ZAMBIA INTERFAITH NETWORKING GROUP (ZINGO)
TECHNICAL REPORT
(January- December 2013)
Plot 9140 Lufubu Road,
P.O. Box 30360,
LUSAKA.
Tel: 260-1-294616; Fax: 260-1-294615
E-mail: admin.zingo@gmail.com
Website: www.zambiainterfaithgroup.org
TECHNICAL REPORT (January- December 2013) ©2013
Contents
ABBREVIATIONS ...........................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................5
ACTIVITY REPORT ........................................................................................................6
Intensifying prevention ..................................................................................................6
The SCI/MDG 4&5 Project .......................................................................................... 13
TREATMENT, CARE & SUPPORT............................................................................ 14
IMPACT MITIGATION ............................................................................................... 14
Economic Strengthening (COH III Project) ............................................................... 15
Child Rights ................................................................................................................... 19
RESPONSE MANAGEMENT ..................................................................................... 23
Gender Programme –JCP/Norwegian Church Aid ................................................ 25
ZINGO’s Engagements with LPCB ............................................................................ 26
Summary of Achievements and Challenges for ZINGO programme ................. 28
Areas needing improvement ..................................................................................... 30
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 32
TECHNICAL REPORT (January- December 2013) ©2013
ABBREVIATIONS
ADF
AIDS
CCZ
CHAZ
CRC
DAI
DWA
EFZ
EU
FBO
FHI 360
FQM
GBV
GSLA
GYBI
HAZ
HBC
HCT
HEA
HIV
HPG
ICOZ
ILO
ISCZ
JCP
LAGs
LPCB
MC
MCH
NAPEC
NCA
NGO
NSA
NZP+
PLWHA
PMTCT
PRA
REFLECT
African Development Foundation
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Council of Churches in Zambia
Churches Health Association of Zambia
Convention on the Rights of Children
Development Alternative Incorporated
District Women Association
Evangel Fellowship of Zambia
European Union
Faith Based Organisation
Family Health International
First Quantum Mining
Gender Based Violence
Group Savings and Loan Association
Generate Your Business Initiative
Hindu Association of Zambia
Home Based Care
Health Counseling Test
Household Economic Exercise
Human Immune Virus
Maximizing Household Production
Independent Churches of Zambia
International Labour Organisation
Islamic Supreme Council of Zambia
Joint Country Programme
Lobbying and Advocacy Group
Local Partner Capacity Building Programme
Male Circumstances
Maternal and Child Health
National Program Execution Committee
Norwegian Church Aid
Non-Governmental Organisation
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Zambia
Network of Zambia People Living with HIV/AIDS
People Living With HIV/AIDS
Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission
Participatory Rural Appraisal
Regenerated Freirean Literacy through Empowering
Community Techniques
TECHNICAL REPORT (January- December 2013) ©2013
SCI
SHARe II
SRH
SSG
STIs
UNESCO
VHI
VMMC
WIG
YMEP
ZINGO
ZPI
Save the Children International
Strengthening HIV/AIDS Response in Zambia II
Sexual Reproductive Health
Sub-Sub Grantees
Sexually Transmitted Infection
United Nations Education and Scientific Cultural
Organization
Vulnerable Households & Individuals
Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision
Women In Governance
Young Men engaged as Equal Partners
Zambia Interfaith Networking Group
Zambia Prevention Initiative
TECHNICAL REPORT (January- December 2013) ©2013
INTRODUCTION
The Zambia Interfaith Networking Group (ZINGO) was formed in 1997 and
formalized in 2003 to coordinate the interfaith response to HIV/AIDS. This
coordination is achieved within the framework of a Strategic Plan developed
and agreed upon by the seven (7) mother bodies that make up ZINGO. The
current Strategic Plan covers the period 2012-2016 and its implementation is
made possible through Operational Plans drawn annually and which forms
the basis for programme implementation during each particular year.
This report highlights the achievements and challenges under each of the four
strategic pillars covering the period January to December, 2013. The Report
focuses on achievements of the year and an analysis of the implementation
process and outcomes. ZINGO actualized the implementation of the
operational plan by engaging several cooperating partners in areas that of
mutual concern. Subsequently and due to lack of support in some of the
programme areas, a number of planned activities did not take place as no
partners were identified to support them. The achievements being reported
were a result of work carried out in partnership with the following partners:
1. FHI 360/Corridors of Hope III Project in ten districts namely Chipata,
Chililabombwe, Chirundu, Kapiri - Mposhi, Katete, Kazungula,
Livingstone, Nakonde, Sesheke and Solwezi. The partner supported
activities under the Intensifying Prevention and Impact Mitigation
Pillars of the ZINGO strategic Plan.
2. Joint Country Programme/Norwegian Church AID (NCA) supported the
‘Releasing the Potential of Men and Women – An Interfaith Perspective’
project in three Districts namely Lusaka, Mazabuka and Nyimba. The
partnership was for activities within the Response Management Pillar of
the ZINGO strategic Plan.
3. Save the Children International (SCI) supported the ‘Protecting our
Children: Securing Our Future’ project being implemented in eight
districts namely Lusaka, Kitwe, Mazabuka, Nyimba Mwinilunga, Mbala,
Chinsali, and Kapiri-Mposhi. Activities supported under this
partnership fell under Intensifying Prevention and Response
management.
4. SHARe II project supported a Project for HIV/AIDS leadership
development in three districts namely Lusaka, Ndola and Kitwe. This
support was targeted at the Intensifying Prevention Pillar of the strategic
Plan.
5. Churches Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ) supported the Impact
Mitigation and Care & Support Pillars of the ZINGO strategic Plan in
two districts namely Lusaka, and Zambezi
TECHNICAL REPORT (January- December 2013) ©2013
ACTIVITY REPORT
Intensifying prevention
The Intensifying Prevention Pillar within the ZINGO Strategic Plan aims at
having more males & females receiving age-appropriate, comprehensive
knowledge of HIV/AIDS. Under this pillar, ZINGO is working around the
following specific service delivery areas for specific results that would result
in decreased rates of HIV infection:
1. Social and Behaviour Change aimed at increasing the number of people
(male & female) having age appropriate, comprehensive knowledge of
HIV/AIDS.
2. Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) aimed at having more young people
delaying sexual debut.
3. HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) aimed at having more people to test
for HIV and know their status.
4. Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) aimed at having more
men become involved in PMTCT and more pregnant women receiving
ante-natal services.
5. Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) aimed at decreasing the
rate of STIs in both males and females.
6. Male Circumcision aimed at having more males circumcised by qualified
health professionals and behaving responsibly.
7. Prevention with Positives for more people living with HIV to adhere to
treatment and for discordant couples to maintain their HIV status.
