Note: The menu shows the 36 African countries where Africare has worked, not the other African countries.

 


(Sheila McKinnon photo)

Zimbabwe

Africare began assisting Zimbabwe in 1981, just a year after the end of its lengthy struggle for independence. The first work focused on rural cooperatives. Since then, Africare has helped the people in essentially every area of basic rural development, including agricultural training, agribusiness support, improved water resources and health care. From water-and-sanitation projects at the village level to emergency well and dam construction during the 1991-92 Southern African drought, work in the water sector has been a major Africare thrust. A landmark project was the development of the Wensleydale Farmer Training Center: formerly a commercial farm, this 18,000-acre property was donated to Africare in 1985 and remodeled into a self-financing training center, with classroom and field instruction that have benefited more than 6,000 small farmers to date. More recently, Africare introduced to Zimbabwe edible oil production, a rural enterprise that had been piloted in neighboring Zambia with tremendous success. HIV/AIDS assistance began in 1999. Recently, Africare has been assisting poor people who live in peri-urban areas to engage in income-generating activities.

 

Current Africare assistance to Zimbabwe:

  • Food security
  • Food production, processing and marketing
  • Promotion of drought-resistant crops
  • Water resource development
  • Microenterprise development
  • Income-generation for the peri-urban poor
  • HIV prevention
  • Care for people living with HIV or AIDS
  • Assistance to AIDS orphans
  • Educational assistance to girls           

 

           

(Updated, Dec. 18, 2007)