Projects Implemented
KMAD combined implementation of core projects with the community and partners identified in previous years, and introduced a number of new projects, as set out below.
Savings and Credit
KMAD supported savings and credit activities in the Tupuito area through a contracted implementation agreement with Ophavela. The initial contract covered May 2006 to April 2007 and was renewed in May 2007. Ophavela is a Mozambican association dedicated to assisting communities develop savings and credit associations. The promotion of these groups addresses the lack of access to financial services in rural areas through a simplified institutional approach that is easier to create, manage and sustain than a microfinance institution, and thus is better suited to rural areas with a dispersed and poor population lacking in sophisticated financial management skills. There are 44 groups, involving 841 individual members in the Tupuito area.
Women's Savings Group
Horticulture
In 2007, KMAD and WWF set up two market gardening associations in the local villages of Nataka and Natuko. In the second half of 2007, when the project was activated, about 7,550 kilos of vegetables were produced as well as 20,000 heads of lettuce and 10,000 units of couve (a type of spinach). These were sold to the mine catering contractor at market price. Eventual target production is 55 tonnes a year of vegetables. KMAD and WWF supported the farmers by providing a technical expert, who was available for daily advice and organisation, by providing tools and seeds and by providing a liaison point for delivery and sale of produce. Also in late 2007, KMAD worked with Save the Children to introduce to the area a strain of cassava resistant to the ‘brown streak’ virus. This virus is spreading southwards through Mozambique and is a threat to food security because cassava is a staple in Mozambique. Fourteen farmers, two from each village, have been trained in identification and management of the virus. A large community nursery has been created to grow resistant plants, which will replace existing plants with the new resistant strain of cassava. The first crop will be distributed for planting in 2008.
Local Regulo Matapa helping with the local horticultural
project which supplies the mine with produce
Poultry
A major initiative in 2007 was the establishment of an egg production project in Mtitikoma. Since August, four chicken houses owned by local women have together produced approximately 90,000 eggs which have been sold to the mine catering contractor, which feeds over 400 people a day. Demand for eggs from the mine was in fact double that anticipated in the project design. The project is supported by FMO, which funds the full-time presence of a technical expert from a private poultry enterprise.
Poultry project supplys the mine with eggs
HIV/AIDS
The first activity funded by KMAD was the HIV/AIDS prevention programme, which started in 2005. The programme, Total Control of the Epidemic (TCE), is implemented by ADPP. The project was part financed by CNCS, the National AIDS Council of Mozambique. The programme is an information and education campaign which has provided information to over 57,000 people. The organisation has 37 employees who work in the local communities in the Moma District. These field officers are involved in house-to-house information campaigns and training of community activists. They have active programmes in schools and use a wide variety of communication techniques, including house-to-house visits, theatre and mass rallies. While working on prevention, the programme is training people living with AIDS and is also working to organize people in the communities to share the responsibility for orphans and vulnerable children.
Sports
KMAD provided soccer kits to the Futebol Associacao de Localidade de Tupuito and initiated a soccer league for the villages within the area and the Kenmare company team.
Kenmare's Company Team which plays in the local soccer league
Tupuito School
In July 2006, KMAD signed an agreement with IDPPE, the Department of Education and the local population for construction of three additional classrooms in the primary school, which currently provides up to 5th level education. The school will be able to provide up to 7th level education with KMAD support, which will greatly reduce the travel time for young students who currently have to walk up to 12 kilometres and cross a river to attend classes. The school was completed in 2007.
Charles Carvill (Chairman) opening the new primary school in Tupuito
KMAD Organisational Development
In 2008, KMAD will seek to strengthen its existing partnerships and to foster and build new relationships with NGOs and other expert organisations that can benefit the area. The shift from planning to implementation demands a different managerial approach and KMAD will move to achieve stability in project management in 2008. KMAD will also involve Kenmare employees with appropriate skill sets in projects of interest to them in a more structured fashion, thus strengthening community linkages.
General Community Interaction
In addition to the KMAD sponsored activities, the mining operations and the community interact daily. A full time community liaison officer is employed to liaise with the local communities about the mining activities and the associated impacts. A Local Working Group (LWG) is the primary channel of communication between Kenmare and the Government of Mozambique, on the one hand, and the surrounding communities on the other. The LWG was formed during the detailed design phase and meets on a bi-monthly basis. It comprises the District Administrator, Government representatives, Kenmare management and a number of other local representatives.
In addition to acting as a conduit of information, the LWG has the following key responsibilities:
• monitor implementation of the Resettlement and Compensation Plan;
• identify issues or areas of concern that may have been overlooked or under-emphasised in the Social Impact Assessment or Resettlement Guidelines, and suggest amelioration and/or mitigation measures;
• assist in the finalisation of the Land Use Plan for the resettlement areas;
• facilitate land acquisition in areas under its control, both in the mine site area and in the host resettlement area;
• hold regular meetings with the affected constituencies to explain the process of compensation and resettlement, and advise about progress; and
• monitor the project area to prevent illegal encroachers and squatters.
The main community impact during 2007 was the resettlement of the village of Namalope to the newly constructed village of Mtitikoma in May. The new village consists of 146 houses, a mosque and a school. The resettlement process was managed in accordance with World Bank guidelines and a review took place during the year. All houses were built to a significantly higher standard than the previous dwellings (concrete brick houses with zinc roofing) and any crops lost were fully compensated. A grievance committee has been established to resolve any complaints which may have arisen during the resettlement process.