Implementation of Behavior Change and Social Change interventions
The COH III Project
ZINGO continued to work with a cadre of its network (21 Community / Faith
Based Organizations) commonly referred to as Sub-Sub Grantees (SSGs)) to
implement a number of interventions using funding from COH III/FHI 360.
Table 1 is a list of SSGs that were supported and their affiliates.
Under the COH III project, ZINGO mainly targeted children and young
people between the ages of 7 and 24 with Abstinence and Being Faithful
interventions. In total 279, 729 children and young people were reached using
interventions such as Peer Education, Sport, REFLECT Circles and YouthAdult Communication. Table 2 and Table 3 below present the numbers
reached
disaggregated
by
age
and
sex
and
the
interventions/methodologies/strategies employed to achieve the results.
Table 4 below illustrates the detail of numbers of Religious Leaders trained
from various congregations of the mother bodies disaggregated by sex.
TECHNICAL REPORT (January- December 2013) ©2013
Achievements
1. SSG Volunteer Retention: The Corridors of Hope III project carried out a
study around volunteer retentions and the results indicated that the
volunteers working under the ZINGO engaged partners worked longer
on the project than the ones working with the other implementation
partners. This was due to the recruitment process, initial clarification of
the expectations, working for “future” benefits and not concentrating on
the “now” benefits to mention but a few.
2. Linked young people to HTC and VMMC services: A total of 1,873 youth
received HTC and a total of 123 youth accessed VMMC services
3. Strengthened SSGs’ capacities in HIV prevention: Three SSGs in Chirundu,
Sesheke and Chipata secured resources to provide HIV prevention and
reproductive health services.
Challenges
1. Failure by some SSGs to translate acquired knowledge into tangible results:
Some SSGs failed to take advantage of the various capacity building
initiatives organized by ZINGO to consolidate themselves and achieve
more.
The SHARe II Project
ZINGO is in partnership with SHARe II to implement an HIV/AIDS
Leadership project in three districts namely Kitwe, Lusaka and Ndola
contributing to the “Intensifying Prevention” Pillar of the ZINGO strategic
Plan. Under this project, ZINGO is pursuing the following goal; “To build and
strengthen the capacity of religious institutions and leaders for a more
effective response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic at community level”. The
Project is being implemented in congregations affiliated to four faith mother
bodies namely CCZ, EFZ, ICOZ, and ISCZ. The Project has engaged 60
congregations (7 from ICOZ, 11 from ISCZ, 22 from CCZ and, 20 from EFZ)
and has seen the training of 302 Religious Leaders who in turn have reached
out to over 16,000 people with Prevention messages and made over 165
referrals for accessing care and bio medical services to other stakeholders
within Kitwe and Ndola. Some of the referrals included Voluntary Medical
Male Circumcision, Voluntary Counseling, Testing, and STI Management
Below is an overview of achievements of the period under review;
1. 302 religious leaders and lay leaders trained to provide HIV and AIDS
messages to their congregants (these leaders representing the men,
women and youth fellowships)
2. 60 congregations reached with behavior change interventions
3. 16,000 men, women and youth reached with HIV and AIDS behavior
change messages
4. 165
People
referred
for
a
continuum
of
care
TECHNICAL REPORT (January- December 2013) ©2013
1: List of SSGs supported and their affiliation to the various faith mother bodies.
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
MOTHER BODY
Independent Churches
of Zambia (ICOZ)
Zambia
Episcopal
Conference (ZEC)
Islamic
Council
(ISCZ)
of
Supreme
Zambia
Council of Churches in
Zambia (CCZ)
Evangelical Fellowship
in Zambia
(EFZ)
Community
Based
Organizations that are
non-Affiliated
to
mother-bodies1
NAME OF SSG
Independent Churches of Zambia
Site/District
Livingstone
Livingstone Youth Alive
Divine Providence
Chipata Diocese
Holy Childhood
St Mary’s Parish
Solwezi Youth Alive
Youth Alive Zambia
St Kitzito Catholic Church
El-Hassan Child Care Association
Livingstone
Kapiri Mposhi
Chipata
Kazungula
Nakonde
Solwezi
Katete
Nakonde
Kapiri Mposhi
Chipata
Muslim
Women
Association
Council of Churches in Zambia
United Church of Zambia
Covenant Community Fellowship
Scripture Union-Zambia
Chipata
Chirundu
Chililabombwe
Kazungula
Solwezi
Akakulubelwa Munalula, HIV/AIDS Programme Officer,
0977818497/224622/272939, akmunalula@yahoo.co.uk
Hope Siwale, HIV/AIDS Programme Officer, 0955768481/292663,
hopesiwale@yahoo.com
Chirundu Youth Forum
Chirundu
Chichechete Women Club
Kazungula
Mike Mwangala, C/O Box 2, Chirundu, Phone: 211 515231
Cell: 0977161437
Muzungu Siachidunka, 0977-458519/ 0967-458519
Simango Rural Centre Kazungula District,
Chief Musokotwane
Bishop John Mukaika, Executive Director, P.O Box 430179, Nakonde
Mobile: 0977-721710
Wamundila Katundu – Coordinator, Box 29 Sesheke,
Yeta District Hospital, Cell: 0975101941/0976980365
Vainess Phiri – Programmes Coordinator, P.O Box 550161 – Katete
0977 967 921
Single Parents Association
Zambia
Yeta Support Group
of
Nakonde
Kazungula
Katete
District
Women
Development Association
Katete
VB 4 Arts
Chililabombwe
Contact Person /Contact Details
Raymond Chipwalamuka, Programmes Manager,
0977-711907/225136
Derrick Mweemba, HIV/AIDS Project Officer,
0966241360/0979149914/262613,
Dmweemba@zec.org.org.zm
Kasimu Kalino, NAPEC Member,
0977-372363, Islamicsupreme.c.zm@gmail.com
Mr. Bosco Mwisa, Coordinator, 0977-304721/0966-304721
20 Milyashi Street, Kakoso
Chililabombwe
1
These are community based organizations that are not affiliated to any of the mother bodies but have been part of implementing the COH III project either
through competitive bidding or through recommendation from the COH Site Staff due to their strong presence and track record at District level
8
Table 2: Number of children and young people reached with Abstinence & Being Faithful Messages disaggregated by age and sex
Interventions
Accomplishments
Peer Education
NUMBER OF CHILDREN/YOUTHS
REACHED WITH A/AB MESSAGES
7-9 years
old
10-24 years old youths
reached
reached with
This
intervention
disseminates
ageappropriate behaviour change messages
using peers
Male (M)
Female
(F)
(7-24
YEARS)
A messages
AB Messages
M
M
F
F
Youth- Adult Communication
This
intervention
disseminates
ageappropriate behaviour change messages
using adults (Religious Leaders, Teachers
and Parents)
REFLECT Circles
This intervention engages the youth to
identify challenges and threats to behaviour
change using participatory methodologies
facilitated by trained facilitators along the
lines of the Brazilian Paul Ferreira
Sports Activities
This intervention engages youths in
