FAO’s EFFORTS IN SCALING UP SUPPORT FOR SDGs IN ZAMBIA

By HAPPY MULOLANI

POVERTY is one of the concerns which has serious ramifications on most rural households. About 60 percent of people who live in rural areas are poor and are faced with challenges such as limited access to markets, finance, improved technologies and infrastructure, fragile and degrading natural resources, among others.

But to combat rural poverty requires providing an enabling environment through multisectoral policies, strategies and programmes aimed at addressing the economic, environmental and social vulnerabilities which poor rural households encounter in their everyday lives (FAO, 2019).

This presents the necessity for partners to contribute towards poverty alleviation through specific approaches in African countries, of which Zambia is no exception. In order to eliminate poverty, requires partners to work in collaboration with government to embark on appropriate interventions aimed at addressing poverty.

One such partner is the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, which has committed itself towards providing interventions meant to drive the economic and social progress for all, as one of the three global goals through its key components of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This understanding culminated in the conceptualization of the Capacity Development Programme, which aims at strengthening the use of poverty analysis to achieve the first two goals of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda (SDG). SDG 1 focusses on alleviating poverty and SDG 2 deals with achieving Zero hunger. The programme, which is designed to support national efforts to achieve shared prosperity, specifically targeted government staff from Zambia and Ghana.

Its main objective is to strengthen national capacities to utilise poverty analysis for policy and programme design, and tailored towards monitoring and evaluation of these policies and programmes with a view to achieving the aforestated first two SDGs. It envisages to stimulate shared prosperity through an approach which involves inter-ministerial coordination for participatory formulation and implementation of strategies which address rural poverty and hunger.

FAO supports this initiative under its Strategic Programme 3 “reduce rural poverty” as it leverages and builds upon all five strategic programme and 3 regional initiatives, as part of efforts to effectively support countries in achieving the SDGs through adopting multi-sectoral approaches towards poverty reduction, with emphasis on interdependence and appropriate linkages between poverty, food security and nutrition (FAO, 2019).

The three phased programme included; phase 1, online course for five weeks and participants were expected to spend at least 15 hours of total study time. Second, phase 2, face-to-face training, which was conducted for five days in Akosombo, Ghana. And third, phase 3, coaching sessions which included a follow-up and support towards the implementation of action plans.

In a recent graduation ceremony of eight graduates of the Executive Programme, Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (MCDSS) Director of Planning and Information, Edmond Mwakalombe disclosed that the MCDSS in collaboration with FAO facilitated the participation of staff in the Executive training programme.

Mr Mwakalombe explained that eight ministries and one agency from Zambia, participated in the programme. These include Ministry of Community Development and Social Services, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of National Development and Planning, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry, Ministry of Lands Natural Resources, Ministry of Local Government and Central Statistics Office (CSO) as an agency. Overall, eight participants successfully completed the programme.

He said the programme’s face-to-face phase of the course was key as it enabled participants from Zambia and Ghana to share their experiences and insights in line with poverty. This backdrop of shared experiences and lessons learnt informed their actions.

“This necessitated the Zambian team to come up with an action plan on the cash plus that was brought to the attention of your office, PS and action is being taken to move forward this action plan,” Mr Mwakalombe said.

And Ministry of Community Development and Social Services Permanent Secretary Pamela Kabamba said Government has reaffirmed its commitment to work towards ensuring achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through building capacity in staff.

Mrs. Kabamba emphasized that government was working to ensure capacity building in staff across ministries through the Executive Programme in order to strengthen the use of poverty analysis to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) 1 and 2.

She said government will continue to collaborate with the Food and Agriculture Organization in order to enhance capacities needed to serve beneficiaries. 

Food and Agriculture Organization, Country Representative, George Okech, said despite the country making significant progress in the Zambian economy, poverty still remains one of the major concerns as over half of the population are poor.

“Majority of the poor are found in rural areas while extreme poverty in rural areas is five times what is obtaining in urban areas,” Mr Okech said.

In pursuit of efforts to alleviate poverty, Mr Okech explained that FAO will endeavour to support the government achieve its vision 2030 objective of “a prosperous middle income country by 2030” through an integrated multi-sectoral approach development in recognition of the numerous causes of poverty.

