Billboard at road junction 602km from Lusaka and 48 km to Magumwi Village and proposed project area in Machile IBA.

With threats on Black-cheeked Lovebird being evident, the proposed project will be hinged on activities aimed at enhancing community actions for species/habitat conservation and economic diversification. Precisely, focus is on a five-pronged strategic drive whose hub is development and stimulation of actions for Black-cheeked Lovebird and motivating the community to embrace the species and local resources as capital for livelihood sustenance.

The strategic drives hinge on:

- Sensitizing relevant stakeholders on potentials and opportunities from conservation and preservation of the threatened species.

- Developing and enhancing local conservation initiatives through a legal and capacitated local conservation group. Capacity building is crucial.

- Developing a species conservation strategy and plan for A. nigrigenis

- Planning for the development of a community based avian tourism

- Developing and supporting conservation clubs in selected schools.

- Other activities would include; monitoring of bird habitats and conducting A. Nigrigenis counts.

Core project activities would include:

- Sensitization/awareness building on A. nigrigenis amongst key stakeholders in Sesheke district. A series of courtesy calls would accomplish this.

- Conducting sensitization and lobbying meetings to strengthen and formalize the SSG. Stakeholder’s meetings at community level, followed by planning for conservation workshop or a series of SSG meetings would result in positive results.

- An activity namely participatory situation analysis and action planning for conservation would be conducted over a two (2) weeks period. This activity would be undertaken in order for all stakeholders to appreciate local bio-physical and social circumstances and develop practical ways of responding to threats and opportunities. The activity would culminate in, community based species conservation and avian tourism development plans. Other parallel but beneficial activities and project components would also be identified.

- Training and mentoring of the SSG for active participation in the project. This activity is aimed at enhancing the performance of the SSG in terms of management, leadership, resource mobilization, record management and participatory monitoring. The component would be accomplished via a training session and exposure visit for selected stakeholders.

- Plans for development of facilities for avian tourism - planning for the establishment of a community camp site and provision of support towards training of local bird guides.

- Sourcing funds for infrastructure for avian tourism. With water availability being the major constraints for birds and people, funds under this project cycle are not adequate to support infrastructure development pertaining to avian tourism.