The Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) continues to champion empowerment initiatives across the country particularly in rural areas as a way of improving food security and equip communities with climate-smart agricultural education.
The church consortium recently trained 300 farmers in Masvingo Province with Conservation Agriculture skills and nine Internal Savings and Lending (ISAL) groups have been established to strengthen resilience to climate-related shocks.
This was revealed following a recent two-day monitoring and support visit by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) General Secretary Rev. Wilfred Dimingu, accompanied by representatives from Local Ecumenical Fellowships (LEF) and ZCC Management.
In a statement,ZCC said that the projects implemented so far have registered a great success with 125 households already started to benefit from the two solar-powered water schemes which are supporting community horticultural projects.
“The monitoring visit was conducted in Bikita Ward 18, where the delegation met project participants at Mataga and Kudyaibadza community gardens established under the livelihoods project Enhancing Community Resilience through Sustainable Income-Generating Scalable Projects, supported by Tearfund.
“The project has recorded notable progress, including the establishment of two solar-powered water schemes supporting community gardens and benefiting 125 households, as well as an additional garden supported with fencing material on an existing borehole system. Community members in all three gardens received trainings and garden starter seed packs, which they cultivated to improve household food security, nutrition, and incomes.
“In addition, 300 farmers have been trained in Conservation Agriculture, and nine Internal Savings and Lending (ISAL) groups have been established to strengthen resilience to climate-related shocks,”said ZCC
ZCC further revealed that the other key component of the visit was “The learning and reflection process conducted in Ward 17 at Boora Reformed Church in Zimbabwe under the Church and Community Mobilisation for Transformation (CCMT/CCMP) program, being implemented in Bikita, Buhera and Zishavane districts.
“Guided by biblical values of holistic ministry and integral mission, CCMP empowers churches and communities to recognise and utilise God-given resources, nurture self-transformation, and work collectively to address poverty and vulnerability. The approach emphasises transformation of the whole person thus, spiritual, social, economical, physical, and mental, while strengthening relationships between God, people, and the environment,”ZCC added
The participants exchanged experiences, reflected on lessons learnt, and reaffirmed their commitment to collective action, partnerships, and sustainable community-led transformation and work collectively to address poverty and vulnerability.
The monitoring and support visit to ZCC programmes was supported seperately by Tearfund, and jointly by the United Church of Canada (UCC) and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) in Bikita District.
