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Christian Aid's Zimbabwe programme puts people at the centre of all its work. Our programme is driven by our faith identity, a culture of openness and sharing, and our commitment to amplifying poor people’s voices. Our work focuses on Matabeleland, and is also linked to action at a national level.
We have a diverse skill set and are committed to our faith identity and a culture of open and shared analysis and learning.
We work in partnership with women and men, church groups, the private sector and wider alliances and networks to strengthen accountability, transparency, inclusivity and equality.
Our vision is for resilient, thriving and peaceful communities that have a voice and are empowered to find their own ways out of poverty.
Christian Aid has worked in Zimbabwe since the 1980s, with a country office opened in 1999.
Meet the senior management team behind Christian Aid Zimbabwe.Our aims
- To strengthen poor and marginalised women and men’s resilience and access to inclusive markets;
- To promote good governance and citizens’ participation in local and national decision-making processes which impact their lives;
- To strengthen poor and marginalised women and men’s capacity to challenge social, economic and political institutions for increased accountability, peace and empowerment;
- To strengthen the Gender and Faith Network (GFN) through engagement of men and boys as champions in order to bridge gender and inequality gaps for poor women, girls and men;
- To become a globally networked, digitally enabled and financially resilient programme.
In Zimbabwe we work on...
Inclusive market development and private sector engagement
We aim to strengthen Inclusive Markets Development (IMD) and private sector engagement.
Our Participatory Market Systems Development (PMSD) approach is designed to help deliver inclusive markets programmes that reduce poverty on a large scale and protect the environment.
The inclusive markets programme helps to bring systemic change and transformation for poor women and men.
Our programme focuses on three selected value chains including horticulture, sorghum and organic herbs and spices.
Resilience
Our programmes aim to empower people to live with dignity, able to anticipate, manage and respond successfully to disasters, risks and opportunities.
In Zimbabwe we aim to build the resilience of poor women and men guided by the resilience framework. We also regularly update our Country Level Emergency Preparedness Plan (CLEPP), which brings partners and key stakeholders together to plan for all types of emergency.
We are also guided by the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS), the nine commitments that organisations and individuals involved in humanitarian response can use to improve the quality and effectiveness of the assistance they provide. We apply the CHS across our entire programme.
Governance
The Zimbabwe country programme supports work on extractive, industries that mine for oil, gas or minerals, and environmental protection.
We also work on peace building and community cohesion and challenge broader inequalities with the aim of ending poverty.
Our Strengthening CSO and Citizen Engagement project, funded by Irish Aid, aims to promote good governance, strengthen citizen engagement with duty bearers and increase accountability by power holders.
Gender and Inclusion
Our programme hosts the gender and faith network, a group which works with faith leaders and has a special focus on men to challenge gender inequality, particularly gender-based violence.
The programme reaches communities in marginalised geographic locations, works to protect children, including children living with disabilities, and promotes relevant and practical skills for young women and men who did not have tertiary education opportunities.
Our Addressing Gender Based Violence project, funded by ITL, works with faith leaders and men to increase prevention efforts, increase reporting, strengthen the referral system and support survivors who are mostly girls and women.
We now get enough to pay for what we need and send our children to school. We sell in local markets ... our lives have changed
Key achievements
The Zimbabwe team is a pioneer in conservation agriculture and piloting mechanised smallholder conservation agriculture.
Working with private sector and local NGO partners, we have also led the promotion of market linked, high value, Fairtrade and organic certified production of climate start crops and responsible harvesting of non-timber forest products for the benefit of marginalised communities.
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2,500
producers have been linked to markets for diverse products
Enabling access to inclusive markets
Christian Aid Zimbabwe successfully piloted use of the Participatory Market Systems Development (PMSD) approach.
As a result, over 2500 producers have been linked to markets for diverse products, and local government authorities in three districts are reviewing and improving conditions for micro, small to medium enterprises (SMEs).
Over US$5m investment was also secured for strategic value chain companies to expand markets and increase benefits to marginalised smallholder producers.
Environmental impact of mining companies
Our programmes also created space for citizen and civil society participation in the mining sector through facilitating the Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba (ZAMI).
This platform was used to advocate for the adoption of a declaration with specific recommendations, which have been presented to the government for adoption in the amendment of the Mines and Minerals Bill.
The programme increased participation of women and men in mining communities in monitoring the environmental impact of mining companies.
Gender and faith
Zimbabwe programme was instrumental in the establishment of a local and a Southern African faith and gender-working group that will build both regional and national movements for faith and gender.
Integrated Learning, Skills and Entrepreneurship Advancement initiative
This project supports basic education for girls and boys, including the disabled, preventing abuse of children, promoting and supporting entrepreneurship and access to income among youth and young mothers.
The project uses the 'sport for change' approach to deliver results and receives funding from Comic Relief.
Other related work is funded by the Porticus Foundation, Women’s World Day of Prayer (WWDP) and the Isle of Man Government.
