1. Manda Wilderness Community Trust
Newsletter June 2015
he first six months of 2015 have seen a major expansion of the Trust’s activity, with the
launch of a major new phase of the Biodiversity Project, the recruitment of two
agriculture experts, plans for an exciting new venue for the annual Choir festival, and a
venture into adult education and women’s groups. And the trust’s long-standing support for
schools has gained pace as villagers invest their own time and resources into making
improvements to buildings.
The Trust itself has been reorganised, with Jeremy Toye shifting to the new role of Secretary and
Dorothy McLaren taking over as Chair. The Trust is also looking for new Trustees, so all interest
in working with this exciting venture is more than welcome.
Juliana Castellanos, who joined as our new Community Project Manager in February, is the
lynchpin of our operations in Mozambique itself, backed by her local counterpart Richard
Stephano and a five-strong team on the Agriculture Project at the Farm – which itself is being
revamped as a Trust base.
All of the activities below require high levels of energy, commitment – and cash. We can
provide plenty of energy and commitment, but there is always a need for more funds. So if in
reading this, you feel able to contribute, the simplest way is to go to www.btplc.com/mydonate,
find Manda Wilderness, and make a donation on line. See our website at
www.mandawilderness.org for details.
Manda Wilderness Biodiversity Project
The enthusiastic response to Phase One of the Manda Wilderness Biodiversity Project completed
late last year prompted an application for a larger grant to support a more ambitious programme
aimed at going beyond agroforestry into general agricultural development. This, not only to
improve livelihoods, but also to protect and enhance the environment of Manda Wilderness, its
hinterland and Lake Niassa itself.
Phase Two is supported by a grant from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), based in
Virginia USA and administered by the Conservation International Foundation, based in California.
Manda Wilderness Biodiversity Project Phase 2 runs from April 1st
of 2015 to March 31st
of 2017.
The commitment to the grant places considerable responsibility on the Trust, not only to ensure
that the funds are used appropriately, but that the real benefits reach the people of Manda
Wilderness and that results prolong for future growth.
T

2. While the Project involves working in-situ with the 16 villages that the Trust already partners with,
the headquarters are currently being set up at the Manda Wilderness Agricultural Project (MWAP)
farm. The main shed has been re-built with new –stronger- poles, and the floor is ready to be re-
laid. A kitchen with room for 4 fuel-efficient stoves is in the process of being built, and Nkwichi
Lodge´s electrician has kindly gone to Malawi to buy the items necessary for an upgraded solar-
power supply system that will allow the whole team to work from there.
To add to the knowledge and exchange of ideas of our five permanent MWAP local staff, two
experts with extensive experience in their respective areas will be arriving in July: Laura Turrini
and Thomas Mbeyela.
Laura Turrini Brandao is an Italo-Brazilian, currently completing a Master’s
degree in Humanitarian Action at the University of Malta. She is a Bachelor
of Trilingual Executive Secretary, Masters of Business Administration and
speaks Portuguese, English and Japanese. Laura has over six years of
professional experience in large multinational companies such as Caterpillar
and Hyundai (working in the areas of corporate responsibility and event
coordination), as well as an NGO consultant.
Indeed, from 2008 to the present, Laura has worked as a consultant for an NGO based in Cabo
Frio, Brazil. She has had particular involvement in two projects. In one, called The Neighbourhood
Project, she was responsible for research through focus groups and PRA (Participatory Rural
Appraisal) in 28 neighbourhoods for the purpose of leadership identification and dissemination of
public policies. She focused on women´s empowerment and livelihood through cooperatives
incentives as crafts, fishing and cassava planting. In the other, the Preto Forro Quilombo Livelihood
Project, she was responsible for the fundraising, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
activities aimed at rescuing the culture and empowerment of former slave communities through
the enhancement of their agro-ecological potential.
Laura became interested in getting involved with the Trust while reading Jeremy Toye´s, then
Trust Chair, Message from Manda posted on our website last year. "Although we have the
mandatory analysis of accountability, efficiency, effectiveness, time, quality, etc. [in humanitarian
action and development]," she has said, "many organizations don’t take into consideration the
main human values as empathy, humility, happiness. I was happy to realize this approach in
Manda projects".
MWAP´s Farm Manager Joao Manyamba and Master
Paper-Maker Jaime Mchema, pose in their renovated
shed. The floor is scheduled to be laid on June 30th.
MWAP staff and visitors will soon be able to enjoy the
pleasures of cooking in their new kitchen built by Charles
Chirwanew from Mala Village.

3. Laura is going to be working on the ethno-ecology social mapping with the Manda Wilderness
communities to set the baseline for Phase Two of the Manda Wilderness Biodiversity Project.
Thomas Mbeyela is a Tanzanian national who originally obtained his degree
in animal science. He has since attained a variety of certificates in the areas
of bio-fertilizers and community development. He has worked in Ethiopia,
Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Egypt and Tanzania, primarily in Training the
Trainer programs around the topics of soil and water conservation
techniques under drought conditions, land use planning and management,
and vegetative propagation for arid and semi-arid lands.
Throughout his career, Thomas has attended numerous workshops and seminars on topics such as
integrated natural resource management, agroforestry and climate change, intellectual property
on genetic resources and traditional knowledge, construction and sustainable implementation of
innovations in dry-land Africa, disaster risk reduction and food security.
Thomas will be joining the team in the role of conservation agriculture training advisor.
Finally, and to better prepare ourselves for the management of this multi-dimensional project, our
Community Project Manager attended the course ‘Systematic Evaluation of CEPF and Capacity
Development of CEPF Grantees’ otganized by the Tropical Biology Association (TBA) and the Fauna
and Flora International (FFI) with funding from CEPF, between the 26th
and the 29th
of May. The
course, which took place in Mbeya, Tanzania was a fantastic opportunity to network with CEPF-
grantees from Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique as well as to strengthen our
skills in project management, monitoring and evaluation, strategic planning and organizational
capacity development, and effective communication.
CEPF-Grantee Project Managers together with Trainers Rosie Trevelyan,
Director of the Tropical Biology Association (TBA), Maaike Manten, CEPF
Regional Implementation Team (RIT), Charles Meshak, Executive Director of
the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group, Rahima Njaidi, Executive Director
of MJUMITA, and Paul Mugo, TBA Training Coordinator.

