Program Info
- Program established: 2012
- Staff: 2
- Target Program Areas/Regions: Mashonaland East Province, Marondera, Murehwa and Hwedza Districts, Magude, Chokwe and Nampula, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga (South Africa), Marracuene (Mozambique)
- Core Program Areas:
- Food Security and Resilient Livelihoods
- Global Learning and Partnership Building
Office Info
Country Director – Soil Muzenda and Crispin Mwatata
Address:
No. 30 Lalbagh Avenue
Ridgemont, Gweru, Zimbabwe
Phone: +263 772125822
Email: soil.muzenda@old.iirr.org, chrispin.mwatata@old.iirr.org
Challenges and Opportunities
Zimbabwe is a landlocked a country of 60 million inhabitants with an abundance of natural resources. The nation has struggled to feed its inhabitants since 2000, when low-productivity agricultural practices and isolation from global markets began to seriously impact food security. Severe droughts and stringent governmental land reforms increased these issues and placed additional burdens on the national economy. Unemployment and poverty have risen. These trends are particularly detrimental to the environment; farmers have not been able to effectively till the land, forests have been cut down by outside businesspeople, and the unpredictability of climate change further complicates these difficult dynamics. GDP growth, however, does signal a hopeful trend toward a more equitable and prosperous society (World Bank, 2017).
How IIRR Helps
- Building capacity and enhancing the documentation skills for grassroots development practitioners who promote sustainable livelihoods among affected communities in Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
- Partnering with agricultural training institutions to produce publications, toolkits, case studies and practical guides that will be utilized and distributed to smallholder farmers
- Encouraging and helping to implement village Savings & Loan associations among farmer field groups, with a particular emphasis on female groups.
- Consulting with existent agribusiness companies to grow their markets.
- Training rural communities in risk reduction and climate adaptation.
- Expanding an online network by creating and maintaining the Virtual Livelihoods School of Africa (VLSA), which offered a functional knowledge hub and reference materials for Zimbabwe’s agricultural colleges and smallholder farmers.
Partnerships:
- Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization, and Irrigation Development (MAMID)
- Agriculture and Irrigation Development
- Knowledge Transfer Africa
- Elim Services
- LIMA Development Foundation
- UNDP
- Knowledge Transfer Africa
Important Facts and Figures
- 102 service providers worked with farmers to increase yields and teach basic business skills.
- 1,261 farmers trained in different marketable skills, including:
- 66 farmers trained in beekeeping and honey processing.
- 51 farmers trained in conservation agriculture and horticulture production.
- 100 farmers trained in onion production.
- 64 farmers trained in potato production.
- 46 global NGO participants working in Zimbabwe trained in Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction. These trainings led directly to CMDRR plans in two wards, Bhasikiti Ward 6 (Mwenezi District) and Maseri Ward 7 (Beithridge District).
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76 individuals from 17 community-based organizations participated in a ‘write clinic’ that resulted in the creation and publication of 14 case studies and a number of additional guides.