Building dams and communities in Zimbabwe

I have visited many small dams / garden projects in Africa over the past 20+ years, the very first ones I was involved with were in Mali. The local Peace Corps volunteers were helping rural communities near Kadiolo survey their watersheds and place small earthen dams in places where rain-water run-off would be captured and held to irrigate down-stream crops. And of course, this technology goes back way before aid agencies started promoting it. Archeological evidence from Egypt shows these ideas were being used nearly 6,000 years ago!

So, why are we still promoting such old technology? Why do communities still need our help to put these systems in place? There are many reasons, but the two most prevalent ones are capital and social organization. Some of the dams and weirs that CARE is building are substantial structures, capable of holding 10,000 cubic meters of water. To build and install one of these takes engineering expertise, material, equipment and skilled contractors, all of which cost money, often beyond what a poor rural community can afford. Community members can and do provide the land and much of the labour, sand, rocks etc., all of which are essential inputs for the project. But what they don’t have is enough money, and that is where donors can help.

The second issue of social organization involves working closely with community members to conceive and plan how a major piece of community infrastructure will be built and operated. Everyone knows that community involvement in the construction of capital works increases their sense of ownership in the facility, but getting these planned and setting expectations takes time. Equally important is the identification and sharing of the land that will be irrigated as a result of the dam. Upstream land may have to be taken out of production in order to protect the watershed by eliminating the erosion otherwise would carry silt into the dam and eventually render it useless. Almost always the best land is being used by particular families, so they may have to be compensated for sharing their land with others, allocation of this now (more) valuable land needs to be done in ways that are transparent and provide clear social and economic benefits to the community. Donors after all are not interested in building a dam that helps only a few community members benefit, but community consultations to reach agreement on how all of this gets realized are time-consuming, delicate and critical to the success of the project.

CARE staff in Zimbabwe are very skilled in this, and the evidence of their skill is clear when I consider how much larger and how many more families are involved in the dams we are building today in Zimbabwe compared to those I visited in the early 1990s when CARE first became involved in small dam building and rehabilitation works. When I crested the hill and saw a garden that supports 87 families, I knew then that CARE had taken its agriculture programs to a new level, working to change the daily lives of these families, but also, but enabling the production of so much produce, changing the health and economy of the entire district. Farmer after farmer (again mostly women, but with many men engaged) confirmed to me that they generally consumed ½ of what they produced, and sold the other ½. They told stories of people from other districts coming to see their farms/gardens, as news of their success (and high quality produce for sale) started to spread!

Another great set of examples as to how CARE is making a difference, one hectare at a time!

Learn and Earn - group savings and loans in Zimbabwe

I’ve been home from Zimbabwe for a couple of weeks now, and had wanted to get these last few postings up earlier. Unfortunately, I brought back a little passenger with me from Zimbabwe in the form of rickettsiosis, otherwise known as African tick-bite fever! This knocked me on my back for the better part of a week, but is easily treatable with antibiotics (at least here in Canada).

Anyway, back to the main story… How CARE helps Zimbabwean women Learn key skills to help them Earn a better living.

One of the most astounding programs we are running in Zimbabwe is the Group Savings and Loan programs (GSL) in the Masvingo district. CARE helps form groups of (mostly) women who have a common interest in starting to save money. Savings are pooled, and withdrawn by group members from time to time. Members use the funds for a wide variety of uses, anything from investing in a micro-enterprise, to paying school fees, or covering the cost of a trip to the clinic, or just buying an essential household item. The existence of this pool of cash enables group members to have access to more cash then they could generate on their own – and in fact, it serves the same purpose as my credit card.

When I have to pay for my children’s day care expenses, I use a credit card because the day-care expects the money at a specific time, and that may or not be at time when I have enough cash in my bank-account. I don’t want to have to sell my computer to pay the fee, otherwise one of the key assets I use to earn my living would be gone (not to mention that the computer actually belongs to CARE!). The existence of these group savings means that if a Zimbabwean family needs to pay for antibiotics to treat African tick-bite fever, they don’t need to sell a sewing machine or cut back on meals in the household or take a child out of school. They borrow from the group members and pay the money back over time. By simply borrowing a larger amount, families can buy goods at bulk rates, another way of saving money over time. By no longer having to sell productive assets, families retain their ability to earn a living.

The groups do charge interest, but unlike my credit card they pay the interest to themselves – so the money doesn’t leave the community. No external money is added to these communities so no one is taking on external debt. The groups are finding ways to pool and use existing capital in more effective ways. The accounting and financial literacy skills are imparted directly to the participants giving them key life skills, which is an important and legitimate source of pride. GSL programs are specifically designed to cater to the financial needs of the very poor, and in many ways, GSL is the misunderstood cousin of micro-finance.

I would dearly love to see these programs expanded throughout Africa. CARE has nearly 1.5 million women already enrolled in GSL programs in 10 African countries, but we have set a goal of expanding this to 30 million, in 30 countries. The day I spent with GSL graduates in Masvingo was all the proof I needed to convince me that GSL programs are meeting a real need and should be offered to every community we can reach.