4. Cobue Girls´ Boarding House
Thanks to the generous donations of Nkwichi Lodge guests and Trust friends, a new bathroom unit
was built for the girls residing at the boarding house in Cobue. The unit consists of two pit latrines
and two showering units. The project was handed over to the government-assigned Matron and
the Principal of the Cobue Secondary School on the 18th
of June. Additionally, responding to the
increasing number of girls attending secondary school, two additional fuel-efficient stoves made at
the MWAP farm were added to the existing four.
Choir Festival
Preparations for the Manda Wilderness Choir Festival sponsored by the Andrew Lloyd Webber
Foundation, which will take place on September 5th
this year, have been in order.
18-year old Jay Richardson from Cambridgeshire will be joining the Manda Wilderness team from
mid-July through mid-September. Richard Stephano, our Local Community Project Manager, and
Jay will be travelling to the 14 villages participating in the choir competition this year to share
training sessions with the singers and choirmasters.
Jay, who recently completed secondary schooling and who is going on to study music is “highly
passionate about involving communities in music” and “[is] deeply inspired by the communal
nature of art in cultures as that found in Mozambique”. Jay´s first experience with the local choirs
will be on July 18th
through 19th
, as the Manda Wilderness Choir, comprised of one member from
each of the village choirs, will come together to rehearse for their performance at the Festival.
For the safety of the girls, but taking into accounts the
logistics of the water flow, the bathroom unit was built
just behind the boarding house.
Richard Stephano, our Local Community Project Manager,
smiles with the completed work.

5. Construction of a new stage to be used at the Festival has begun in the grounds of the Cobue
Secondary school, facing the sports field. Mr. Patricio Canjoka, the head builder, is very excited
about the building of this structure, as is the school principal, as the stage will be used for
educational purposes during the rest of the year.
School Projects
After the April-May 2015 village trips, village committees and community members submitted
proposals to the Trust in order to continue improving their educational projects:
Mbueca has received 15 bags of cement, with which they will repair the
floor and wall cracks of the older school block. As with all MWCT, the
community will pay 25% of the builder fee.
Images from the 2014 choir training sessions at the villages.
The stage building team. Don´t forget the lady on the left,
who was hired by the head builder to bring water to the
site. The borehole is only a few meters away.

6. With the 20 bags of cement that they requested, the Uchessi
community already repaired the floor and walls of their two-
classroom school block.
With the 35 bags of cement that they requested and promptly picked
up from the main town of Cobue, Chigoma has begun plastering the
inside of their new school block consisting of three ample classrooms
and a teachers´ office.
During our village meeting in front of the Mataka School
block in April, the community asked for 10 bags of cement
to finish laying the floor in one classroom. The cement is
now stored in Cobue, ready for pick-up. As with the
builder fee, the Trust supports the community with 75% of
the cement transport costs.
In May, the Mandambuzi community asked for the support of the
Trust to paint their new school block inside and out, and repaint their
old block outside. Not only did they pick up their paint and brushes in
a very timely manner, but they already finished painting and have now
submitted their proposal to paint the inside of the old block as well.
Adult School Project in Khango
At our meeting under a baobab tree with Khango village (not Cobue Centre but the other side of
the village), several community members, mostly women, suggested that the Trust assist them
with adult schooling. Community members expressed that many of them did not get the
opportunity to attend school when they were younger and that learning how to read, write and do
basic math operations would improve their lives. After meetings with the respective local
authorities, the Trust agreed to sponsor the take-off of the project, with the agreement by the
primary and secondary school representatives and government authority to assist in facilitating

7. areas where lessons can take place and liaising so that they can continue the project once the
Trust´s sponsorship of the teacher´s salaries ends. Rotary Club US has kindly agreed to participate.
Umoji with Umoji – As One with Umoji Association
In May, transport and meals sponsored by Umoji Association, three women from the village of
Chigoma stayed at the MWAP farm for five days, while receiving training on the elaboration of
fuel-efficient stoves.
On the 10th
and 11th
of June, We Effect (former Swedish Cooperative Centre - SCC), a non-
governmental and non-profit organization for the provision of support to self-help development,
organized their III Meeting of ARENA Program Partners in Cobue. Umoji Association, as the host
partner, and We Effect invited the Trust. During the site trip, the stoves were proudly presented by
the village chief and the representative of the Chigoma Women´s Group. Some "parceiros" even
took a stove or two home!
The motto of this year´s meeting was De onde viemos? Onde estamos? E para onde vamos?, that
is, “Where do we come from? Where are we? And where are we going”. Topics as the impact of
climate change on farmers and local economic development in a globalized world were discussed.
Likewise, various case studies, such as one of a sustainable agriculture center in Cuamba,
Mozambique (CTA – Cuamba) were presented to highlight successes and challenges.
Be sure to follow real time updates of the work of the Trust by liking our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/mandawildernesscommunitytrust.
We Effect´s ARENA Program Partners at Chigoma Village.