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. 19 | P a g e 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. 20 | P a g e 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 22 | P a g e 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. 32 | P a g e