behaviour change communication using both
conventional and traditional games like
netball, football and Nsolo
GRAND TOTALS
Male
Female
Total
Chipata
680
1, 097
4, 275
4, 615
9, 244
11, 928
14, 199
17, 640
31,839
Chirundu
1, 748
1, 427
8, 070
7, 655
6, 783
6, 537
16, 601
15, 619
32,220
Kapiri Mposhi
1, 122
1, 379
7, 709
9, 124
5, 793
8, 398
14, 624
18, 901
33,525
Livingstone
238
234
6, 313
5, 929
6, 859
7, 545
13, 410
13, 708
27,188
Katete
199
229
5, 658
6, 237
9, 748
10, 713
15, 605
17, 179
32,784
Chililabombwe
68
55
5, 954
5, 779
5, 318
2, 737
11, 340
8, 571
19,911
Kazungula
974
770
6, 328
5, 433
10, 552
10, 170
17, 854
16, 373
34,277
Nakonde
151
117
619
495
12, 098
10, 715
12, 868
11, 327
24,195
Sesheke
595
736
6, 290
6, 880
1, 037
976
7, 922
8, 592
16,514
Solwezi
67
44
2, 822
2, 511
12, 247
9, 903
15, 136
12, 458
27,594
GRAND TOTAL
5 842
6 088
54 038
54 658
79 679
79 622
139 559
140 368
279,927
9
Table 3: Number of children and young people reached with Abstinence & Being Faithful
Messages by District
Table 4: The Table above illustrates the detail of numbers of Religious Leaders trained from
various congregations of the mother bodies disaggregated by sex
CCZ
EFZ
ICOZ
ISCZ
Achievements and challenges under the SHARe II Project
One of the achievements of the SHARe II project is the cost efficiency with
which the project is being run. More than 300 volunteers have been involved
to run the project at no cost since they are drawn from within the same
congregations that they are conducting outreach activities. This outreach
extends from their congregation to within a radius of xxx to cut down on
transport costs. Further, no project t-shirts or such promotional materials have
been given in order not to encourage the creation of parallel structures where
the project begins to compete with the church or mosque programmes thereby
10
undermining ownership of the programme and its sustainability.
The challenge however is that the due to a culture of handouts and incentives
being promoted by other NGOs and despite emphasizing to the participating
congregations that this is their programme, demands for things such as tshirts, bicycles and allowances for lunch still surface from time to time
thereby threatening the sustainability of the project.
Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH)
ZINGO partnered with Save the Children International/European Union
(SCI/EU)2 to implement a sexual reproductive rights project in Lusaka,
Mazabuka and Kitwe. The project whose anticipated result was ‘Improved
quality of HIV prevention, care and support services offered by FBOs for children
living with and or affected by HIV/AIDS’ was designed to be implemented by a
cadre of Religious Leaders and Young Men engaged as Equal Partners
(YMEP).
During the period under review, ZINGO through the YMEP conducted a
series of outreaches both in schools and places of worship. Through the YMEP
group discussions, children have shown serious improvement in discussing
such topics with their peers freely and Religious Leaders or teachers. These
discussions helped the children to commit themselves to adopt and practice
healthy behaviours which would not predispose them to HIV infections and
also other negative vices like child abuse, rape case incidences to mention but
a few. A total of 46 YMEP discussions were conducted where 5,349 children
aged between 7 and 18 benefited from the Sexual Reproductive Health
services as presented in the following tables:
It has to be mentioned here that the SCI/EU project on SRH has been implemented in
Kitwe, Lusaka and Mazabuka for the past three years and came to an end in December 2013.
2
11
Table 5: Number of children and young people aged 7-18 reached with Sexual Reproductive Health Messages disaggregated by sex
District
Number of
Discussions
YMEP
Total Reached
Kitwe
15
Male
923
Female
1,124
Total
2,047
Mazabuka
17
817
943
1,760
Major topics covered
Geographic Coverage
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
1.
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.
2.
3.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Lusaka
14
652
890
1,542
1.
2.
3.
4.
Totals
46
2,392
2,957
Sexuality and Gender
Communication Skills
Modes of HIV transmission
STI prevention
Male Circumcision
Effects of alcohol and drug
abuse
Importance of education
HIV prevention
Types of STIs
Importance of HCT
Personal Hygiene
4.
5.
6.
Benefits of abstinence
1.
Effects of GBV
2.
Importance of HIV counselling
3.
and testing
4.
Self-Awareness / assertiveness
5.
6.
7.
Wusakile Mosque
Joseph and Brotherson
Beautiful Gates School
Rise and Shine School
Ndeke Basic School
Mazabuka Day School
Brethren
in
Christ
Church
Church of Christ
Salvation Army Church
Catholic Church
Blue Bell Basic School
Blue Nile Basic School
Equatorial Basic School
Queen’s Land School
Twalumba Basic School
El-Hassan School
Desai Basic School
5,349
12
Table 6: Number of children and young people aged 7-18 reached with Sexual Reproductive
Health Messages disaggregated by sex
Achievements
1. Increased uptake of HIV prevention related services among the children:
Children in all the three districts reported increase in demand for
services like HIV counseling and testing, Voluntary Medical Male
Circumcision to mention but a few.
Challenges
1. Late commencement of project implementing due to delayed disbursement of
project funds in the year under review. Though activities implementation
continued, the delay of project funds facilitated some low rate of project
progression.
2. On-site technical challenges were experienced in the area of project on-site
coordination, support and supervisory as reliance on volunteers proved
to be problematic. This situation had an effect on the timely submission
of reports to our partner (SCI-EU).
Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission
The SCI/MDG 4&5 Project
During the period under review, the ZINGO secretariat worked with the
Independent Churches in Zambia (ICOZ) to empower 60 women and men
that include religious and lay leaders in Mwinilunga with lobbying and
advocacy skills to advocate and lobby for better Maternal and Child Health
(MCH) care provision and increase awareness of MCH in their communities.
13 | P a g e
More than 100 men were reached with information on MCH to make them
participants that are more active in encouraging their women to access MCH
services. ZINGO envisages that when men (and women) become more active
and more involved in seeking improvements in access to healthcare services
through lobbying of their local representatives, the system will become more
responsive to their needs.
In this partnership, ICOZ has been responsible for the implementation of the
project taking advantage of its active presence in Mwinilunga. North Western
province was chosen because it has fewer health organizations as well as
fewer health interventions as compared to other districts in Zambia.
