Despite decades of aid, 71% of Zimbabweans live in poverty. Zimbabweans have had far more than their fair share of erratic weather events (floods, droughts, Cyclone Idai), disease and locust outbreaks, economic shocks, and COVID-19. At the local level, crops are diseased, a river dries up, a competitor corners the market. When disaster strikes, communities often have nothing to fall back on. Progress, health, livelihoods and even lives are lost. The poverty cycle continues.

Our local team will consult with community leaders and members to identify their priorities, resources, skills, gaps and ideas. Together we will analyse shocks faced in the past and actions taken to prepare and respond. Acting like consultants, we will help a community to draw up and start to implement a plan to build their whole community’s resilience, looking holistically at foundational skills like problem-solving and risk management as well as basic needs like water and food sources.