries (5,000 women; 4,000 men), which will primarily be private sector small and medium enterprise livestock farmers, public sector employees, local resource users, and protected area staff in the Northern Ukraine Landscape. This will be tracked through indicator 3 of the project Strategic Results Framework, including gender disaggregated reporting. The generation of local livelihood benefits is key to the generation of the project’s GEBs. Livestock production in the Northern Ukraine landscape is directly linked to and dependent on the functioning of ecosystems across the landscape, and to the species contained therein. The project will strengthen local livelihoods by improving the sustainability of livestock production, increasing its profitability (through increased production efficiencies, and increased market access), and reducing the degradation of agricultural peatlands. The project includes multiple strategies to generate socio-economic benefits. For example, under Component I the project will work with local governments to improve integrated land use planning in 100 rural communities, which will assist local land users in identifying and developing sustainable land use approaches for specific ecosystem types. Under Output 2.2 the project will support the creation of land user cooperativces, in support of sustainable livestock production by small-holders. This activity will be focused in areas of peat soils, to support local resource users in implementing sustainable livestock production practices, which in turn catalyzes GEBs in terms of reduced land degradation, land restoration, biodiversity conservation, the maintenance of ecosystem services, and reduced GHG emissions. Under Output 2.1 the project will work with multiple stakeholders to restore hydrological regimes in degraded agricultural peatlands. This will increase the productivity of these lands, benefiting the farmers and local land users. Restoring the hydrological regime in peatlands also has major local benefits by reducing incidence of summer peat fires, which have been increasing in severity in Ukraine in recent years. Peat fires cause poor local air quality, leading to negative health effects. Under Output 2.5 the project will strengthen the capacity of agricultural extension services to provide support for sustainable livestock practices, which will be of great benefit to small holder farmers. This will also support the generation of GEBs through the further up-scaling and replication of sustainable livestock practices across the landscape. Output 2.6 is a key project output, involving the establishment of a cooperation national platform with all key levels of the livestock value chain, including livestock producers, holding companies, exporters, wholesale and retail companies. This output will help generate socio-economic benefits for all involved in the value chain, including local resource users. This part of the project is critical for generating GEBs as it will be important to establish sustainable livestock production as a viable economic opportunity in the rural Northern Ukraine landscape, to avert both land abandonment (with accompanying negative environmental repercussions), or conversion to more harmful land use practices. Project activities under Component III will strengthen the management of protected areas, and increase the conservation of biological resources, which provides multiple local socio-economic benefits. From one perspective, protected areas in rural zones are key drivers of economic development, often providing a large share of local employment via the tourism sector. For example, Shatsk National Park is frequented by thousands of visitors from around Ukraine; yet key parts of the unique Shatsk lakes ecosystem are threatened by diminishing water tables, degradation of peatlands, fires, and loss of biodiversity. In addition, securing and conserving these areas of high ecological value supports the maintenance of critical ecosystem services for local residents, including water table regulation, fire mitigation, provision of non-wood forest products, water filtration, and others. The upscaling, replication, and sustainability of the local socio-economic benefits will be driven by the project’s knowledge management and capacity development activities under Component IV.