In order to effectively implement this project, a number of activities were
conducted that included: conducting a Baseline and Mapping Study, training
and formation of Lobbying and Advocacy Action Groups, Facilitating for the
trained Lobbying and Advocacy Action Groups (LAGs) to engage in lobbying
and advocacy with policy makers and facilitating for men to engage in male
discussion forums around the subject of MCH. Between October to December,
three LAGs were formed which have been actively involved in carrying out
lobbying and advocacy activities with policy and decision makers.
TREATMENT, CARE & SUPPORT
During the period under review, ZINGO recorded no activities under the
thematic pillar “Care and Support for PLWHA”. This is in no way negligence
on the part of ZINGO. It can however be interpreted as a shift of Partners
focus from care and support to prevention and of late a lot more on Mother
and Child Health and Sexual Reproductive Health Rights. ZINGO will
however continue being on the lookout for support in this thematic pillar and
re-strategizing on how the Home-based care and support (HBC) programmes
that the faith community is so famed for are given “life”. HIV/AIDS/TB,
adherence to treatment and probably using the HBC groups for dispensing of
anti-retroviral drugs are some of the areas that can be considered as seek to
transform the HBC groups. ZINGO will however have to tread more
carefully so as not to lose focus. ZINGO will continue striving to improve the
quality of “faith based service delivery” to communities by creating linkages,
building capacities and providing resources where ever possible.
IMPACT MITIGATION
The Impact mitigation Pillar has the following service delivery areas:
14 | P a g e
1. Vulnerable Households & Individuals (VHI) for: More people receive
economic & psychosocial support & care at home and community
2. Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) for: More male & female children
aged 0-17 years receive at least one type of basic external support in the
past 30 days
3. Vulnerable Households & Individuals
Economic Strengthening (COH III Project)
The economic strengthening project is supported by the Corridors of Hope III
project. During the period under review, ZINGO implemented Economic
Strengthening (ES) interventions as a strategy to respond to the above
mentioned service delivery area. The table below illustrates the different
interventions undertaken and their outcomes:
Group Savings and Loan Association (GSLA)
During the period under review, ZINGO in seven (7) project sites continued
implementing the economic strengthening using the following key strategies:
1. Mobilizing Financial Safety Nets through Savings (GSLA);
2. Maximizing Household Production (HPG); and,
3. Increasing Market Readiness (GYBI).
It is interesting to note that many communities in the indicated project sites
continued to operate and enjoy the benefits of the Economic Strengthening
interventions. All sites continued to provide technical support to the GSLAs
on a regular basis. By December, 2013, ZINGO had managed to facilitate the
formation of 74 GSLAs with a total membership of 1,339.
Table 7: Number of GSLA groups, membership and areas of training per site
District
Chipata
Chirundu
Kapiri Mposhi
Kazungula
Livingstone
Nakonde
Solwezi
No. of
GSLAs
9
14
10
9
11
12
9
74
Membership
120
280
151
153
270
173
192
1,339
Trained in Small
Plot Horticulture
40
40
40
40
40
0
0
200
Trained
in
Small
Livestock Husbandry
37
39
39
39
40
0
0
194
GSLA activities continued recording successes with noted improvements in
record keeping and accumulation of funds for the group.
15 | P a g e
Mobilizing Financial Safety nets through savings
This level has empowered beneficiaries and their families to build Group –
savings based safety nets in partnership with their trusted friends and
relatives. Group Savings AND Loans Association concept and approach is the
focal entry point into all ZINGO’s Economic Strengthening programs and a
hub for the majority of all community level economic discussions and
capacity building. In 2013, a total of 1,339 low income, vulnerable individuals
comprising of 253 men and 1,086 women have benefited from the GSLA
concept. During the same year, 16 GSLAs from Chirundu, Chipata,
Kazungula and Livingstone completed the 1-year savings cycle and shared
out among the members a total of ZMW 202,445.50This shows how much the
community appreciates the economic strengthening concept for their
sustainable livelihoods.
GSLA share-out:
During the period under review, 16 GSLAs completed the savings cycle and shared
out a total of ZMW 202, 445.50. The groups were drawn from Chirundu, Chipata,
Kazungula and Livingstone sites.
Maximizing Household Production:
This intervention, also known as Household Production Guide (HPG),
increased beneficiaries’ capacity to adopt productive behaviours for
stabilizing and expanding food security and household resilience. Through
peer to peer discussions, households learnt how to identify and better utilize
household surplus, savings and assets to improve land, livestock and small
business output.
In order to create a sustainable approach that would enhance households to
be resilient to economic shocks and the threat of HIV/AIDS, 394 GSLA
members attended trainings in Small Plot Horticulture (200) and Small
livestock Husbandry (194) during the period under review. The targeted sites
included
Livingstone,
Kazungula, Chipata, Kapiri and
Chirundu (Kindly refer to the
table above). Beneficiaries that
were trained in Small Plot
Horticulture
and
Small
Livestock
Husbandry
are
recording
some
tangible
successes. Mr. Peter Kapelwa
indicated to have bought 6 hens
Mr. Kapelwa’s chickens
and 1 cock from a K250.00 that
he borrowed from the GSLA. The chickens have now increased to 24 as
shown in the picture above.
16 | P a g e
Under Small Plot Horticulture, Kazungula reports that a Mr. Phiri of Kalwizi
Kabalumbu GSLA group in Sikombwa Village indicated that he had planted
rape, tomatoes and onion. Mr. Phiri had this to say, ‘I used to spend a lot of
money to buy fertilizer. Thank God I was one of the lucky people to attend
the training offered by Corridors of Hope III/ZINGO. I gained knowledge
and skills from the training they offered us and I have realized that using
compost manure is cheaper than buying fertilizer. I was taught how to make
compost manure which I am using as fertilizer in my garden’. He also added
by saying, ‘I cannot spend money to buy seeds for tomatoes because I am able
to prepare seeds on my own’.
Follow up visits on members of GSLA from different groups revealed that
most members who were trained
in GYBI had developed small
businesses such as selling of
charcoal, vegetables and groceries
and 50% of members from the
GSLA groups were able to keep
simple records of their small
businesses. It was also learnt that
even those who were not trained
in GYBI had started small
businesses and were getting ideas
from
other
trained
groups
Mr. Phiri applying compost manure in his
members.
garden’
The GYBI strategy was increasing beneficiaries’ capacity to adopt productive
behaviours for stabilizing and expanding food security and household
resilience. Most importantly, households have learnt how to identify and
better utilize household surplus, savings and assets to improve land, livestock
and small business output. The trainings provided participants with
diversified approaches to help them become entrepreneurs.
Increasing Market Readiness:
This strategy helped to move the beneficiaries from subsistence levels or
consumption orientation to commercial entrepreneurship (market readiness).
