Ending Hunger in Zambia
Donate to end hunger in Zambia
Zambia has experienced recent economic growth yet remains among the countries with the highest rates of inequality in the world, with two-thirds of the population remaining in poverty. Of this population, three-quarters of Zambians living in poverty are rural subsistence farmers.
Zambia has been a multi-party democracy since the 1990s, and is considered a stable nation with democratic elections every five years. It is ranked as a lower middle-income country based on its GDP, but struggles with extreme rural poverty, high birth rates, and a relatively high HIV/AIDS burden.
Additionally, growing government debt has become an issue as the price of copper, Zambia’s main export, has fallen and the lack of economic diversity has left it vulnerable to economic shocks.
Donate to The Hunger Project’s Work in Zambia
In Africa, The Hunger Project works to build sustainable community-based programs using the Epicentre Strategy. An Epicentre is a dynamic centre of community mobilisation and action, as well as an actual facility built by community members.
Through the Epicentre Strategy, 15,000-25,000 people are brought together as a cluster of rural villages, giving villages more clout with local government than a single village is likely to have while also increasing a community’s ability to collectively utilise resources. The Epicentre building serves as a focal point where the motivation, energies and leadership of the people converge with the resources of local government and non-governmental organisations. Over an eight-year period, an Epicentre addresses hunger and poverty and moves along a path toward sustainable self-reliance, at which point it is able to fund its own activities and no longer requires financial investment from The Hunger Project.
How donating to The Hunger Project helps people in Zambia
The Hunger Project has been working in Zambia since 2018 and is in the process of launching its first epicentre in the country as part of its Southern Africa Region. The Mlawe Epicentre will serve an area with five villages and a total population of approximately 16,000 people. Through the Epicentre Strategy, The Hunger Project is working with community partners to successfully access the basic services needed to lead lives of self-reliance and achieve internationally agreed upon markers of success, such as the Sustainable Development Goals.
It has six main objectives which cohesively will lead to the attainment of the aim. These are:
- Strengthened rural communities that continuously set, achieve and sustained their own development goals
- Empowered women and girls
- Improved and sustained access to integrated water and sanitation facilities
- Increased health clinic services specifically for mothers, children and youths
- Empowered youth meaningfully engaged in community-led development
- Improved community-led development partnership models that are scalable, inclusive and holistic.
Since its inception the project has reached out to 150 national and District level stakeholders and partners and also 3540 community members with sensitization, Epicentre committees set up, training in Vision, Commitment Action training, Agriculture diversification sensitization, Water Sanitation and Hygiene, Natural resource management and water harvesting technology training.
Recent Successes in the Mlawe Epicentre
The Epicenter strategy is being implemented in Mlawe ward of the Vubwi District of Eastern Province in Zambia. It is being implemented by a consortium of three organizations namely; The Hunger Project Zambia, Heifer Project International and Restless Development. The project is being implemented in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Zambia through the Ministry of Community Development & Social Services, Ministry of Fisheries & Livestock, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Ministry of Local Government and Housing and Ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs and Ministry of General Education.
Recent successes in this Epicentre have included:
- Strengthened rural communities that continuously set, achieve, and sustain their own development goals
- Empowered women and girls are seen in improved gender relations at the household and community level, increased agency
- Improved and sustained access to integrated water and sanitation facilities
- Improved literacy and education
- Increased enrollment, continuous attendance and completion of primary and secondary education
- Increased number of households to achieve a living income
- Improved environmental natural resource management and climate resilience
- Empowered youth meaningfully engaged in community-led development