Title: Okwango Programme

Projet number: B7-5041/92.20/VIII/FOR

Amount: 4.087.425 ECU

Contractor:

• The Federal Republic of Nigeria (Financing Agreement)
• WWF-UK (technical assistance)
• Hunting technical Services Ltd (Financial Controller)

Field: Nature protection, Parks management.

Country: Nigeria

Date of signature: 09/02/93

Duration: 4 years + no cost extension until 01/10/98.

Objectives:

1. To protect few remaining areas of primary lowland tropical rainforest within Nigeria and the region;
2. To improve the livingconditions of the rural communities surrounding the national Park whose pattern of life is closely linked with and dependent on the forest at the present. The programme plans to improve their economic conditions by encouraging sustainable land use practices, improving rural infrastructures, tourism and education, thus giving rural communauties an incentive to support the park in the long run.

Activities:

• Building up a management and control system of the Programme so that it can be operated and manteined by the appropriate government institutions and indigenous ONG's;
• Creating of necessary infrastructures related to the conservation/protection, including physical demarcation;
• Building up and implementing a development programme directed towards the rural areas surrounding the Park ("Support zone") in order to help local people find sustainable economic alternatives (sustainable farming and extractive system, improvement of social structure and development of small scale economic activities) to the present hunting, trapping, gathering and deforestation practices;
• Developing an environmental education and awareness programme in order to assist local people to take part in the decision make process;
• establish a biological inventory and undertaken research.

Results expected:

To create and improve the rural infrastructure, the education system and technical and scientific assistance in order to realise the objectives of the project in collaboration with people of the project area and the indigenous NGO's.

Beneficiaries:

Rural communauties surrounding the national park, Government of Nigeria, local and international NGO.

Implementation strategy:

• The programme falls under the overall responsability of the "National parks Decree 1991".
• The team leader/programme manager acting with WWF is responsibe for the implementation of the programme as a whole;
• Cross river national park management Committee
• Financial Controller (Hunting ltd);
• WWF/NCF joint technical assistance;
• Infrastructures, equipment, tools and vehicules;

The implementation, extension or adaptation of all programme components (except for items such as Mid-term evaluation as well as external audits) will be subject to the approval of these annual work plans.

Funds will be disbursed in accordance with the annual work plans and budgets prepared by the PM and, after control and agreement of the Financial Control, approved by GON (represented by the Director of national parks) and the EC.

The third work programme sets out the administrative, financial and technical framework for the operation of WP n°3 (01/04/96-31/03/97). It makes a positive appraisal on the last year of execution, WP N°2 (4/95-3/96). However certain areas of inadequacy in WP N°2 have been identified and modified in this succeeding document (to facilitate a mid-term evaluation of the Programme, to submit proposals for future programme development and to make full proposals on the potential resettlement of the enclave villages of Okwangwo, Okwa1, Okwa 2). Funds for WP N°2 were realized in the programme's Brussels account in mid August and received on November 1996. This allowed a period of less than five months to accomplish the goals of the annual work programme.