During the period under review, Solwezi and Chirundu districts reports to
have linked GSLAs to access other services as highlighted below:1. Favour of God was linked to First Quantum Mining (FQM) for knowledge
and skills empowerment. Two (2) members from the group have so far
been trained in plant production and were given vegetable seeds. The
seed has since been planted by the beneficiaries. Organic farming will
17 | P a g e
help the members to improve their yields and those who cannot afford
to buy fertilizer.
2. Mapesho-Lusekelo and Kimiteto GSLAs are linked and registered with
community development for external services. Both groups have already
received some funds from Community Development worth ZMW 2,
000.00 which has been kept in their separate bank account. Kimiteto
used part of the money received to grow maize during the farming
season.
3. Chirundu site also reported that Tigwirizane GSLA was linked to the Ministry
of Community Development, Mother and Child Health where the group has
so far received a grant of K10, 000.00. It was reported that the members
have since shared the funds where each one went out with a K900.00.
The members are investing the monies into individual IGAs.
4. Groups that are working with Ministry of Agriculture include Mana GSLA,
Kimiteto GSLA and Mapesho-Lusekelo in Solwezi. The GSLAs are registered
with Ministry of Agriculture as Cooperative societies. This linkage has
allowed group members to access farming inputs at a subsidized rate.
Household Economic Exercise (HEA):
Working in collaboration with FHI 360, DAI and the ROADS II project, a
Household Economic Assessment was conducted in six (6) sites namely:Kapiri, Chipata, Chirundu, Livingstone, Solwezi and Nakonde. The goal of the
Household Economic Assessment (HEA) was to serve as an on-going
programmatic instrument for COH III/ROADS economic strengthening efforts.
It provided an approach of gaining an improved understanding of the
economic dynamics of Corridors of Hope-supported households, with a
particular focus on aspects of economic vulnerability and economic resilience.
The objectives of HEA are listed below;
1. To quantify the core economic constraints and opportunities facing
program beneficiaries.
2. To identify areas of comparison / difference between different sites /
countries
3. To provide a baseline and follow-on data for measuring impact of
economic livelihoods support.
The method that was used to conduct the assessment was administering a 68
question questionnaire tool which measured levels of food and water
insecurity (including household meal frequency and diversity); agricultural
and non-farm income, productivity and access to key services; finance and
savings behaviours; and household asset levels (including asset utilization).
The tool measured how households access food, including their fields (own
production), the market (purchase), their relatives and friends (gifts/loans)
18 | P a g e
and humanitarian relief and also measured their assets, and the opportunities
open to them and the constraints they face.
The survey greatly motivated GSLA members as they felt empowered to
establish a foundation for economic resilience.
During focused group discussions, participants were able to express
themselves on the challenges they were encountering and the benefits they
had gained from the time they joined GSLAs. Many of them were so grateful
to have been part of the respondents where they were given opportunities to
express their views.
Table 8 below shows the initial achievement during the assessment.
Site
Livingstone
Chirundu
Nakonde
Solwezi
Kapiri
Chipata
Totals
Sampled figure
173
142
107
146
100
116
784
Actual achieved
157
126
94
126
79
90
672
Percentage
91%
89%
88%
86%
79%
78%
85.7%
Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC)
Provision of Educational Support
To respond to the second service delivery area namely OVC, ZINGO during
the period under review and with support from CHAZ/Global Fund engaged
in educational support for OVC. A total of 793 OVCs from the Islamic, Baha’i
and Hindu faiths were supported. The three mother bodies are supporting
OVCs through a number of organizations and schools which include but are
not limited to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The Human Services Trust;
EL – Hassan Child Care – Lilanda;
Iqrah Academy - Chawama;
Dar-al-Rahman – Woodlands;
Kuomboka Mosque School – Chawama;
Bethany Community School –Kanyama;
Taqwa Islamic School – Kanyama and;
Rural Youth Initiative -Zambezi
Child Rights
Under the same pillar, ZINGO has continued working around child rights
with its traditional partner Save the Children International (SCI). The work is
taking place in four Districts namely Mbala, Chinsali, Kapiri and Mazabuka.
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The partnership is around child protection and revolves around building the
capacity of the District Child Protection Committees at district and
community level to support community structures in the protection of
Children. The following table summarizes the accomplishments under this
component:
Achievements and Challenges under the Impact mitigation Pillar
One of the major achievements under this pillar is that the CHAZ/Global
Fund has allowed us to engage meaningfully the non-Christian faith mother
bodies as evidenced by the inclusion of HAZ through the Human Services
Trust as a beneficiary. 793 OVCs have been provided with education among
which 50 have been provided tertiary/University education thereby giving
them an opportunity to become self-sufficient.
In the same vein, ZINGO impacted the lives of 1339 low income women with
livelihood activities in 7 districts of Zambia namely Nakonde, Solwezi, KapiriMposhi, Chirundu, Chipata, Kazungula, and Livingstone. In Chirundu, one of
the women reported having her own house built from what she has been able
to realize in the GSLA.
ZINGO has for the first time managed to engage with civic authorities to
establish child protection systems and structures at the district level in 4
districts Mazabuka, Kapiri- Mposhi, Chinsali and Mbala
While the programming has been successful, a number of challenges still
remain. These include a limited amount of funds for OVC interventions in
comparison to the needs on the ground. The unavailability of an
administration fee at the SSR level makes it very difficult for the SSR to
administer interventions. Lack of adequate resources allocated to promote
livelihood support programs becomes yet another challenge that makes the
programs unsustainable as children are highly dependent on livelihoods
without which their learning is negatively affected.
The impact that HIV/ AIDS has on the communities cannot be over
emphasized; innovations and interventions of this nature as in targeting the
minority groups adds a new dimension to mitigating the Impact of HIV and
AIDS and is highly appreciated. There is need however to seriously look at
the issue of how to administer this innovation at the SSR level to ensure
quality delivery of services.
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Table 9 summarizes the stage at which the Child Protection project has reached
Objective
Outcome
Results
Activities
21 | P a g e
To strengthen child protection systems and structures in Northern, Muchinga, Central and Southern Provinces by December
2013.
Outcome Result 1: District Child Protection coordination structures supporting community child protection systems
Outcome Result 2: Communities and children in Kapiri Mposhi, Mbala, Mazabuka and Chinsali are better able to prevent and address
violence against children.
Planned Activity
Target/ Benchmark
Accomplishment
Progress
Conduct baseline survey and 1
baseline
report 1 baseline report
A baseline survey was conducted by the
desk review
produced
M&E Department in all the four (4) target
districts and a baseline report was produced
Compile a directory of Child 1 Directory production Directory of Child A draft directory of services for each target
Protection services
in process
protection services.
district was produced and is yet to go through
validation stage. A comprehensive mapping
tool has since been developed by the M&E
department and shared with the target
districts through departments of social
welfare.
