Thrive

Enhanced Livelihoods and Resilience

What we want to do:

We want all families to have the skills/ability to provide nutritious food, educational opportunities and emotional support necessary to thrive. We are working towards this by:

  • Increasing household income
  • Improving household food security
  • Improving families’ abilities to prepare for and cope with emergencies
  • Improving on and off-farm management of natural resources
What is the problem?

More than 40 percent of the adult population in Zambia are excluded from financial access. Without financial systems, people (especially in rural areas), rely on their own limited savings to run businesses and educate their children, a situation that creates inherent poverty, limits people from affording basic necessities of life such as food, health, water and sanitation.

In agriculture, farmers face challenges such as lack of credit, inadequate inputs, lack of viable markets for agricultural produce and poor coping strategies in the event of droughts.

How is World Vision addressing the issues?

World Vision Zambia’s livelihood strategy is well aligned with the Government's livelihood strategies and Sustainable  Development Goals. World Vision Zambia is working with 45,378 households (232,060 people) using innovative development strategies to improve household resilience and livelihood. We want to ensure that parents or caregivers are able to provide well for their children. Our livelihood strategy has four key thematic areas of focus.

To contribute towards sustained and inclusive development, we work with vulnerable families to support them out of poverty. World Vision Zambia has committed to a range of focus areas within livelihoods’ programming that aim to reduce rural communities’ vulnerability to poverty and support economically active households.

To improve financial inclusiveness, especially for rural communities, World Vision in Zambia uses the Savings for Transformation model, to empower people with knowledge on how to create savings as a group in a safe, suitable and flexible way. Funds accumulated through savings are then borrowed by members and paid back at very low-interest rates for use in productive activities that allow farmers to acquire assets and send their children to school.

Through Savings Groups, community members learn how to save the resources they already have and develop their small enterprises or farms. As they develop their resources and require additional funding, they may then seek a micro-finance loan through VisionFund.

Additionally, to support farmers’ agricultural needs, World Vision in Zambia supports communities with knowledge and skills, enabling them to use climate-smart farming methods to improve adaptation to climate change and enhance crop and livestock production. Further, farmers with similar produce form Commercial Producer Groups which ensures that farmers aggregate/bulk their produce to build economies of scale and have strong bargaining power on the market.

Is what World Vision doing working?

Yes! Improved resilient livelihoods are enabling parents and caregivers to provide well for their children through encouraging enterprise development. Also, more farmers are recognizing that God is empowering them to transform their communities, so they learn to be good stewards of their land by rotating crops, actively managing soil fertility, vigorously harvesting water and avoiding toxic chemicals among other things. Following the training, Farmers are able to employ early warning systems to anticipate and respond to potential threats such as floods, drought, food shortages, fluctuating prices, pests, and disease.

As farmers learn to enrich the soil, improve plant quality, ensure access to water, and manage microloans, they reduce loss, increase harvests, gain better access to markets and grow their income. And through the Savings groups, families now have a cushion against emergencies and a means to meet household needs or grow a business.

What’s the impact?*
  • We have supported 5,419 S4T groups through mentorship and coaching. At the end of 2021, memberships recorded stood at 84,613. Groups have accumulated ZMW36.2 million (US$ 2 million).
  • 3,621 farmers participated in value chains, such as dairy, goats, groundnuts and chickens, driven by viable and accessible
    markets. 1,560 farmers growing groundnuts were linked to profitable markets, resulting in ZMW7.2 million ($450,000) earnings from the sale of groundnuts.
  • 50 Savings for Transformation groups are on a pilot scheme for the digitization of cash boxes (Tenga Mobile Money). 15 are operational.

To learn more click the Capacity Statement on Enhanced Livelihoods and Resilience