Major new programmes underway

Ambitious new development programmes that will seek to improve food security and the livelihoods of more than 1.2 million people are being started in Zambia and Ethiopia.

Close to €2.5 million has been secured from the European Commission for the projects, both of which will take place over a two-years period (2010-2011).

The Seed Entrepreneurship for Economic Development and Food Security (SEEDFS) project in Zambia will aim to increase food security and incomes of farming community by increasing access and timely supply of good quality seed, while in Ethiopia new EC backing has been received to expand Self Help Africa’s existing Agricultural Co-Operative Development Programme in Oromia and Southern Nations and Nationalties (SNRPP) provinces.

Members of Kamasika Seed Growers celebrate their recent success

Marketing success for seed group

The 100 strong Kamasika Seed Growers Association in Zambia's Western Province are celebrating a record-breaking sale, having just completed a deal to provide 50 tonnes of maize seed to one of the country's leading suppliers. Click on the link below to read about the new development in a newly published feature in 'New Agriculturalist'.

New Agriculturalist

Vegetable sales in Senanga

The secondary school in Senanga town on the western shores of Zambia’s great Zambezi River is just the latest new market to have been sourced for vegetable producers in Western Province.

28 members of the Namatala Commodity Group established by the EU-funded Market Orientated Rural Enterprise Project (MORE) in Lui Wanyau district have been opening up markets for their produce not just in the local secondary school, but also in local hotels and restaurants, and amongst traders who sell both in local village markets, and also transport produce to the larger markets of the main Western Province towns of Mongu, Lukulu, Kaoma and Sheseke.

Self Help Africa's Northern Province project has been evaluated successfully

Evaluation success

The incomes of householders living in the Zambia's Northern Province increased more than five-fold as a result of development activities undertaken in the area.

A survey of household incomes amongst a sample group of 6,000 people in impoverished Mpika District found that incomes had, on average, risen from a baseline of 1,250,581 Zambian Kwacha (40 euro) at the start of the five year programme in 2004, to a present level of nearly 240,000 Zambian Kwacha (227 euro).

The project sought to improve the livelihoods of some of the poorest people living in the Game Management Areas (GMAs), and aimed to enhance wildlife conservation through increased participation of local people in the management of wildlife resources.

The Chikwanda-Mukungule Initiative for Poverty Reduction (CHIMU-IPR) was implemented by North Luangwa Wildlife Conservation and Community Development Project (NLWCCDP) and Micro Bankers Trust, in collaboration with Self Help Africa.

Find out more about the project

New director

Self Help Africa has appointed Kalongo Chitengi as the organisation's new country director for Zambia. A Zambian citizen, she has extensive experience of the NGO and private sectors, and is the first woman to take the role of director of an African country programme.

Tomato dividend

Rising out of the surrounding marshes is a hillock on which Chali Mange Llishebo and his sons and nephews are involved in the small-scale commercial production of tomatoes and cabbage.

One of 73 local members of the Lui Farmers Commodity Group, his half-acre plot has been a hive of activity in recent weeks, as he harvests and transports up to 15 baskets of his ripening tomato crop for sale in the market in Senanga town and other neighbouring villages.

A father of eight, Chali says that the Lui Farmers enterprise has significantly reduced the financial burden he faces to provide not just for his immediate family, but also for seven other dependants he supports.

Tomato marketing

Women & Development in Africa

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Note perfect

The Lozi people of Western Zambia use the silemba (xylophone) as an instrument not just of entertainment, but of celebration as well.

In Sikuyu village the instrument is at the heart of local life. It is used during rights of passage ceremonies for teenagers, at weddings and on other occasions of observance for local people. Follow the link below to find out why Sukuyu was celebrating recently, and the role that Self Help Africa's EU backed MORE project had to play in the happy occasion.

Read about why Sukuyu is celebrating

Development Fund of Norway, new partners of Self Help Africa

Norwegian partnership

Self Help Africa has entered into a joint-programme with the Norwegian Development organization - Utviklingsfondet, in Zambia.

Following our successful collaboration with the Development Fund of Norway in neighbouring Malawi, the organisation's have extended their partnership with an agreed joint programme for development to support rural communities in Zambia.

The Development Fund is an independent non-government organization founded in 1978. It supports development projects through local partners in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and believes that the fight against poverty must be based on sustainable management of natural resources.

Visit the web-site of Development Fund - Norway