Herald Reporters
Government needs to urgently refocus the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (Campfire) to ensure greater diversification and sustainable development of communities which live with and are affected by wildlife, a Government official has said.

Speaking during a National Campfire stakeholders review workshop recently, the Secretary for Environment, Water and Climate Ambassador Grace Mutandiro said the Campfire framework needed to be updated in line with the new thinking and approaches after operating for more than 25 years.

“It is not a secret that Campfire has not been working well due to many changes that have taken place both locally and globally,” she said.

“Its framework needs to be updated in line with new thinking and approaches after being operational for more than 25 years, there is an opportunity to address the various challenges that have been stalling progress over the year.”

Ambassador Mutandiro also said the review process was going to help inform the Government to develop restructuring plans in line with best practices.

“Under the 11th European Development Fund, the European Union has earmarked 12 million euros for natural resource management,” said Ambassador Mutandiro.

EU Natural Resource manager Mr Andrea Janoha said the Government had asked them to carry out a review because the model was not working as expected.

“We were asked by the Government of Zimbabwe to perform this review because apparently the model wasn’t working as expected,” said Mr Janoha.

“Some communities were not enjoying the benefits they were expecting from the model based on the theory that’s behind the model, so after the review I believe the Government will take action based on the recommendations that will come out from the review and the workshop.”

He said the goal of the review was to make sure that the livelihoods of the people around the communities are improved.

“The ultimate goal is to improve the livelihoods of the communities on the ground because the Campfire model was actually designed to allow communities to benefit directly from the resources that they had in communal lands,” he said.