Conduct
orientation
and 4
orientation 4 workshops held.
4 workshops were held in Mbala, Chinsali,
structured
consultative workshops conducted
Mazabuka and Kapiri Mposhi.
meetings on child rights,
40
Adult
referrals,
advocacy, 40 participants trained participants trained. Due to the overwhelming reception and
documentation and case study
unbelievable enthusiasm that this project has
writing for the CPC
received 62 participants (representing 22
more participants than were planned) were
reached.
Provide technical support 8
community 8 Child Protection 4 District Child Protection Committees
towards formation of rural structures formed
Committees
formed
Child Protection Committees.
established in new
1 case study being areas
5 community child protection committees
captured
4
Child
Rights formed.
Committees formed
in
selected
communities
Monthly reports of
child
rights
violations and case
handling
Conduct trainings on child
protection in 8 selected schools
320
trained
participants
8 structures formed
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320 children trained
in 8 schools.
Since the formed structures have not yet been
trained, reports on child rights violations
have not yet been reported. It is anticipated
that the capacity building currently going on
(beyond December 2013) will improve the
reporting mechanisms of child rights
violations.
300 children trained in 8 selected schools in
the four target Districts (2 schools per
District).
RESPONSE MANAGEMENT
Capacity Building
The Pillar has only one programmatic service delivery area namely Capacity
building with an outcome result around strengthening the capacity of mother
bodies to contribute to the national HIV & AIDS response and to implement the
ZINGO strategic plan. In order to realize the above, ZINGO facilitated the
implementation of the following activities through the faith mother bodies:
Printed the interfaith parenting manual and distributed to the faith community
ZINGO has since printed 250 copies of the parenting manuals that were
designed in 2012 and distributed to all mother bodies. The Manuals were
distributed to the following six mother bodies after having gone through
training; Evangelical fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), Independent Churches of
Zambia (ICOZ), Council Churches of Zambia (CCZ), Islamic Supreme Council
of Zambia (ISCZ), the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Zambia
(NSA) and the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC).
Held consultative meeting with religious leaders from interfaith community
(Pastors/Imams and other Congregation leaders) from selected congregations in
Lusaka on the integration of the parenting manual in “church” related activities
Consultative meetings with religious leaders from the interfaith community
were held with all the six mother bodies within Lusaka. The meetings were
successfully conducted in June, 2013 with a total number of 65 religious
leaders attending the consultative meetings.
During all these meetings, highlights from the CRC (Concept Child
Protection) were discussed at length with all the religious leaders and parents
that were in attendance. This was to make sure that all the parents have the
information on the rights of the child and can be able to translate to other
parents who will also educate the children in their homes and congregation.
The concept around the parenting Manual was presented and well elaborated
for religious leaders and parents to refresh their knowledge on the use of the
parenting manual. The meetings were held to solicit for space and time from
the mother bodies in their congregation for integration of the interfaith
parenting manual as a resource to equip parents in positive parenting in their
congregations. This was successfully achieved and all the twenty
congregations represented agreed to use the Parenting Manual in their
congregations.
Facilitated monthly parenting congregational meeting in 20 congregations in Lusaka
The National Programs Committee Members (NAPEC) from the six mother
bodies engaged, committed themselves to make follow ups and further
23 | P a g e
engage with the congregations as they hold parenting meetings in individual
congregations.
The leaders have had interaction with 20 congregations within Lusaka. The
Church leaders that were in the consultative meetings led congregational
meetings in their respective congregation. The meetings were held between
the 1st of June 2013 and the 30th August 2013.
A total of 550 parents attended these sessions. A survey by the NAPEC
members in their visitations indicates that the trained 550 parents shared the
information with about 1710 children. The facilitators keep a record of
number of children below the age of 18 living with parents that attended the
sessions. It would nevertheless be more interesting to capture the
effectiveness of the project over a period of time.
Staff engagement
As part of the preparation for effective implementation of programs, ZINGO
engaged Mr. Gastone Zulu to coordinate the SHARe II project on the
Copperbelt. The “Women in Governance” Project has equally been given an
Officer, Mrs. Oveliwa Banda Sengo, whose responsibility is to coordinate
“Women in Governance” activities within ZINGO. She comes with a strong
background in interfaith programming, Gender and Community
Mobilization. Another officer Mr. Brian Kayongo has been engaged to
coordinate child protection project within ZINGO. Mr. Kayongo comes with
strong program management background which ZINGO hopes to tap to bring
the child protection component up to speed.
Train Community Facilitator’s in Reflect Methodology
REFLECT is a structured participatory learning process which facilitates
people’s critical analysis of their own environment and issues, placing
empowerment at the heart of sustainable development. REFLECT involves
using participatory approaches within an extended educational and
development process, self-managed by the community. It also involves
widening our understanding of literacy. There is no simple line to be crossed
from illiteracy into literacy and literacy can no longer be seen as just about
mastery of the alphabet. Rather literacy is an extended process involving a
complex set of communicative practices – all of which have an impact on
people’s ability to assert their rights or to actively engage with their external
world (whether with the State, local markets, organisations, etc.)
The approach reveals the intimate connections between literacy and
development, power and powerlessness at all levels. The approach seeks to
build on the theoretical framework developed by the Brazilian educator Paulo
Freire, but provides a practical methodology by drawing on participatory
24 | P a g e
techniques such as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and others.
REFLECT is an evolving process, which must be continually recreated for
each next context. Innovation is integral to the process.
Ten (7 males and 3 females) individuals were trained in REFLECT
methodology around issues of Maternal and Child Health in Mwinilunga Northwestern province and another Ten (all female) were trained in Siavonga
around Women in Governance issues. The trained individuals held meetings
in their communities to discuss on maternal and child health and Women in
Governance issues. Each individual trained engaged with a minimum of 10
individuals.
Gender Programme –JCP/Norwegian Church Aid
Sponsored women for leadership courses in Governance
During 2013, ZINGO partnered with the JCP/Norwegian Church Aid to
implement a program to sponsor women for leadership training to provide
ground for meaningful engagement of women in decision making. ZINGO
engaged training institutions and groups at home and abroad to find a
suitable program that will propel women into decision making positions.
Everest Leadership, Youth Alive Zambia and Youth Vision Zambia were
among those that had offered attractive packages. ZINGO also worked on the
possible engagement levels for this activity. Three levels of possible
engagement were identified namely:
1. Women from the grassroots who have not been exposed to any
opportunity for formal leadership
2. Women who have been exposed to some leadership and are emerging as
women leaders
3. Elite women who are already in leadership positions
After weighing the pros and cons, ZINGO resolved to engage with the
“emerging women leaders” category to usher them into recognized
leadership positions. Subsequently 10 women were trained under the same
category representing the different mother bodies.
