An Overview Of Our Solution
In a maximum of 875 characters, please give an overview of your entry including the problem, the solution and actions implemented
Life for women in the Lubombo region of Swaziland is not an easy one – it is a semi-arid region with 70% of the population living below the poverty line. This is compounded by 1) Swaziland having the world’s highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection and 2) the continuing low legal and social status of women in what remains a very traditional male dominated society. SIP started life as a project to generate income for poor rural Swazi women through the use of marula trees which they harvest its fruit dry and crack, selling the seed kernels to SIP. SIP is implementing a tree planting exercise with the planned impact of planting and nurturing 2000 trees. https://www.beloit.edu/polisci/publications/
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: Africa
General Information
Organization type
À but non lucratif
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Forests
Population impacted
About 2500 rural women
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
207 000ha for 3 species
Production quantity
15 tonnes per year
People employed
3 permanent and 12 field coordinactors
Solution
Describe your solution
How have you promoted changes in human activities (or changed your own agricultural practice) to ensure sustainable harvests/food security while also conserving, strengthening and/or restoring biodiversity on your agricultural lands and/or the surrounding environment? (1500 characters max.)
Our sustainability policy was refined and expanded with insights from a wide range of studies and data. We established an appropriate long-term monitoring system were we did forest inventory of marula and sustanainable harvesting
Document describing the threats to the ecosystem and an overview of mitigation plans and actions by various stakeholders has been completed and shared with 2 researchers at University of Swaziland for comment and they confirmed that CBD-related national policies and action plans have no conflicts with Swazi Secrets's practices.
To preserve the natural resources that the rural households depend on, Swazi Secrets addresses sustainable harvesting volumes and methods, tree-planting, environmental and organic training, environmental footprint of factory operations etc.
Implementation
Describe your implementation
To withstand rigorous scrutiny of sustainable use of the seed kernels, SIP’s initial sustainability analysis is currently undergoing a thorough refinement and scientific review
- How you ensured your solution was adopted and promoted change in human activities
SIP is currently implementin a programme of environmental education for suppliers, covering the threats of erosion, over grazing and alien invasive species, waste management and of course – nurturing trees to ensure future abundance even in the face of encroaching habitat destruction .
- Enabling conditions
• Influencing Policy
SIP attempts to give women a chance to experience power – in their family through income, in their community through confidence to speak out, individually or as groups – on the issues/policies that THEY want to change.
• Knowledge Sharing and Replication
- Key success factors
Since then, SIP has:
* Fundamentally altered the value chain for the fruits and seeds of the marula tree, increasing their income from USD 0.04 to USD 0.20 per Kg;
* Established the Swazi Secrets brand of natural cosmetics, manufactured all the way 'from tree to bottle' in rural Swaziland;
* Been awarded the prestigious UNDP 2012 Equator Prize and the Marie Aminata Khan award for Women's Empowerment at the Rio+20 Conference for Sustainable Development
- Any obstacles and how you overcame them
* Operating out of Swaziland's economic and political environment where the difficulties can be summarised by the country's position in the bottom 10 countries in the world for ease of doing business, as documented by WEF's Global Competitiveness Report 2012-13. Among the innovative approaches to overcoming the high costs of doing business out of Swaziland has been our setting up of a Central Distribution Depot in Germany.
https://www.beloit.edu/polisci/publications/
External connections
The principle of partnership is key for SIP in all its trading and operational relationships. It seeks to ensure long term relationships based on mutual trust and consistent service delivery. Its major partners are:
•RURAL WOMEN: SIP’s raison d’etre, but also key partners in quality assurance and environmental sustainability.
•DISTRIBUTORS: SIP seeks distributors who are committed to both project and product and places great value on their feedback in areas such as quality and product development;
•FAIR TRADE BODIES: SIP was a full member of both WFTO and Swaziland Fair Trade Network (SWIFT), and is committed to working with both to retain the focus of Fair Trade on support to grass roots producer organizations.
•PHYTOTRADE AFRICA was the regional Trade Association for producer organizations involved in Natural Products. SIP has been a member since inception.
•DONORS: WKKF and UNDP in particular, supported SIP’s sometimes unorthodox approaches and was very satisfied with the impact SIP has achieved with their funding.
•STAFF: SIP’s rapid development has only been possible through a working environment that offered a balance of challenge and support for staff to perform and develop.
•ENVIRONMENT: It yields the resources for SIP’s activities and in return, SIP and its members make efforts to protect it from threats, especially overexploitation due to population growth.
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
Please include facts/figures where possible. (1000 characters max.)
