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Micro-catchment Management and Common Property Resources Project (1998-2001)

Coordinator:                        Mr A. Mandondo

Funding:                               Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom

Collaborating institutions:

• Institute of Hydrology (part of the United Kingdom's Natural Environmental Research Council)

• Department of Research and Specialist Services (of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Lands and  Agriculture)

• Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG)

• CARE International in Zimbabwe (CARE)

• Department of Soil Science (UZ)

A DFID-funded (UK) multidisciplinary project on integrated management of common property resources in semi-arid micro-catchment settings in south-central Zimbabwe. It is a collaborative research/development initiative housed within the Institute of Environmental Studies, and involving several other institutions. The research objectives of the project include: identifying a range of technical, institutional and other options for the management of micro-catchments; evaluating the impacts of the options on various biophysical, economic and institutional variables that have implications on the micro-catchments, and interactions among them; and, evaluating the poverty alleviation and environmental management tradeoffs of the various options. The development objective includes providing policy makers, extension staff and communities with the tools with which to make sound management decisions, and promoting the implementation of such decisions.