Run radio programs around WIG issues
During the period under review and with support from JCP/Norwegian
Church Aid, ZINGO conducted 13 radio series where a platform was
accorded to the mother bodies to discuss issues of women leadership. The
participation of mother bodies has been commendable. During the period
under review, ZINGO engaged other oganizations looking at issues of
development of women in leadership to enrich discussions around the subject
25 | P a g e
of women empowerment. The feedback has been tremendous with a call for a
continuation in the programming from the general public.
Participate in International Women’s day commemoration
ZINGO with supported from JCP/Norwegian Church Aid, participated in the
international Women’s day commemoration held under the theme the
“Gender Agenda Gaining Momentum” on the 8th March 2013 in Lusaka. The
Islamic Supreme Council of Zambia a network member of ZINGO through
their Women’s desk mobilized Muslim women to march together with other
women in an effort to influence Duty bearers to include Human Rights
Conventions on Women’s Rights on the national agenda. While ZINGO may
not directly claim results at the outcome level of this participation, it is
nevertheless evidently clear that the republic of Zambia is responding well to
women issues in response to international Human rights conventions on
women rights.
There was a successful observation of the 16 days of Gender activism by the
interfaith women in Lusaka, Nyimba, and Mazabuka. During the 16 days of
gender activism, trained women facilitated GBV open forums at community
level. District level meetings were also held to sensitize fellow women on
GBV.
ZINGO’s Engagements with Local Partner Capacity Building Programme (LPCB)
ZINGO entered into a partnership with LPCB to implement a four-year
institutional capacity building project targeted at nine local partner
organisations (POs) in Eastern Province, effective May 1, 2009.
This engagement was based on the outcomes of the capacity assessment
conducted in 2008 by the AED’s LPCB project on 20 C/FBOs engaged in
HIV/AIDS activities in the Southern, Copperbelt and Eastern Provinces of the
Republic of Zambia. The assessment noted that almost all the 20 community
based organizations had challenges in a number of key areas which were a
potential threat to the sustainability of their programmes beyond donor
support. These areas included financial management, strategic planning,
project management and implementation skills, monitoring and evaluation,
leadership and governance.
For a period of four (04) years, from the 1st of May 2009 to the 31st of March
2013, ZINGO worked with, initially five (05) and subsequently nine (09)
partner organizations (POs) in Eastern Province and one (01) in Lusaka –
though briefly – to respond to their institutional capacity needs. By the end of
the project, 31st March 2013, ZINGO had worked with a total of fifteen (15)
partner organisations in institutional capacity development. This project
closed out in March 2013.
26 | P a g e
Achievements and Challenges under the Response Management Pillar
The capacity building interventions under the LPCB project targeted a total of
fifteen (15) partner organisations and it concentrated in the following specific
areas: Strategic Planning, Resource Development, Leadership and Governance,
Financial Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, Project Design and Human
Resources Management. During the period under review, January 2013 to
December 2013, ZINGO implemented the capacity building interventions for
only three months (January to March) given the coming to a close of the LPCB
project. In these areas, ZINGO targeted only four Partner Organisations
(POs), namely NZP+ Lundazi, Chadiza District Women Development
Association, Petauke NZP+, Katete District Women Development Association
and Chisomo Community Project.
Although the capacity building interventions had gone on for more than two
years earlier, for the period under review only four POs were targeted and
out of these POs, two of them came out at the top of the list as having
recorded the most success in their operations. The two organisations, Katete
District Women Development Association (Katete DWA) and Chisomo
Community Programme (Chisomo), have drawn more positive and visible
impact from the capacity building interventions provided by ZINGO capacity
building interventions. Before the coming of ZINGO, Katete DWA did not
have skills in proposal writing, resource mobilisation, and volunteer
management and their operational systems were poor and ineffective.
However, now Katete DWA is able to write winning project proposals and
has developed systems and procedures required to run a non-governmental
organization. Resulting from this growth and improved performance Katete
DWA has increased its donor funding from organisations such as African
Development Foundation (ADF), International Labour Organisation (ILO)
and Zambia Prevention Initiative (ZPI), just to mention a few. Further, the
improved service delivery to the community has not only widened Katete
DWA’s catchment area with the result that more staff have to be employed to
manage the increased workload but also attracted many organizations and
partners working within Katete District to want to partner with it.
Chisomo, based in Chipata District, was in a similar state as Katete DWA
before the advent of LPCB’s capacity building through ZINGO. Chisomo had
no skills in project proposal development, volunteer management and
financial management; policies, systems and procedures, which are a precondition to financial support by the donor community, were either not in
place or inadequate and they had only one donor to provide financial
support. However, the coming of ZINGO into the organisation with its
capacity building intervention raised Chisomo’s performance levels. It now
has all the documents required by most donors as pre-requisite to donor
27 | P a g e
funding; it is able to write professional and winning project proposals to
various donors for funding, so far attracting partnership from International
Labour Organisation (ILO) Zambia Prevention Initiative (ZPI) and Africare
Steps OVC. Further, more communities in the district have expressed their
desire to want to work with it, while the district authorities now insist that
Chisomo should play a key role in most of their district development
activities. In addition to all this, Chisomo has been unanimously chosen to
chair a number of committees in the District such as World AIDS Day, VCT,
and Day of an African Child.
Organisational Development
During the period under review and with support from the SHARe II project,
ZINGO engaged the mother bodies to initiate organizational development
(OD) particularly as it relates to their HIV/AIDS programmes. An orientation
on the importance of OD and the processes related to OD and its benefits to
the mother body was presented. Despite, the NAPEC representatives agreeing
on the importance and relevance of this initiate, it is yet to receive
comprehensive support from the mother bodies.
Challenges
In relation to the LPCB project and during the period that the LPCB project
was being implemented, transport to the Eastern Province to carry out the
capacity building exercises was a big challenge. Throughout the partnership,
ZINGO continued to use its two old vehicles that often gave problems in the
field. Often the vehicles needed to be pushed to start or ended up in a garage
for repair while in the field.
Communication between ZINGO and LPCB was often times far from being
inadequate. This resulted in both ZINGO and LPCB visiting the same PO at
the same time.
There is a lack of appreciating OD interventions within partners. Many
organizations still do not recognize that organizational development is very
much the responsibility of organizational leadership than the organization
facilitating OD in this case ZINGO.
