Cross-cutting issues

By Mesh Moeti

Fundamental to the Okavango Delta Management Plan (ODMP) is the incorporation of elements of gender, poverty, and HIV and AIDS.

The Draft Okavango Delta Management Plan states that out of the Ngamiland district’s 63 725 women, 57.8 percent are rural. Their livelihood revolves around arable farming, fishing, gathering of veldt products as well as formal and informal employment. The men’s occupation is in the pastoral farming, fishing and employment (formal and informal). The women make the larger segment among the poor.

The ODMP project’s rural sociologist Ramogaupi Gaborekwe explains that given the patriarchal nature of the district’s society men control income generating economic activities. For instance, in Shakawe, fishing brings in more money, so men dominate the activity and have relegated women to farming.

“For the success of ODMP, we have to mainstream poverty and HIV into the programme. The poor live off the environment. People have to travel to access ARV, and if they do not have money to travel to the nearest health post, they harvest some natural resources to make money. So our interventions have to ensure that such harvesting is sustainable,” says Gaborekwe.

To make meaningful impact, ODMP pioneered some projects in the district, aimed at poverty reduction. One such project is promotion of cultural tourism at Tsodilo. The recently established curio shop for the Tsodilo settlement sells cultural artifacts from the San and Mbukushu artists at the settlement.

Another pilot project entailed clearing of small access channels into certain lagoons and islands to reach resources that communities are dependent on. The intervention is expected to improve accessibility for the collection of raw materials for craft production, mainly used by women, and therefore alleviate poverty.

“The communities use the channels to harvest grass, wood, and other resources. When the channels block, poverty sets in,” Gaborokwe explains.