 “FAO is committed to supporting countries in meeting the SDGs which align with FAO’s strategic framework. FAO’s efforts are meant towards tackling the root causes of poverty and hunger to have a better society,” Mr Okech said.

Mr Okech expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (MCDSS) for partnering with FAO and spearheading this initiative from Government. He also commended the key partner, IFPRI, for the support rendered towards the online and face to face phases of the programme.

A graduating participant, Tebuho Suuya said the experiences shared, lessons learnt and the support offered by FAO experts during the training programme was useful in identifying action plans around the cash plus concept in Zambia and will support the successful implementation of these action plans.

It is encouraging that FAO remains committed to support countries which envision achieving the SDGs forthwith, through its strategic framework towards tackling root causes of poverty and hunger, which is meant to have a better society. Thus, the inception of the Executive Programme is a milestone given that it focusses on strengthening capacities on poverty analysis. Further, concerted efforts should hover around increasing collaboration and support among staff and stakeholders in a bid to alleviate poverty and hunger.

Clearly, despite the eminent challenges alluded to which people face, the need to develop a multi-sectoral, multi-track approach is apparent. In order to address the economic, social and environmental vulnerabilities which poor rural households experience in their everyday lives, requires national committment and leadership, providing an enabling environment, coupled with applying appropriate knowledge and capacity to design investment support that generates real and enduring change.

CAADP YOUTHS IN AGRICULTURE

By HAPPY MULOLANI

IN Africa, agriculture is one of the key priority sectors which contribute significantly to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDPs). The sector presents potential opportunities for youths to sustain their lives. At the same time, the involvement of youths in the agriculture sector is key as it will enable them increase food security and rural income levels.

Majority of youths in Africa, who are smallholder farmers face challenges such as lack of access to modern technologies, capital investments and supportive research, lack of participation in decision making and vulnerability to ecological shocks. In Zambia, these concerns alluded to also affect young smallholder farmers in the country. In response to these eminent challenges, there is need to establish explicit understanding of issues affecting farmers and develop appropriate policies which improve their rights and meet their needs (Youth Engagement Toolkit on CAADP 2014 Malabo Declaration, 2016).

As a consequence, the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) was conceptualized. CAADP is unique in that, it is an African owned and focussed programme. It attempts to increase economic growth in Africa through its agriculture led development and recognized global brand approach, which is envisaged to impact on the continent’s development through the “strong expression of reclaimed ownership of agricultural policy by Member States and African citizens”(CAADP, 2015). The national CAADP and Malabo implementation processes and the Agriculture Investment Plans (NAIPs) present unique opportunities to address youth development in a comprehensive and integrated manner.

Unfortunately, one of the challenges which could deter youths from contributing towards accelerated agricultural growth and transformation goals is the inadequate integration of youth in the implementation process.

As a result, a Youth Engagement Toolkit on CAADP and 2014 Malabo Declaration was developed as an advocacy and resources guide to deepen knowledge, capacity and participation of youth in CAADP and Malabo processes. This is premised on the understanding that youth need to be involved in Africa’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) through a toolkit “which demonstrates how young people can positively contribute towards Africa’s agricultural development planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and the policy making processes” (Youth Engagement Toolkit on CAADP 2014 Malabo Declaration, 2016).

But, for youths to positively contribute to development, they need to strategically position themselves in key areas of intervention such as agricultural science, technology and innovation initiatives. The realization that there is need for concerted efforts with respect to the engagement of youth by elevating their voices and improve the quality of partnerships in relation to local existing youth initiatives is apparent.

Recently, the Zambia National Dialogue brought together 50 youths from all 10 provinces of Zambia, who convened at AGCO Future farm in Lusaka. The aim of the workshop was for participants to formulate “youth positions” or propositions which could be integrated into the national CAADP policy dialogues for formulating NAIP.  

The Zambia National Dialogue is expected to also provide a platform for youth representatives from Zambia to engage and share experiences with regard to youth participation in agriculture and sustainable livelihoods. This approach is meant to enhance their abilities to network and share progressive ideas in relation to their value chains.

Consultant Victor Mensah disclosed that 50 youths out of 400 youths who had applied across all the 10 provinces were chosen through a competitive process which looked at different skills and a gender approach. The workshop objective was to equip and build capacity in these identified youth farmers to enable them sustain their engagement in dialogue processes in relation to their different agriculture enterprises, in order to better their lives.