Summary of Achievements and Challenges for the entire ZINGO
programme during the period under review
Programmes (including Monitoring & Evaluation)
Programmatically, the ZINGO programme has expanded in scope, geography
and level of engagement. In terms of scope, the ZINGO programme now
includes HIV/AIDS, Gender, and Human Rights issues including economic
strengthening targeting vulnerable women. This expansion has opened a lot
28 | P a g e
of possibilities for ZINGO and is slowly consolidating ZINGO as the go-to
network. Geographically, our programmes are now been implemented in
almost all provinces of Zambia except for Luapula province while the level of
engagement has equally deepened. All the seven (7) mother bodies are fully
involved in the implementation of the ZINGO programme in one way or
another truly fulfilling our motto of “together against HIV/AIDS”. In the
same vein, our collaboration with Government has intensified making us a
true partner in complementing government efforts to deliver on some aspects
of both the mid-term and long-term development goals of the government. In
all the four districts where the Child Protection programme is being
implemented, ZINGO is working through the office of the District
Commissioner while our collaboration with the Ministry of Gender & Child
Development is growing in strength.
The organization has successfully begun the process of developing a database.
This has been a problem for a longtime due to a number of external and
internal challenges. However, ZINGO did manage in 2013 to mobilize
resources for the same and the development of the Database is now work in
progress.
Finance & Administration (including Human Resource Management)
The network managed to mobilize enough resources that resulted in a greater
engagement of the various mother bodies in implementing the ZINGO
Strategic Plan. All of the mother bodies, including the Hindu Association of
Zambia were engaged in 2013 to implement the ZINGO programme thereby
reflecting the real interfaith response that ZINGO uniquely prides itself on.
Furthermore and as a result of the increased resource mobilization,
implementation of our programme has expanded spatially. In 2013, the
ZINGO programme covered all the provinces of Zambia except for Luapula
and included districts such as Chinsali, Mwinilunga and Mbala where we had
hitherto not been.
The period under review also saw an improvement in our management of
external resources thereby increasing donor confidence. Since inception,
ZINGO has never been audited by the US Government. For the first time in
2013 and having gone beyond the US$300,000 threshold, ZINGO was audited
by the US Government. Being the first time that ZINGO was undergoing such
an audit, a number of compliance issues were noted resulting in ZINGO being
asked to pay back some funds that were deemed disallowable to FHI360.
However, on the whole, the experience was very beneficial to ZINGO as it
identified areas where ZINGO needs to improve in respect to management of
USG funds. Given that the contribution of USAID to the overall development
assistance package to Zambia is quite significant, the ability to effectively
manage their funds is highly valuable and there is no doubt that by having
29 | P a g e
undergone this experience and learning from it, ZINGO has reached a very
significant milestone.
In the area of Human Resource, ZINGO continues to be amongst the few
organisations where staff retention is quite high and this can be attributed to
management’s deliberate policy of running an open organization where
innovation, creativity, mutual respect, openness and tolerance are the
hallmarks of organizational management. This has created an environment
for members of staff to express themselves and their identity in the process
helping them to thrive as individuals but also as a collective and viewing
ZINGO not just as a place of employment but also “home”.
Governance
During the period under review, ZINGO with support from SHARe II,
JCP/NCA and UNESCO managed to hold its General Conference. The
significance of successfully holding the General Conference is that it
consolidated ZINGO’s progression towards developing a sound governance
structure and culture. For example, during the Conference, amendments to
ZINGO’s constitution were adopted, a new chairing organization for the
network was elected and key strategic and operational documents were
approved, adopted and launched. All these governance issues assist in
strengthening the organization.
Areas needing improvement
Inadequacy of the NAPEC structure:
The composition of the NAPEC which is made up of junior staff within the
hierarchy of the Programme Departments at the mother body level has denied
the NAPEC the necessary influence it needs to move programmes forward.
Key decisions have been deferred so that NAPEC members can consult their
superiors at mother body level and this has affected programme
implementation. Among the programmes that are very critical in our plans
and are very important for the mother bodies are the Capacity Building
Project with the Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA) as the entry
point for this project and the Development of the ZINGO Database. Both
these two programmes have suffered from the indecision of the NAPEC
members, which is as a result of the reason pointed above and have failed to
take-off effectively.
The intensified marketing of the ZINGO product (interfaith response)
The interfaith response is a unique brand that makes ZINGO the go-to
network. While ZINGO has fared well in attracting the recognition of many a
stakeholder in the HIV/AIDS response, we believe more still needs to be done
to market ZINGO. One of the major challenges we have had in the past is
30 | P a g e
having a deliberate policy with someone dedicated to manage the branding
and marketing side of ZINGO. Last year, management made a conscious
decision to engage a Communications and Resource Mobilization Officer
sitting in the office of the Executive Director. We envisage that such a
deliberate move will help in marketing ZINGO to the effect that will result in
increased mobilization of both technical and material resources to support the
work of our members in the areas of HIV/AIDS, Gender and Human Rights.
Decentralization of the interfaith response
The strength of ZINGO is directly linked to the strength of the services
provided to its beneficiaries as close to the community as possible. Key in that
equation is the mother bodies and the provincial offices set up in Chipata,
Kitwe and Livingstone. We saw this manifest in reality over the years in
Livingstone due to the strength of that office. However, with resources
becoming limited even at the national level, this has affected the robustness of
our field offices which in turn has affected our strength. There is need to come
up with strategies that will result in our mother bodies and field offices
having the necessary capacities (skills, tools and funding) to implement the
interfaith response at community level.
Capacity among some members of the network
It is no secret that efficiency is tied to the kind and depth of technology
existent within any entity tasked to implement a programme or task. The
higher the levels of technology, the higher the levels of efficiency. ZINGO
continues having a challenge with some of its members who still need to be
helped to grow their technological levels to a point where they are able to
sufficiently process inputs from the external environment into quality outputs
that their beneficiaries and constituencies can benefit from. Numerous
trainings and skills development efforts have been initiated by ZINGO.
However, we are yet to see the results of these efforts in some of the member
organizations. Recognizing that organizational development is much a
responsibility of each individual mother body then it is for ZINGO, ZINGO
can only play a facilitating and catalyst role and hope that each individual
mother body will take the initiative to grow accordingly. However, it needs to
be emphasized that given the nature of our set-up (where ZINGO does not
implement but does the implementation through its members); the whole
network is affected when the implementation capacity of the mother bodies is
low due to one reason or another. There is therefore a great need for us to
make tremendous progress in the development of individual mother body
and field offices capacities if we want our impact to be felt on the ground.
31 | P a g e
CONCLUSION
Despite the challenges recorded, there is no doubt that the programme during
the period under review recorded overall remarkable accomplishments. The
General Conference held in December injected into the network fresh energy
which should be capitalized to consolidate the gains made thus far. In
particular, ZINGO should work on consolidating the interfaith networking
which has been well embraced at district level and strengthen the various
governance and programming structures to provide the necessary policy and
programming oversight to the interfaith response. The expansion in scope,
engagement and funding base (partners) has to be sustained to ensure that
ZINGO is not vulnerable and the ZINGO programme is not defined
narrowly.
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