The Awash Conservation and Developement Project combines an innovative approach to conservation and development. The aim of the project is to enhance the local communities by providing them with the capacity to manage their natural resources under a conservation aspect and to manage their own development towards food security. This will be achieved through community education programs, instituitonal capacity strengthening programs, through participatory project management and through technical interventions. The project will gradually phase over more and more responsibility to a development and Conservation Committese which will finally establish a local NGO, with representatives of all three pastoral groups.
Population growth and population pressure reduce the land availble to teh pastoralist and increases the risk of inter-tribal conflicts. The political and park boundaries are not yet defined and are subject to speculation. The subsistence economy does not allow the population to plan for a long term. Insufficient rainfall can destroy the limited economic resources of teh pastoralists. The Awash Conservation Area and the Irrigation schemes have taken away valuable dry season grazing land and access to permanent water points. The project plans to address these problems on a national and local level and will use participatory methods to include the project beneficiaries in all stages of the project cycle.
