The Communtiy Relations sector of Gorongosa National Park hosted an exchange program between the communities from the Buffer Zone of the Park and the Communities in the Buffer Zone of Maputo Special Reserve and Ponta de Ouro Partial Marine Reserve (REM/REMPPO) from the 21st to the 27th November.
The exchange brought 35 participants from the Gorongosa buffer zone area, including community leaders, members of the Natural Resources Management Committees, Heads of Localities and Administrative Post, and GNP employees to share their experiences in their fields of community management and establishment of Community Conservation Areas (CCA).
The teams shared their experience of planting chilli peppers in elephant corridors to mitigate human wildlife conflict and also increases income for local farmers, and fish farming and communtity lodge development.
The teams visited red tilapia fish farming facility, and a community lodge in Mabuluku and Santa Maria.
The experience gained during the exchange will help improve outcomes across various projects, including cashew nut production, community tourism, handicrafts, production and commercialization of honey, and fish farming,to name a few..
The other great value of this exchange was the community meetings between the Mozambican community leaders covered by the PNG and REM, with the community leaders from Kwazulu Natal in South Africa, which allowed the sharing of experiences in the process of land administration and establishments of ACCs.
Most valuable was hearing more about the process of land administration and establishment of ACC’s from the community leaders from wazulu Natal in South Africa, who have extensive experience in managing the Pembe ACCs through a public-private partnership which has contributed to improving the quality of life of communities through investments in health, education and income generation through jobs.