Climate Curve

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Name of Project:

Year Project Originated:

Project Summary / Description:

The Lunyangwa River Watershed Project is a four-year initiative aimed at transforming agriculture, water management, and livelihoods across the Zambezi Watercourse region in Malawi. The project promotes Deep-Bed Farming (DBF) as a climate-smart agricultural approach, enabling 17,000 farmers to restore degraded soils, improve water retention, and increase agricultural productivity. By integrating DBF within a Functional Landscape Management framework, the initiative addresses unsustainable farming practices, reduces soil erosion, enhances watershed health, and strengthens community resilience to climate variability. Through farmer training, research on adoption barriers, and partnerships with government and water authorities, the project creates a scalable model for sustainable land and water management with measurable social, economic, and environmental benefits.

How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

['Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)', 'Removes/stores GHGs (e.g., projects that capture, sequester, or otherwise enhance the "sinks" that accumulate and store GHGs)']

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

The Lunyangwa Project actively empowers women, youth, and climate-vulnerable smallholder farmers, who are often underrepresented in climate and agricultural decision-making. We prioritize female-headed households and young farmers for training in Deep-Bed Farming (DBF), providing knowledge, tools, and support to increase productivity, income, and resilience to climate shocks. Women and youth are also encouraged to take on leadership roles as peer trainers and community extension champions, ensuring their perspectives shape local agricultural and water management practices.

The project will undertake a gender-disaggregated analysis, capturing differences in labor contributions, income, and decision-making between men and women. This will provide credible evidence on how DBF improves farmer incomes and under what conditions, informing program design and policy advocacy.

Within Tiyeni, women hold leadership positions across management, training, and field teams, and youth are engaged in research, monitoring, and innovation roles. This ensures project decisions reflect the priorities of those most affected by climate variability. By combining capacity-building, leadership opportunities, and evidence-based analysis, the project empowers underrepresented groups to participate meaningfully in climate-smart agriculture, influence local governance, and benefit directly from sustainable environmental and livelihood improvements.