Takunda Sustainable, Equitable, and Resilient Food, Nutrition, and Income Security in Manicaland (Buhera and Mutare) and Masvingo (Chivi and Zaka). Financial Year 2022 Q1-4
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‘Planting the Rain’: An Innovative Approach Towards Building Sustainable Futures In April 2021, Takunda began engaging with communities through a visioning process guiding them on developing action plans that any organization can use. Wendumba village in Ward 11, Mutare rural, was a part of the pilot phase of the community visioning process that led to the development of a community action plan (CAP) for Cluster 2. The Cluster consists of four villages, namely, Irimayi, Musiringofa, Mushunje, and Wendumba. During their needs-based ranking, Ward 11 prioritized access to water and the rehabilitation of existing water sources in their community with 124 votes. The Resilience Design training supported by USAID and
facilitated by SCALE comes hot on the heels of these findings. Once classified as “reserve land’’ with little agricultural potential, the area receives an annual rainfall of 107mm- half the amount needed to yield maize. Prone to drought, Councillor for Ward 11, MAZVITA ZINDOMO (63) shared the following history through the CAP, “In 1992, 2008 we didn’t experience any rainfall. In 2002, 2019 we were affected by Cyclones Eline and Idai. In 2020 we lost livestock to January disease and crop to the fall armyworm.” These disasters are compounded by the ongoing COVID-19 induced environment
OCTOBER 07, 2021: POLITE MASARA, Disaster Risk Reduction Officer, uses a homemade A-frame to map out the flow of water at Cephas and Winnet’s homestead as BARBRA SIBANDA, Zaka District Supervisor, and community members look on. © Charmaine Chitate/ CARE
A lighter moment in life and hopeful, YOLANDER NHENDO (17) shares, “These Takunda lessons have helped me to become a child who listens, a person who intends to return to school, and a person who has changed the way I used to dress to meet family expectations. Takunda has made the future I had always wanted more promising”. © Lynette Chipendo / TAKUNDA RFSA
One of seven children and one of two girls, YOLANDER NHENDO (17), found herself alone. Her mother, Abigail Mukakanyari had moved thirty kilometers away to Jerera. Yolander’s older sister, Chelsea, opted to leave her children, aged three and seven months old, to migrate to South Africa in search of better economic opportunities. As a result, Yolander became solely
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Manicaland Buhera & Mutare Rural
Masvingo Chivi & Zaka
OCTOBER 07, 2021: CEPHAS DZITIRO (41) and his wife WINNET MASIYAH (45) opened their homestead to resilience design teams from the USAID funded Amalima Loko and Takunda projects in collaboration with Muonde Trust. © Charmaine Chitate/ CARE
leading to non-cultivation on arid land. The need to build a resilient household able to withstand these shocks and stressors is ever present. Teams from Amalima Loko, Muonde Trust and Takunda met to collaborate and reimagine food security for these families. “Resilience Design is an opportunity for us to integrate the various components of our project and remove the ‘’silo thinking’’ around our programming,” said RUNYARARO MUNONDO, Resilience Manager at USAID Takunda RFSA. She adds, “We selected Cephas and
OCTOBER 07, 2021: PATISIWE ZABA, Resilience Lead at Amalima Loko, shovels soil off a garden bed. © Charmaine Chitate/ CARE
Winnet’s homestead as one of four Perma garden demonstration sites under the Takunda program. Our integrated team was challenged to identify ways to manage rainfall water and increase productivity around the household in consultation with the homeowners.” Attributed to MR. PHIRI from Zvishavane, resilience design encourages increasing soil health and fertility, biointensive planting, and water management around the household and in the field using contours, bioswales, and demi-lunes. FORTUNE TAFIRENYIKA, Disaster
Risk Reduction and Resilience Specialist at Takunda, shared, “Thirty centimeters of topsoil is removed from the site of a potential garden bed and set aside. A second 30cm layer of soil is loosened and mixed with mulch, manure, and leaves. This will help increase soil fertility, and the mulch will allow water to sink into it, preserving moisture in the soil. This only needs to be done every five to seven years.” PATISIWE ZABA, Resilience Lead at Amalima Loko, had this to say in a reflection session, “I liked how we worked together as a single team.
OCTOBER 07, 2021: CEPHAS DZITIRO (41) begins to plant into his newly double dug bed in Wendumba Village, Ward 11. © Charmaine Chitate/ CARE
The community couldn’t tell we were from different projects, and it would have taken our respective human resources departments to tell us apart.” Building on experiences from the implementation process at Cephas’ homestead, Takunda staff began to roll-out and scale-up across four districts, surpassing their target by delivering on a total of 22 demonstration sites. Written by: Charmaine Chitate
OCTOBER 07, 2021: WINNET MASIYAH (45) crouches to plant ginger into one of the beds double dug beds in her perma garden. © Charmaine Chitate/ CARE
Restoring Yolander’s Hope with Skills to Manage Life’s Constant Hurdles responsible for caring for her sister’s two children. The overwhelming responsibilities of tending to minors, farming, cleaning, cooking, and fetching fencing poles didn’t stop Yolander from committing to writing her Ordinary Level examinations at Dzoro Secondary School in Zaka together with her friend CATHERINE MUTUPO. Catherine is a wellmannered, neat student whose academic performance was average; however, when they collected their examination results, Yolander had failed all of her examinations. This was, possibly, the end of the road
for Yolander, who lived with her father, Kenias Nhendo, in Chinoona Village, Ward 8. Swamped by the youthful thoughts of “what ifs,’ “how will I,” and “what’s next,’ Yolander’s stress was visible. MANYETU MUTUPO, Community Health Club Facilitator and a Disaster Risk Management Focal Point Person noticed this, told her about one of Takunda’s upcoming Life Skills Training, and encouraged her to attend the session. During Takunda’s Passport To Success Life Skills training on
the topic of Stress Management, Yolander acknowledged that she had stressors in her life emanating from her roles and responsibilities at home. She felt they were many. To help her cope, she learned about different strategies to manage stress. So far, she’s adopted coping mechanisms such as taking a walk and switching tasks to help clear and settle her mind. As a result of the life skills session, her relationship with her family is stronger, and she’s taken the initiative to tone down on her previously radical dressing. In retrospect, Yolander shared
that the Making A Positive First Impression session encouraged her to change the way she used to dress; in the community, as they viewed her dressing as being provocative. Making a Positive First Impression is delivered as part of a series of introductory training sessions aimed at increasing awareness of social and business etiquette in young people. Together they create a foundation conducive to employability. Written by: Lynette Chipendo