Mr Mensah asserts that for youths to progress in their various agriculture enterprises, it is important for them to engage in progressive dialogue aimed at sharing ideas through networking and building sustained partnerships.

He stated that the 50 youths were representatives of the 10 provinces in Zambia, which presently constitutes the Zambia National Dialogue. The identified participants are expected to lead a critical mass of youth smallholder farmers countrywide.

Mr Mensah added that all the 400 youth farmers, who were part of the applicants, are captured on the database. Thus, they are expected to be part of the process of promoting and sharing different ideas on their various commodities of focus. In this way, more youth farmers will be part of the interventions that will be promoted through the chapter.

Chief Agricultural Economist Christopher Mbewe explained that government is determined to empower and support youths in their agriculture enterprises as enshrined in its policy documents.

“This commitment has been shown through youth policies which are in place to give them a voice and also ensure that they contribute to the economic status of the country through their participation in agriculture enterprises which should translate to increased food security and income,” said Mr Mbewe.

Efforts to ensure youth farmers are captured on the database is one of the priorities of Government, as doing so will enable proper actualization of the youth policies already in place.

“The Zambia Integrated Management Information System (ZAMIS) is an integrated farmer register database, which captures all smallholder farmers countrywide,” Mr Mbewe said.

Jack Changula, is CAADP Youth Chairperson for Zambia and also one of the youth farmers says value addition and processing are among the key areas of interventions; youths want to be supported in their various agriculture enterprises.

“Youth farmers believe these two processes will increase their maximum returns and yield positive results as they seek to sustain themselves and also contribute to the economic status of the country through increased income,” Mr Changula said.

He appealed to government for improved access to land, noting that at least 40% of youth need to own land to productively utilize it for their identified agriculture enterprises. He also highlighted the necessity to have training centres with modern machinery, specifically milking machinery which can be processed into various products meant for market demands.

Mr Changula emphasized the need for farmers to be equipped with knowledge on avoiding post-harvest losses, as doing so will increase their economic status.

He said most youths desired to utilize opportunities such as village banking to boost their financial capacities so as to expand their enterprises. He suggests that, youth farmers would rather set prices themselves than conform to the dictated market prices by other potential buyers to avoid incurring unnecessary losses.

The integration of youth in agriculture is key if they are to sustain themselves and also contribute to agriculture development. With appropriate youth policies in place which support young smallholder farmers in their identified value chains, they should be able to register profitable gains and sustain their agriculture enterprises.

What these youth farmers require is to engage in progressive dialogues which not only gives them a voice, but also the ability to network and build strong partnerships in order to give them impetus to remain competitive. In this way, their participation in their value chains and linkage to potential markets will culminate in increased contribution to improved food security and incomes.

CONTESTING MASCULINITY: WOMEN IN FAO

BY HAPPY MULOLANI
Research shows that women are often marginalized despite being involved in most of the work that occurs in different social contexts. This is against the premise that most African societies are patriarchal in nature and positions men superior to women (Connell, 2002; Banda, 2008).

Patriarchy refers to male dominance and women insubordination which is perpetuated by cultural norms and values. Patriarchy reinforces male dominance over women even through religion as they are expected to be passive and submissive. These assertions are confirmed by a study which argues that cultural values have perpetuated the inequalities between men and women (Mutunda, 2015).

These notions have been perpetuated in work contexts which tend to position men in a hierarchical order. But, over time, these tendencies of men dominance are slowly but surely getting re-configured as more women are now being encouraged to take up positions of authority in organizations.

In particular, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is an international organization which has a policy that promotes the equal participation of women. Its policy stipulates that to encourage development, there must be participation not only of men but also women. Through this strategy, it is believed women will take their rightful position and contribute towards organizational goals and development.

FAO’s notion of women participation is especially pivotal in ensuring they contribute to the country’s development. One of the women contributing to the organization’s development agenda is Senduka Siafwa, who is Assistant FAO Representative (Administration).

Ms Siafwa oversees the following key units of the organization which include administration, finance, procurement, human resource, logistics, security and information technology, which comprises nine staff. Of the nine staff, five staff are women, which is rather encouraging to see such kind of gender re-configuration, as more women occupy key positions which was not the case previously.

