Text/photos by Larissa Sousa (Top photo – Conselho Executivo Provincial de Sofala.)
November 20th will be recorded in Gorongosa’s history with the inauguration of the Cheringoma Community Conservation Area Center (CACCC), an infrastructure that marks a new chapter for the district and Mozambique. This Center, inaugurated by the Governor of Sofala Province, Lourenço Ferreira Bulha, together with the Inhaminga District Government represented by Administrator Henriqueta do Rosário, symbolizes a modern and inclusive vision in which conservation and development go hand in hand, with communities at the center of decisions. ‘We are inaugurating a new cycle of hope, unity and development for Cheringoma, based on conservation, the valorization of natural capital and the empowerment of communities,’ said the President of the Gorongosa Restoration Project, Aurora Malene.
This Center was built with the support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) as part of the partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Gorongosa Restoration Project (GRP). In her speech, the UNDP representative to Mrs. Eunice Mucache said that ‘UNDP, through the long partnership it has established with GRPsince 2015 when implementing the GEF 4 project, reaffirms on this occasion its commitment to continue this important partnership through the materialization of the priority interventions identified in the new project entitled TRANSFORMA, which has the support of the GEF 8 financing window.’
The CACCC is made up of the following buidings: (1) office, (1) Women’s Development Center, (1) training room, (3) dormitories with capacity for 10 people each, (2) visitor accommodation block with capacity for 6 people, (2) staff houses, (1) waste and recycling management house, (1) canteen, (1) satellite warehouse and water tower. The Center was conceived as a permanent space for dialogue and capacity building, where communities can share experiences, acquire new knowledge and actively participate in decisions related to the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Here, communities will have access to training in Community Management of Natural Resources, Conservation Agriculture, Forest Management, environmental regeneration, human-wildlife coexistence, among many other opportunities that strengthen capacities and generate new sources of income. It is also a local space for meetings, planning, cooperation with the Government and technical work of the Gorongosa National Park.
With this undertaking of approximately USD 1.2 million, the GRP reaffirms its commitment to biodiversity conservation and human development in the communities surrounding the Sustainable Development Zone.
Ready to conserve the environment!
