African Wildlife and Environment Issue 66

‘Ecological infrastructure’ refers to naturally functioning ecosystems that deliver valuable services to people, such as fresh water, climate regulation, soil formation and disaster risk reduction. It is the nature based equivalent of built- or hard infrastructure, and is actually more important for providing services and underpinning socio-economic development. The slogan ‘there are no jobs on a dead planet’ is sometimes used to endorse the importance of ecological infrastructure. The mobilizing of local people to address township challenges related to water, waste and sanitation is showing encouraging progress in various parts of the KZN Midlands such as in Mpophomeni township near Howick. Some District municipalities such as Umsunduzi District Municipality (UMDM) have managed to source funding through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and with careful management and over-sight from DUCT this project is showing a number of remarkable successes. Based on the learning, experience and insights from the Enviro-Champs experiences, other parts of South Africa are developing similar projects, although these are often known by different, locally relevant, names. The up-scaling of the concept is developing in places such as Pongola, Ceres, Stellenbosch and Amanzimtoti. Such is the potential of this work is that it is arousing interest amongst researchers as far away as Canada (Kolbe, 2014) and is even appearing in electronic media in the United States (Dambuza and Taylor, 2015). Once it was realised that something special was happening in Mpophomeni, organisations such as WWF expressed interest in upscaling the work. An evaluation was therefore commissioned to document the key features of the programme (Ward 2016). The evaluation noted that to achieve optimal effect the following key components of the Enviro-Champs work are important: 1. Capacity building – people need to understand how the systems work, and the capacity building needs to be a co-engaged process of meaning making, not just learning as knowledge transfer. This form of capacity building has been well developed through WESSA Work Skills, an accredited training service provider, and most Enviro-Champs have participated in the training. 2. Door-to-door Education involves visits to households to engage with residents around issues ranging from water leaks to sanitation and waste management. To work well the project must be well managed and careful records must be kept. Here Ayanda Lipheyane, who also works with DUCT and GroundTruth, and Baba Cele provide leadership. Other activities such as enviro-clubs for children and drama activities, sometimes known as ‘street theatre’ for environmental awareness, are undertaken by

Green jobs for blue rivers: WORKING TOGETHER IN SUPPORT OF ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

A capacity building day

Unsatisfactory youth unemployment are two key issues facing South Africa. By working with local communities for the common good or ‘Ubuntu’, through the Enviro Champs programmes, we are realizing that service delivery is being improved and that ‘door-to-door’ education is enabling young people to become the ‘eyes and the ears’ of the community and help people manage their waste more effectively, fix their leaks and generally learn to conserve resources such as water and electricity. Of greatest significance is that such projects develop a sense of pride, purpose and well-being amongst participants (Ward, 2016). service delivery and

Working with local municipalities (UMDM and uMngeni) as well as Umgeni Water, the Enviro Champs have saved 10 million litres of treated water in just six months, and prevented 18 sewers from continuously spilling into Midmar Dam. The project is coordinated by the Duzi Umngeni Conservation Trust (DUCT) with capacity building support from WESSA.

By Jim Taylor and Tembeka Dambuza

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