She described her work at FAO over the last seven and half years, as a unique experience which has enabled her to rise to the challenge.

 “Although work is sometimes challenging, the challenges are outweighed by the realization that I am accountable to many people who look up to me to provide guidance in various processes that contribute towards achieving FAO’s mandate,” Ms Siafwa said.

Ms Siafwa, who has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Baldwin-Wallace University, Ohio, USA and Bachelor of Business Administration from Andrews University, USA (through its campus at Solusi University in Zimbabwe) never had it all rosy to rise to where she is today.

Like many African children, her parents at the time wanted her to pursue a teaching or nursing career because they were perceived as noble professions in her days. However, Ms Siafwa recollects that nursing or teaching was not her passion but to please her parents, she enrolled for nursing. Nevertheless, she quit after six months much to the displeasure of her parents.

“Though I enrolled for nursing, I felt that was not what I wanted to do. After six months, I decided to quit nursing. This disappointed my parents, nonetheless I needed to pursue my dream,” Ms Siafwa said.

After quitting nursing, she enrolled at Andrews University for a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Accounting. While at university, she worked not only support herself but to also get acquainted with the terrain of her field of interest. Taking this route was not only challenging but also insightful in navigating her field.

Later, Ms Siafwa went to the United States to pursue her Masters of Business Administration (MBA). The MBA journey she embarked on had no scholarship, but had to be self-financed. With the status quo, she had to work to take care of her financial obligations.

“The university scheduled the lectures to be held in the evenings to accommodate the professionals who desired to further their studies. That worked well for me; I worked full time during the day and attended classes in the evenings,” she said.

During the course of her studies, she became President of the Accounting Association at the university which was the beginning of not only taking up leadership role but also opened doors for job opportunities that she had never anticipated.

“After graduating, I attended several job fairs which exposed me to many opportunities through interactions with various employers. At one such job fair, I was privileged to be interviewed by an organization which offered me a job after a competitive selection process. Although the job was quite demanding, it exposed me to innumerable prospects during my career, “Ms Siafwa said.

Ms Siafwa explains that this exposure prepared her for future job opportunities and thrived on it upon returning to Zambia after completing her studies. She argues that exposure is very important in any career because it presents milestones in any career.

“The acquired exposure enabled me to develop networks and learn about different aspects of work and career progression,” Ms Siafwa said.

This also made her realize that women need as much exposure in order to tap into the opportunities that lie untapped out there.

“Even in this competitive age, opportunities are available to harness exposure that facilitates building networks. Exposure and networking compliment each other,” she said.

This means if women are to tap into any opportunities and find themselves in positions of authority, they should network and acquire the necessary exposure as well as share their experiences.

As Ms Siafwa asserts that sometimes women may be perceived as weak culminating in the dependence syndrome, they need to show persistence and patience in their work endeavours.

“I get motivated to put in my best efforts to inspire other women. Most parents and guardians ought to realize that investing in women fosters into investing in a larger community,” She said.

Gone are the days when women depended on men given the re-configuration which has resulted in more women occupying positions of authority nowadays. This re-configuration is evident in organizations like FAO which promotes women participation in the development process and contributes towards societal needs.

Though patriarchal notions are still existent, the willingness for organizations to contest these notions is feasible, as is the case with FAO. Admittedly, what should be brought to the core is that change is a process and contesting hierarchical structures in which men are positioned as dominant takes considerable time. The onus is on women to build their self-confidence and be assertive to be able to perform tasks which are performed by men.

Ms Siafwa’s testimony is one of those successful women who have found themselves in positions of authority. This should encourage other women to work on their self-confidence and realize that what men can do, women can also do! Once women position themselves in this manner, it will help them be assertive, participate and contribute to the development agenda.

S3P INTERVENTIONS AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN KAWAMBWA AND MBALA

By HAPPY MULOLANI

One of the concerns of smallholder farmers in rural areas is lack of proper road-networks which often affects their marketing of agricultural produce. Proper road-networks is key if agricultural production is to be enhanced. This notion is likely to facilitate farmers’ active involvement in their various farming enterprises sustainably and profitably.

Maybin Chanda, a rural smallholder farmer in Kawambwa district laments how poor the road-network was before the intervention of the Smallholder Productivity Promotion Programme (S3P).

