Author Archives: cosv

Food Security and fighting poverty in Hwange and Binga Districts

The districts of Hwange and Binga are located in the region of Matabeleland North, where more than 80% of the rural population lives below the poverty line. In these areas, food insecurity threatens the everyday life of the whole community: it is not only about limited or nonexistent to access to food, but a complex context in which malnutrition feeds a vicious cycle made of poor diet, lack of incomes to diversify the diet, need to find immediate solutions to feed the family and consequent involvement in activities, often negative, to supplement the income.

In Hwange and Binga, crops and livestock management were reduced to subsistence, and this mismanagement has caused soil and water deterioration. The need for economic revenue has pushed risky mechanisms, such as cross-border trade and prostitution, and diseases such as HIV / AIDS spread reducing the number of people able to work in fields.

Along with Lead Trust and Lubancho House, two local organizations working in agricultural filed and supporting HIV/AIDS affected people, we started at the beginning of 2010 a program of low-cost diversification of livelihoods to enhance a sustainable food production and improve communities and vulnerable groups’ nutrition and living standards. Through the cultivation of gardens and the production and marketing of high nutritional value crops, we want to reduce dependence on food pantries and the risk of production of monocultures.

Small farmers are then trained on sustainable farming practices on crop diversification and development of drought-resistant seeds, that guarantee harvests of grains and legumes able to meet the community’s needs. For livestock, the project intervenes supporting families though management trainings. To increase the income-generating activities in the two districts, farmers and breeders are accompanied in the management of surplus production and helped entering the private markets.

Empowerment of civil society and CSO’s role to strengthen participation and national processes in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a country where the numerous and diverse civil society organizations range from residents,  women and student associations to think tanks and trade unions. Despite the coherent background and great experience,  the need of active citizenship strengthening is transversally felt and coordinated, dynamic and multi-layered actions amongst groups encouraged .

The project aims at contributing to the construction of an increasingly participatory and inclusive environment – promoting the effective implementation of the democratic requirements expressed in the Global Political Agreement (GPA), and strengthening the training, education and national healing skills of civil society groups. The program integrates a series of actions on  five key areas of Zimbabwe civil society structure:

Youth civic education and social participation

Citizenship education and involvement in social actions

Development of the information service provided by local community radios

Development of social inclusion at community level

Development of social artistic expression and communication

Youth centers will be opened to facilitate of young people participation: informed and involved in a responsible manner, they will be able to participate in national processes. In order to inform and increase people  awareness on national dynamics, civic education publications will be released and meetings organized. A key role will be covered by community radios: new structures will reach isolated communities and new information programs launched. Artistic expression and cultural activities will promote citizen participation, supporting in particular youth presence at concerts and national events.

Provision of primary health care services in Kulbus Locality – West Darfur

Kulbus is a small town in the northern part of West Darfur, on the border with Chad: an area affected for many years by civil war. Kulbus substantially lacks of all basic services, including medical ones: since more than 8 years we support a Primary Health Care Center in town and 10 basic health units located in the surrounding villages.

In these years, we have provided support to the local primary health care network through the supervision of the various units, the distribution of drugs and local staff training. With this project, we continue our collaboration to provide an integrated health care system and enhance preparedness and response to outbreaks of health emergencies.

Strengthening the capacity of health personnel of the 10 units and the Primary Health Care Center, we aim at improving the quality of basic health services in Kulbus area. In collaboration with the hospital of the Ministry of Health, local community health committees and local authorities, we strengthen the control of preparedness and response mechanisms to face and manage public health emergencies.