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SEPAZambia

Our work

Five connected areas of work

Linking environmental care with the everyday priorities of rural households, especially women.

Community members gathered beneath a beehive hung in woodland trees

Land Rights & Community Advocacy

Promoting women's land rights and fair management of natural resources in communities affected by the extractive industries.

SEPA builds the capacity of women's clubs to understand their land rights, so that traditional leaders allocate land to women under customary land administration systems.

Community sensitisation uses drama and open discussion to explain why both husbands and wives benefit from securing land, and how families can move from village registers towards formal title.

  • Women's land rights
  • Extractive-industry communities
  • Customary land administration
Community members gathered outdoors for a meeting

Sustainable Livelihoods

Fish farming, modern beekeeping and small livestock production through a pass-on-the-gift scheme.

Alternative livelihoods, especially improved beekeeping and honey processing as non-timber forest products, give households income while reducing pressure on forests.

Under the pass-on-the-gift approach, families who receive support share the benefit forward with others in their community.

  • Modern beekeeping and honey processing
  • Fish farming
  • Small livestock (pass-on-the-gift)
Community members in protective beekeeping suits with new beekeeping equipment

Climate Resilience & Safe Water

Strengthening the resilience of vulnerable households with climate-smart agriculture and access to safe water.

SEPA supports producer groups, mostly women, to adopt climate-smart farming techniques and year-round irrigated production for food security and income.

Safe water points reduce dependence on unsafe and dangerous river sources.

  • Climate-smart agriculture
  • Drip irrigation
  • Safe water access
Community members at an irrigated vegetable garden beside a raised water tank tower

Community Awareness & Protection

Sensitisation on early marriage, child protection and mineral revenue-sharing mechanisms.

SEPA holds community sessions on the harm caused by early marriage and child abuse, and on how communities can understand and engage with mineral revenue-sharing mechanisms.

  • Ending early marriage
  • Child protection
  • Mineral revenue sharing
Young people raising their hands in celebration at a SEPA event

EcoWatch & Restoration

Tree planting as a practical pathway to mitigate climate change and foster a greener, more sustainable future.

SEPA mobilises schools and communities to plant trees, protect forests and riverbanks, and mark environmental days together.

  • Tree planting
  • Forest protection
  • Schools and environmental days
A person planting a young tree seedling in dry ground

Project archive

Past projects

Historical projects documented in SEPA's records.

Handing over beekeeping equipment to the community

2019–2022

Promoting Land Ownership in Rural Communities

Funding: Irish Aid / Oxfam

The project aimed to empower communities in areas affected by deforestation from extractive industries to claim their rights in the use and management of natural resources, in three chiefdoms of Zambezi District.

Activities included building the capacity of women's clubs on land rights so that traditional leaders provide land to women under customary systems, and supporting women's clubs with improved beekeeping and honey processing to reduce deforestation.

Pupils and a SEPA facilitator holding a World Environment Day banner

Including World Environment Day, 5 June 2022

Community-led action against deforestation in Ishima Chiefdom

Funding: ActionAid Zambia

A community-led action project addressed deforestation caused by extractive industries in Ishima Chiefdom, Zambezi District. It increased awareness among community members of their right to challenge forest degradation.

Visibility activities included tree planting in ten targeted schools and the commemoration of World Environment Day on 5 June 2022. Sensitisation on natural resource management used materials translated into local languages.

A community gathering in woodland while a man digs a planting hole

2017–2019

Scaling up the Protection of International Waters (Zambezi River)

Funding: GEF Small Grants Programme

With GEF-SGP funding on two occasions, SEPA led tree planting along the Zambezi River to protect it from human activities such as riverbank tree cutting, gardening and water pollution.

Community members displaying a harvest of pumpkins and vegetables

Archive: dates not recorded

Mitigating the Twin Challenges of COVID-19 and Climate Change on Food and Nutrition Security

Funding: GEF/SGP-UNDP, with oversight by the Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD)

The project aimed to strengthen the livelihood resilience of vulnerable households through climate-smart agriculture. It worked with a women's producer group in Kamwandi Village (Headman Itanda, Chief Mpidi) in Zambezi East, including youth and households headed by persons with disabilities.

A drip irrigation system supports year-round production of crops and vegetables, and a borehole provides a safe alternative to the crocodile-infested Kabompo River.

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