“Before S3P came in to support the development of the road-network, it was very difficult to access the market because the road was in a deplorable state, making it very difficult to sale our agriculture produce on time,” says Mr Chanda.

He thanked S3P for the support rendered towards the rehabilitation of the road-network. The timely rehabilitation of the road-network has made it easier to have a direct link to diverse potential markets.

Mr Chanda further revealed that there was no storage facility for farmers to place their produce at strategic points, making bulking a mission to accomplish. But now the area has a storage shed with the support of S3P coupled with the improved road-network.

“It is a blessing for us to have a storage facility located strategically and good road-network because now our ability to reach potential markets is significantly great and more farmers have been attracted to embark on various agriculture enterprises,” said Mr Chanda.

Mr Chanda emphatically said farmers are no longer focusing on cultivating maize only, instead they have also learnt that diversification will help them to register better profit margins given the good infrastructure in place.

He says during the period S3P offered its support towards the provision of infrastructure, which has triggered more participation of farmers in various agriculture enterprises. This is evident in how the provision of infrastructure has eased accessibility to potential markets which was a major problem in the past.

S3P Programme Coordinator Martin Liywalii retaliated that for the programme to adequately support farmers, there was need to help with infrastructure in order to facilitate their linkage to potential markets. This idea coupled with instilling in farmers appropriate marketing skills and value addition was pivotal in ensuring farmers engage sustainably in their agriculture enterprises.

Mr Liywalii reaffirmed that the project endeavoured to deliver government policy of increasing food production, income generation and economic growth for the target households.

He also disclosed that the programme ensured that camp extension officers in the field were supported with motor bikes to ensure their mobility and increase their number of field visits to farmers in their catchment areas.

Mr Liywalii echoed that though the programme was originally conceptualized to focus on supporting four commodities of focus which include cassava, beans, groundnuts and maize. The programme realized after re-evaluation, the need to broaden its support base to other commodities such as soya beans coupled with infrastructure.

Another smallholder farmer in Mbala in Northern Province Elizabeth Nampasa hailed the programme for facilitating trainings through cooperative societies. Mrs Nampasa said before farmers undertook any trainings which had a business inclination, their cooperatives were stagnant in their agriculture activities due to lack of knowledge and skills centred on entrepreneurship.

“As a cooperative, we never used to advance or progress until 2018 when three cooperative societies were invited for entrepreneurship skills leadership and business development through S3P’s support. After undergoing these trainings, there was a difference…” said Mrs Nampasa.

These trainings have stimulated interest among farmers to engage in various avenues which inculcate and promote a business culture in order for them to be viable entities. It is clear for cooperatives to be profitable entities, there is need to engage in enterprises which positions them with a higher bargaining power.

The cooperative presently owns a house which they lease out at K350 per month. They have also acquired a hammermill. These properties the cooperative possess helps it to generate its own funds and run sustainably.

It is also encouraging that the District Cooperative Union (DCU) has managed to employ a manager who is very useful and supports cooperatives with any support they need to progress in their enterprises.

Department of Cooperatives Director Shadreck Mungalaba, explained that strengthening district farmer associations through capacity building is key. This is in order for these associations to be independent and viable entities. For instance, six (6) district cooperative unions along with 550 farmer groups at camp level were strengthened through capacity building during the period of S3P’s implementation process.

Mr Mungalaba emphasized that part of sustainability efforts is to continue with interventions such as gender mainstreaming in trainings given that the participation of women in the production process is key. And there is need for beneficiary participation in trainings to be based on cost-sharing, in this way, the dependency on government or donors will be lessened.

He advised that sustainability efforts need to re-think how the Department of Co-operatives facilitates linkage with business development service providers and other development partners. The department in collaboration with other partners needs to encourage and support diversification and value addition among smallholder farmers.

Though there were some bottlenecks during the implementation of S3P such as delayed funding which is key to undertaking any trainings, some lessons learnt were to ensure the involvement of the cooperative department during all the processes of future collaborating programmes in order to sustain the process when programmes phase-out.

Clearly, S3P’s support towards infrastructure and cooperatives is a milestone which requires continuity, it is hoped smallholder farmers will sustain the agriculture development agenda by actualizing ideas through their organised cooperatives. These ideas should be tailored towards increased agriculture production, nutrition and increased income.