In 2010 to 2013, SIP was accepted as a full trading member of the Union for Ethical Biotrade (UEBT),which includes demanding criteria on environmental management, alongside social and business management aspects. In seeking to progressively improve SIP has undertaken extensive validation of the sustainability of its 100% wild harvesting of marula. In addition, SIP's target is a tree planting exercise with the planned impact of planting and nurturing 5000 trees. SIP also plans to mantain training for its members/suppliers in other measures to protect the local environment and its biodiversity by enhancing awareness of other dangers, eg over grazing, soil erosion and alien invasive plants, Hence training and awareness raising on environmental threats are crucial to capacitate the communities to adapt their resource use behaviour to conditions of higher population pressure.
Describe the context in which you are operating
Please include facts/figures where possible. (Where relevant, include information about social/community factors, water, food security, nutrition, and/or economic and sustainable development.) (1500 characters max.)
Economically: 98% of SIP’s suppliers/members are women, Selling seed kernels provides them with a generally independent income which brings with it a degree of economic power and a greater role in family decision making. SIP operates in drought-prone, poverty-stricken areas, and provides an income opportunity for rural women for 6 months of the year which enables them to pay for food, school fees, health care and to invest in micro-enterprises ( 65 Self-Help Groups)
Socially: The opportunity to take on positions of responsibility, whether at Board level or as an Field Co ordinator, has enabled many members to raise their status both within their local community and within their region.
To preserve the natural resources that the rural households depend on, Swazi Secrets addresses sustainable harvesting volumes and methods, tree-planting, environmental and organic training, environmental footprint of factory operations etc.The global recession and the increasingly unprofitable nature of bulk oil sales led to move away from selling bulk oil and seek long term financial viability through the development of the Swazi Secrets range as a global brand, 100% manufactured by SIP.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
How did you improve biodiversity and/or positively impact the local environment? Please be specific and include methodology where relevant (1000 characters max.)
SIP generates income for rural women from abundant wild indigenous trees, growing in natural areas and homesteads. By focusing on the seed kernels, it has created a value chain for previously underused natural resources. This has in turn created higher appreciation for those resources which were previously considered free and therefore low value. As an example of this shift, even a recent much-needed dam development for irrigating fields was viewed critically because it destroyed many hectares with marula trees.
SIP members collect and process (dry & crack) in their own community, as per traditional custom, and own the company i.e. groups receive & decide on use of profits. This helps to establish an excellent cultural fit between conservation and business as the participating communities own the value chain from natural resource to finished product. In 2010 SIP was accepted as a full trading member of the Union for Ethical Biotrade (UEBT), gaining an exceptionally high score of 78.5% when audited against UEBT’s Standard, which includes demanding criteria on environmental management, alongside social and business management aspects.
Language(s)
Which language(s) are spoken in the area where your solution is implemented? Siswati (Home Language) and English
Water
N/A - but looking forward to starting a livelihood project which will cover water issues in communities.
Food Security/Nutrition
SIP has paid out over R5m in cash directly to over 2,400 rural Swazi women in the past years that it has been operating. An impact study by an undergraduate student of Beloit University in USA - https://www.beloit.edu/polisci/publications/ - shows that suppliers start in the lowest socio-economic levels (from extreme poverty to moderate poverty) and that their situation improves through a combination of kernel income and confidence building from this income. Use of kernel in
Economic/Sustainable Development
The organization self f generated income is currently over 50% of total expenditure and growing rapidly, with major sales breakthroughs in Europe and the United States. SIP has also made rapid strides in developing the capacity of its members at various levels.
Climate
SIP has undertaken extensive validation of the sustainability of its 100% wild harvesting of marula. In addition, it is implementing a tree planting exercise with the planned impact of planting and nurturing 1,500 trees.SIP has also implemented training for its members/suppliers in other measures to protect the local environment and its biodiversity by enhancing awareness of other dangers, eg over grazing, soil erosion and alien invasive plants. SIP’s supply areas are managed under tradtional Sw
Sustainability
At the beginning the project will depend on grant funding or any Investment by partners. Thereafter, the sales will generate revenues which will sustain the project.
Return on investment
The total amount of grants used to develop and implement these activities was United States Dollars 380,000. This was due to the fact that it was a first project in Swaziland and a Feasibility study had to be conducted before it can operate. The results above once the project break even becomes viable.
Entrant Image
Entrant Banner Image
Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
It can be replicated anywhere in the world where there is plenty Marula Trees. Training in natural products processing and basic agricultural skills are required to implement the project. Women empowerment is needed for the success of the project