In an effort to reverse the downward spiral of poverty and hopelessness in Zambia, the Hope for Zambia Project of establishing Holistic Community Development Resource Centers will give Zambians the education and experience necessary to improve their way of life now and for future generations. The goals of this program are to establish life changing skills and education including a controlled demonstration farm that will give students successful practical training for future community projects. This will empower Zambians to be successful by giving them additional tools in agricultural improvements, business development, and education (nutrition, hygiene, and sanitation). This will directly decrease the prevalence of water, sanitation and nutritional related diseases in their communities.

Problem

In an effort to reverse the downward spiral of poverty and hopelessness in Zambia, the Hope for Zambia Project of establishing Holistic Community Development Resource Centers will give Zambians the education and experience necessary to improve their way of life now and for future generations. The goals of this program are to establish life changing skills and education including a controlled demonstration farm that will give students successful practical training for future community projects. This will empower Zambians to be successful by giving them additional tools in agricultural improvements, business development, and education (nutrition, hygiene, and sanitation). This will directly decrease the prevalence of water, sanitation and nutritional related diseases in their communities.

Solution

So many NGO's and non-profit groups come in to a community, do a single project and then leave. Our goal is to create holistic change by not only bringing clean water to a community, addressing sanitation and hygiene but to also include nutritional farming education and skills training. We will not only teach farming but will specifically address their needs for Water Sanitation and Hygiene knowledge and interventions for example, the Arbour loo pit latrine, the tippy tap for hand washing and the fly trap. We will also train on the need for good hygiene and sanitation when farming and marketing your produce. We will focus on growing nutritional crops to help the farmer as well as the community. We will also grow many African indigenous plants to ensure generations of success in the event of climate changes. During our training participants will cook on fuel efficient stoves and alternative fuels than the traditional charcoal. This type of holistic approach is what Africa needs to bring real change in their desperate situation. In the developing world food security is a major issue; 925 million people do not have enough food to eat, according to the World Food Program. In Zambia the benefits of adequate food supply and good nutrition extend far beyond the health of an individual, they impact the health of the entire community. By teaching improved farming methods, how to farm throughout the year and how to get better nutrition, these projects aim to create a sustainable way to help local communities improve their health while reducing the cost of food and medicines.

Example

This program will enhance the existing Holistic community Development Resource Center that Seeds of Hope International Partnerships has already started in Ndola Zambia. We will begin training up to 40 people (every 6 months) on the 12 acres land we just leased next to our offices in the heart of Ndola. Specifically they will learn about soil building through composting, vermiculture. This will allow them to farm using little or no commercial fertilizers which is the highest input cost for these farmers. They will also learn about organic pest control, growing nutritious crops and skills all the way through marketing and adding value to their produce. This will be accomplished by establishing a controlled demonstration farm for training and research linked directly to the community. Daily tours and topic specific trainings will also be done throughout to all the vulnerable populations we already serve like orphan and vulnerable children and their parents, people living with HIV/AIDS, school children and Community Health Promoters. Building on the success of the Resource Center farm we will also demonstrate self-sustainable farming in communities and schools thus empowering Zambians to be successful by giving them additional tools in business development, agricultural improvements, and education (nutrition, hygiene, and sanitation); decrease the prevalence of cases of nutritionally related diseases.

Marketplace

Zambia ranks in the lowest 10 percent of countries in the 2007/2008 Human Development Index rankings of the United Nations Development Program. Reasons include: up to 90 percent unemployment in some areas; 63 percent of children under five years of age suffer from iron and vitamin A deficiency; slash-and-burn cultivation continually strips nutrients from soil; and high consumption of nutrient poor maize. Primitive agricultural techniques and limited understanding of basic nutrition are at the root of many of these problems. Many Zambians from the rural provinces have relocated to larger cities hoping to find jobs. Unable to find work they resort to living in slums and shanty towns, many try to survive on subsistence farming. By establishing this partnership and mentoring local farmers and students under the guidance of Seeds of Hope International Partnerships we believe that many of the impoverishing ailments can be reversed. Without improved agricultural techniques and nutrition training, Zambian farmers will be trapped in the hopelessness of unemployment, continued poor agriculture techniques, and harvesting of nutrient poor crops, resulting in the continued cycle of poverty. These poor shanty towns and the surrounding rural areas are the place that we have been working bringing clean water and hygiene and sanitation trainings. Through this we have created a strong network with teachers, government officials traditional leaders, religious leaders forming community health promoters that are given tools to teach their neighbors. This network is what we will use to bring this Agricultural, Nutrition and agriculture health training into the community. They have shown their strength and determination in our other programs and we will build successfully on that. SHIP has been working in Zambia since 2003. In this short time, SHIP has grown and now employs 65 Zambian nationals and has equipped impoverished communities with interventions that bring health and hope. Since 2003 SHIP has  provided safe water to more than 475,000 Zambians;  repaired more than 400 broken water well hand pumps;  drilled or overseen the drilling of 200 boreholes;  built and installed more than 4,100 BioSand Filters (household water purification devices);  helped rural communities to build more than 240 latrines in schools and villages;  trained more than 22,000 people in Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation classes in 250 villages; and  equipped more than 160 people with increased vocational or agricultural skills. Throughout its hygiene and sanitation programs, SHIP has been pioneering a replicable model for holistic community development through the establishment of resource centers where Zambians and organizations come and receive training in the following:  integrated water, hygiene and sanitation (iWASH);  well drilling and pump repair;  improved agriculture techniques (bucket and drip irrigation);  small business development; and  vocational skill development. SHIP envisions the resource centers having an exponential impact in surrounding communities. It is anticipated that these resource centers will be established throughout all nine provinces in Zambia and eventually into other countries in Africa. The Ndola Resource Center has already established a second resource center in Lusaka and has trained various NGO’s and government leaders from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. When SHIP plans a new program, it seeks to integrate appropriate stakeholders within the community in pursuit of building lasting infrastructure and success. Appropriate community stakeholders involved in the establishment of a SHIP program include government officials, teachers, churches, NGOs, and community leaders. The goal of each program and resource center is to mentor the poor with relevant knowledge, applicable technology, and hands-on experience, empowering them with skills necessary to initiate lasting change in their communities.