Growing greener: Restoration and sustainable use of agro-pastoralist systems in open arid landscapes across Southern Africa

State of implementation/results

• Herding for Health (H4H) is a relevant and steadily growing model for improved rangeland management in the Southern and Eastern African regions. The project seeks to expand H4H to at least 20 million hectares by 2030 with a total investment of more than USD 150 million.
• The consortium partners Conservation International (CI), Peace Parks Foundation (PPF), and the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development (CCARDESA) have started implementation work at site level in the last quarter of 2024.
• Baseline data was compiled for the H4H-sites in the four countries, which will be systematized and revised in the next step. Establishing baselines is crucial for tracking and monitoring the progress and impact of the project across the four SADC countries.
• In Zambia, the national project kickoff took place in Mwandi District in August 2024, with 150 stakeholders in attendance: www.peaceparks.org/…
• The national project kickoffs in Madagascar and South Africa are scheduled for April and May 2025, respectively. The events serve to inform and sensitize relevant stakeholders, including consortium partners and the German Embassies in all project countries.
• National policy gap analyses to identify key entry points for the project’s contribution were conducted in 2024. Some recommendations and outputs from these studies are already being utilized by policymakers and International Cooperating Partners to revise existing and new policy frameworks for improved communal rangeland management for each of the four partner countries.
• CCARDESA launched a H4H-homepage in November 2024 and has since started to share regular project updates via its social media channels: www.ccardesa.org/…
• Consortium members, government partners, and communities are stressing the need to integrate gender trainings into the H4H-model. The project developed a gender working paper which identified gaps, challenges, and recommendations for effectively incorporating gender into H4H-project interventions last year. Following the recommendations, approximately 300 project beneficiaries participated in a pilot training in the Simalaha Community Conservancy in Zambia in early 2025.
• The project supported the H4H Indaba conference, which took place in Hoedspruit, South Africa, from January 27–31, 2025. The conference brought together a dynamic and diverse group of stakeholders. With over 174 attendees from 11 countries (Madagascar, Mozambique, USA, UK, Ethiopia, Kenya, Eswatini, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Botswana), the conference demonstrated the power of collaboration and collective action.

Latest Update:
06/2025