Community Environmental Governance Initiative (CEGI)

• Duration:

January 2012 – March 2013

·       Name of partners in the Action:

 Oxfam (novib) International Organization

• Targeted Area:

El-Gedarif State.

• The area in which the activities took place:

The village of Aradaibat Eltigani, El-Gedarif State.

• Targeted groups:

Pastoralists who reside in the village.

• Project summary:

The Community Environmental Governance Initiative (CEGI) aims at strengthening the community cohesion, environmental resilience and traditional forms of governance.  The CEGI will be manifested in a better understanding of living systems, the rights of all the users in having equitable share of land and other resources through the process of social agreement. The CEGI will also work with elders to recover traditional ecological knowledge and practices and ensure the transfer of this knowledge to the next generations. This knowledge will constitute the basic cornerstone of the community environmental governance.

The project targeted the village of Aradaibat Eltigani.  The village lies on the Eastern bank of River Rahad at the borders of the Dinder National Park.  The village is within the Western Gallabat Locality of the state of Gedarif, East Sudan.  The village is about 185 km South of Gedarif Town.  The population of Aradaibat Eltigani is about 4000 people and consists of a mixer of tribes. There are about 12 tribes in the village, the largest of which is the Fur followed by Fulani, Masalit and Dagu.  The village was established in 1969 and grew in its size as a result of the influx of environmentally displaced persons who fled from Darfur as a result of the severe droughts of 1984-85.  The village is bordered by the large agricultural schemes to the North.   The main occupation of the villagers is traditional farming in small holdings (2 to 5 feddans per household) for subsistence agriculture.

The pastoralists come to the River Rahad area in the dry season in large numbers (5000 to 6000) to secure water for their animals.  Conflicts ensue as the animals sometimes encroach on the cultivated areas.  The villagers often deny the pastoralists’ rite of passage to water in the River Rahad area as they have irrigated crops at the River banks.  The villagers sometimes trespass on the Dinder National Park to collect wood, honey and fish.

• Overall Objectives:

The overall goal of the CEGI is to strengthen community cohesion, ecological resilience and traditional forms of governance.

• The specific objectives are:
• To produce a Community Land Use Model.
• To enhance the efforts of the local communities in protecting their ecosystems and conserving their bio cultural diversity as a basis for ecological governance and autonomy.
• To increase the resilience of the local community to the impacts of climate change.
• To raise awareness about human and environmental rights.

·       Outputs:

–        Higher involvement of the Fulani tribe in this activity and the other activities of the project.

–        Increased level of awareness of the targeted communities about their environmental rights.