Zambia

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• November 11, 2009
• December 28, 2009
• March 3, 2010
• May 14, 2010

Micro-enterprise Loans

Micro-enterprise / Loan Schemes,
Community / Agriculture Development,
Training / Education

Partnership Overview  

Feeding her family

Currently the majority of Bright Hope World partnerships in Zambia are focused on getting HIV/AIDS orphans into school by supplying school fees, stationary and uniforms. The orphans are still looked after in the community by relatives or neighbors. However hunger is a huge issue and is potentially going to get worse. Rising costs of inputs such as fertilizer and fuel means the commercial farmers producing the local staple crop of maize have passed the costs on and mealie meal (maize flour) has increased significantly in price in the last year. The subsistence farmers, who currently rely on fertilizer, are in a position where they cannot afford the inputs and many have stopped growing maize. This means they will have to buy mealie meal.

Bright Hope World has been challenged by this need and is now seeking to run kitchen garden training programmes and micro-enterprise loans in an attempt to improve household nutrition and food security as well as to kindle a spirit of self-reliance.

History Of Partnership

In 2006 Bright Hope World along with Samfya Community Care Providers started a kitchen garden loan programme. It was identified that the orphans being looked after in the villages by guardians were not getting enough to eat. They were hungry. The partnership ran training programmes, first for church leaders and then for 40 selected guardians who were trained in Biblical principles of working, gardening techniques and financial skills. The 40 were then given small loans of about US$15.

The results have been significant:
- Families have been able to produce kitchen vegetable gardens, using the money to buy seed, tools, other inputs and construct grass fences. 
- For some families meals eaten per day have increased from one meal of cooked mealie meal (nshima, which has very little nutritional value) to two meals of nshima with vegetables 
- Extra produce has been sold to pay back loans and provide for household and school requirements 
- All 40 families have paid back their loans 
- Neighbours have taken on the idea and started to produce the same gardens even though they are not part of the partnership

Kitchen garden

The programme has now increased with 220 families involved.  The initial 40 families have now obtained more training and greater loans for livestock and cropping. 

Bright Hope World is now looking to establish similar micro-enterprise schemes in other partnerships in Zambia.  It has become evident that many of our partners seem to be struggling in terms of time and skills to take the partnerships to the next level, i.e. from providing school requirements to food security and sustainable growth, and require training and help in this area.

Jerry and Hayley Field from Nelson, New Zealand, are based at Maplehurst Farm in Kabwe, Zambia and are involved in the oversight of existing Zambia partnerships, the introduction of micro-enterprise into some partnerships, the development of training programmes and resources for partners and beneficiaries and the establishment of model plots for learning at Maplehurst Farm.

Beneficiaries

Not only do the guardian families of the orphans cared for by Bright Hope World benefit from this garden training and the access to small loans but the general community also benefits as more and more people start eating better, becoming self-sufficient and encouraging others in the community to do the same.

What We Like About The Partnership

The micro loan partnerships give the beneficiaries the chance to help themselves. Yes we give them starting capital but it is them that have been trained and grown their gardens, crops and livestock. The dignity these people get from achieving results and being able to pay back the borrowed money is huge.

Relationship To Other Partnerships

The goal here is to create micro loan schemes in all other Zambian partnerships where this is possible.

Field family

Key People

Leadership Profile

Jerry and Hayley Field have been working with Bright Hope World in Zambia since 2005. Hayley is a trained horticulturalist and Jerry dabbles in accounting and business with a horticultural background. They have one child, Sophie, and have been sent out to work with BHW by Hope Community Church in Nelson, New Zealand.

Vision And Annual Strategy

The vision for the project is to empower the current Bright Hope Zambian partners to be able to run micro loan programmes within their existing projects.

The strategy is as follows: 
- Visit partnerships to assess abilities and where inputs and assistance will be required 
- Set up demonstration kitchen gardens, cropping, and livestock. Include trials to assess better techniques for growing food. 
- Create a training curriculum to train key leaders in partnerships, potential leaders in the partnerships and school leavers
i. Holistic approach, covering spiritual and physical elements to ensure orphan beneficiaries will benefit from the programmes
ii. Financial training to run small business and micro loans
iii. Specific horticulture and agricultural techniques
iv. Nutrition

Annual Budget

$80,000 (over 2 years to provide for the micro loans and training programmes)

Personal Testimony

Real "Life Change" Stories

Being productive again

Albina Chabala
“My name is Albina Chabala. My church selected me to attend a training being conducted by SCCP. In addition to the training I also received a kitchen garden loan for ZMK 50,000 ($US15). The training and kitchen garden loan has changed many things for the better in my household. A few years ago I lost my husband. After his death I became depressed and unproductive. I stopped trading fish and I did not manage our money very well. Our family was really suffering. We were only eating one meal a day and my children were often sick. The training that I attended at SCCP challenged the way I thought about a lot of things. I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and start being productive once again. I also learned how to manage my money, how to save and plan ahead for things I wanted. 

I used to keep a very small kitchen garden, just some onions and kale. At the training I learned how to invest in my soils. I learned how to grow a variety of vegetables and how to care for the health of my plants. I have now expanded my kitchen garden and have constructed a fence around it. I grow tomatoes, kale, Chinese cabbage and carrots. Thanks to my garden I am now able to provide 2 meals a day for my 5 children and 2 adopted children. By growing my own vegetables I am able to reduce my household expenditures by ZMK 28,000 a month. While we still do not eat three meals a day our lives have improved greatly, especially for the children who are now much healthier. I even helped my friend start her own garden. 

From my first crop of vegetables I have sold ZMK 155,000 worth of surplus vegetables and expect to sell another ZMK 120,000 before I plant my second crop. If I can plant three crops of vegetables this year I expect to earn ZMK 725,000 from the sale of my surplus vegetables. I am saving some of my money so that I can fix up my house. When I die I want to leave behind a nice house as a testimony to the impact my church has had on helping me during this hard time. I am also saving so that I can send the children to school. I would like to join an agricultural cooperative for cheaper access to fertilizer and maize seed for my farm which I also hope to expand. I have also made plans to re-start my fish trading business. I will sell my first fish consignment in December of this year. 

I want to express my appreciation for this programme. It has really changed the way I think about my life and has resulted in some very positive changes in my life and in my family.” 

How Can I Help?

This partnership has received some funding but there is plenty of scope for more people to be involved.