<p>The Integrated Watershed Management in the Ribb, Gumera and Jema Watersheds project is one of the four fast track projects prepared in 2007 under the Eastern Nile Watershed Management (ENWM) Project. The project was prepared as an integral part of Tana-Beles Watershed Management Project. The project area was comprised of five micro-watersheds/development clusters totaling 80,600 ha in area and split roughly equally between the Ribb, Gumera and Jema watersheds, each of which drains into Lake Tana.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Integrated Watershed Management in the Ribb, Gumera and Jema Watersheds project is one of the four fast track projects prepared in 2007 under the Eastern Nile Watershed Management (ENWM) Project. The project was prepared as an integral part of Tana-Beles Watershed Management Project. The project area was comprised of five micro-watersheds/development clusters totaling 80,600 ha in area and split roughly equally between the Ribb, Gumera and Jema watersheds, each of which drains into Lake Tana.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The project objective was to improve the livelihoods of rural households living in the upper catchments of Ribb, Gumera and Jema Watersheds in Ethiopia through enhanced productivity and promotion of sustainable land use practices. The project was structured along three mutually supportive themes, namely (a) theme A on livelihoods, which had four components directed at improving livelihoods through better communications, increased productivity and enhanced income generation; (b) theme B on natural resources, which had two main components covering soil and water management and forestry and agro-forestry measures aimed at creating a sustainable landscape that limits erosion and creates a more productive basis for livelihood generation; and (c) theme C on capacity building and project management that addresses the immediate constraints in capacity to implement the project and sustain the outcomes through more robust community and government institutions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Specific interventions under the project included upgrading rural feeder roads; establishing micro-finance schemes; improving water supply and sanitation systems; improving facilities at health posts and primary schools; demonstration of improved cropping practices (such as alley cropping, intercropping, strip cropping, cover cropping, etc), improved seed and fertilizer use; integrated pest management; controlled ploughing; stabilization of terraces and gullies with trees and shrubs; cultivation of pasture grasses and leguminous hedgerows for fodder production; establishment of animal health posts; development of dairy processing and animal fattening programmes; classification of land base on slope and introduction of appropriate soil and water conservation measures such as land closure, bench terracing, stone bunds, earth bunds, contour bunds and check dams; promotion of rainwater harvesting; promotion of small scale irrigation; establishment of tree nurseries and planting of private and community woodlots.</p>
<p>The project objective was to improve the livelihoods of rural households living in the upper catchments of Ribb, Gumera and Jema Watersheds in Ethiopia through enhanced productivity and promotion of sustainable land use practices. The project was structured along three mutually supportive themes, namely (a) theme àon livelihoods, which had four components directed at improving livelihoods through better communications, increased productivity and enhanced income generation; (b) theme B on natural resources, which had two main components covering soil and water management and forestry and agro-forestry measures aimed at creating a sustainable landscape that limits erosion and creates a more productive basis for livelihood generation; and (c) theme C on capacity building and project management that addresses the immediate constraints in capacity to implement the project and sustain the outcomes through more robust community and government institutions.</p>