A Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) delegation that includes Ms. N'Deye Fatou MAR, OSS Land Department Coordinator and Mr. Abdoulkarim BELLO, regional coordinator of the AdaptWAP project, paid Benin a working visit to support the national coordination of the National Centre of Management of Fauna Reserves (CENAGREF).
The objective was to speed up the implementation of activities and update the project monitoring-evaluation framework. The visit made it possible to hold working sessions at the CENAGREF headquarters in order to finish the upcoming project activities planning and to provide work and visibility materials for local communities. It also gave the opportunity to establish fruitful exchanges with national partners, in particular the National Meteorological Agency (METEO-BENIN) and the Regional Analysis and Social Expertise Laboratory (LARES), with a view to establishing the Multi-Risk Early Warning System (MR-EWS) of the WAP complex.
Taking climate change into account in the development of the W and Arly parks surrounding townships remains a priority. Thus, partnership agreements have been concluded between CENAGREF (National Project Execution Unit in Benin) and inter-municipal associations (ACAD and APIDA) to make sure climate change is effectively integrated into fourth-generation communal development plans (CDP4). Training and support workshops were organized, bringing together officials from town halls, ACAD and APIDA, with the aim of building the capacities of local stakeholders.
Moreover, visits to the Agence Territoriale de Développement Agricole (ATDA) in Malanville and Kandi made it possible to discuss avenues of collaboration for the implementation of activities such as fish farming, small-scale irrigation and the creation of market gardening sites for the benefit of the W park local communities.
In addition, proposals for agreements with the National Microfinance Fund (NMF) of Benin and the West African Savannah Foundation (FSOA) will be submitted for the establishment of the revolving fund (RF) in an attempt to diversify income-generating activities for the benefit of the WAP local communities.
The recent progress of the AdaptWAP project - Benin Component comes to prove the OSS-AdaptWAP project team and national partners joint efforts to achieve the ambitious objectives of the project and strengthen the resilience of populations and ecosystems to climate challenges.