General

The Fair Finance Asia Program (FFA) envisages to reduce the negative impact of national and cross-border bank investments in Asia on human rights, the environment and climate change, and to increase adequate financial services for pro-poor, inclusive economic development. The goal is to establish a sustainable financial sector in Asia, with financial sector institutions operating at national and regional level being more transparent and accountable and adhering to Economic, Social and Governance (ESG)-criteria. FFA is funded by Sida. This project is co-implemented by Perkumpulan Prakarsa (PRAKARSA) and Oxfam In Indonesia. Prakarsa is a local NGO working to nurture and enhance welfare ideas and initiatives through independent research and active participation for stakeholders in order to create social justice and a prosperous society. Oxfam in Indonesia has a vision of an Indonesia where people live equitably and free from the injustice of poverty, enjoy their rights, and are resilient in times of disasters. Women and girls are at the heart of all our strategies to achieve this vision. Oxfam in Indonesia has been working in 7 provinces where they support the Governmentof Indonesia, civil society, and local communities on gender justice, economic justice, and climate justice and rights in crisis. Both organizations will be a co-lead organisation of the Fair Finance Guide Indonesia (Responsibank) coalition, and was involved in Fair Finance Guide International and Fair Financial Flows programmes. This project aims to contribute to the FFA goals by developing the capacities of national CSOs that are also participating in the Fair Finance Guide coalition. Capacity development is undertaken to ensure that the high-level regional negotiation, advocacy and lobbyingprocess is performed by CSOs that are well-capacitated onfinancial sector issues, and are familiar and understand the financial structure in Asia. Research will be performed on 8 existing banks, with a mixture of state-owned banks and (biggest operating)banks in Asia. The research will focus its study on the role of the banks in expanding the palm oil business in Southeast Asia (as the palm oil business is held responsible for deforestation, land degradation, human rights abuse and land grabbing) and investments in cement plant and factories (as they caused social and environmental problems). As part of its influencing efforts, the financial services authority is approached to promote fair finance / sustainable finance in the country and at the regional level. Up until now, Prakarsa as the lead organization play the major role in decision making process. Coalition member organizations are involved mostly in advocacy process with regulators. Some are involved in theresearch depends on the focus issue of the research and the expertise of organization. YLKI as consumer association played important role in financial education, TuK has focused to do campaign in the palm oil financing, WALHI is against fossil fuel financing, Kemitraan is in favor to promote climate finance, PWYP Indonesia has concern on extractive industry but not specific from the investment point of view, while other organizations at the moment do not have specific works that is directly related to financial sector. In phase 2, there is a change in the project governance for Fair Finance in Indonesia. Oxfam in Indonesia will join the coalition andprovide an added value for strengthening the gender equality aspect, in terms of research and capacity building. Then, the project administration will need more coordination between Oxfam in Indonesia and PRAKARSA. Meanwhile, PRAKARSA is still responsible in implementing projects, providing support and oversight to execute, manage and monitor the assigned roles effectively in ResponsiBank. Onthe other hand, the members of ResponsiBank will have their own roles to assure the project activities are implemented properly based on the target plans. Role of Oxfam is to ensure the project is delivered in good quality and addressing the risk properly such assafeguarding. Oxfam is going to strengthen the element of gender justice particularly in the area of energy transition by engaging more WROs in the coalition. The activity where Oxfam in Indonesia is going to implement in this yearis conducting two times trainingon financial investment in energy sector and its impact for women.

Objectives

Medair’s proposed response provides urgent identification and assistance for the most vulnerable HHs susceptible to harsh weather conditions within informal settlements and sub-standard buildings and to an increased risk of eviction in the Bekaa, Baalbek – El-Hermel and North Lebanon areas. More specifically, through this project Medair aims to: - Improve the living conditions and accessibility for 211 households via upgrading of residential shelter to meet minimum standards (prioritizing families with Child Protection (CP) needs in Bekaa and Baalbek – El Hermel - Increase tenure security for 200 vulnerable households via providing cash for rent (prioritizing families with CP needs) to prevent eviction in West and Central Bekaa - Improve accessibility and safety for families living in 30 informal settlements in Bekaa and Baalbek – El Hermel selected on the scoring from the site improvement assessment conducted across the region in coordination with the shelter sector with the intention of needs prioritization, and in 13 informal settlements in North Lebanon with the highest priority for site improvements activities identified and shared by North Lebanon Shelter Sector coordinator. Medair will distribute Non-Food Items (NFI) kits to 60% of the households (eligibility to be established via assessments) who will benefit from the rehabilitation of their sub-standard residential units in Bekaa and Baalbek – El Hermel to be able to cope better with the harsh winter conditions in the targeted area as recommended by Bekaa basic assistance sector. In addition, in line with shelter sector standards, Medair will address potential and identified fire risks by providing fire extinguishers in informal settlements (consisting off 4 to 9 tents) on a rate of ¼ as per sector guidelines and in sub-standard residential buildings that will benefit from rehabilitation, or refill the existing ones in informal settlements (consisting of 10 tents and above (provided by Medair as part of other interventions, or via another organization). For this project, Medair is in a strong position to be able to address the identified needs and gaps, combining existing expertise and experience of providing shelter support, with the ability to build on established relationships, knowledge of the geographic area, and good connections with local NGOs. Medair will extend the area of intervention for cash for rent assistance to west and central Bekaa to complement the ongoing Medair cash for rent project funded by LHF (LEB-22/DDA-3604/SA1/S/INGO/22023), as the existing assessment tools will be used to identify the eligible households. Also, Medair will report the shelter activities on RAIS and ActivityInfo, in addition to the close coordination with shelter sector and active shelter partners in Medair area of interventions to avoid any overlapping in providing shelter assistance. Medair will also leverage its experience as one of the largest Shelter actors in the Bekaa, and utilize the already established good working relationships with UNHCR, other local and international NGOs, and other stakeholders. As a Shelter Core Group member of the National Shelter Working Group, Medair will ensure complementarity with other interventions and avoid duplication.