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C-SAFE Newsletter, January -April 2005
C-SAFE (Consortium for the Southern Africa Food Security Emergency)
June 15, 2005

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/csafesa/111882700627.htm

C-SAFE Zimbabwe

Market Assistance Program (MAP) Market Update
The MAP was designed to reach the urban poor, while using a market-based mechanism for distribution. WV initiated the program in Bulawayo, with a low-cost maize alternative – sorghum - utilizing existing commercial channels. CRS planned to implement in Mutare and CARE in Gweru. The project, created by C-SAFE, with the support of USAID in Zimbabwe, represents the first time that aid agencies have sought to boost food availability using existing commercial markets.

CRS continues to negotiate with the GoZ revenue authority officials’ to resolve their concerns about taxation on revenues from the sale of duty-free imported products. The Mutare program has been suspended by CRS since February. Plans are underway to start activities in Victoria Falls and Hwange.

World Vision’s Bulawayo sales network nears 200 retail shops in both urban and peri-urban areas of Bulawayo. The proportion of people purchasing sorghum in peri-urban areas and squatter camps appears to be higher than in high-density areas of Bulawayo.

CARE Gweru has been procuring its processed sorghum meal from WV in Bulawayo due to inadequate local milling capacity. A local miller has been identified with contract negotiations continuing.

The percentage of households purchasing sorghum has increased from 27% in August 2004 to 38% in January 2005. By March, a modest decline in sorghum purchases has been noted in each of Gweru, Bulawayo and squatter camps.

There also appears to be a slight increase in the proportion of household using sorghum meal as a breakfast cereal, now well over 50%.

Shops surveyed in the last quarter report that they believe the MAP sorghum is well priced, and are satisfied with timeliness of delivery and the quality of packaging.

C-SAFE partners continue to conduct school feeding at primary and pre-schools in nine districts and urban Bulawayo. The consortium has focused upon institution based programs (school feeding, institutional feeding, clinical programs) and small off-season food for assets programs.

CRS fed more than 400 chronically ill patients in four hospitals up to the end of 2004, when this program intervention ended. Plans are now at an advanced stage of discussion with the Ministry of Health regarding the implementation of the Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) program in selected districts of Manicaland and Mashonaland East.

CARE continued institutional feeding in 16 hospitals, seven orphanages and two institutions for disabled children, and commenced feeding of chronically ill beneficiaries from two hospital catchment areas (Mukaro and Chimombe hospitals).

HIV/AIDS
The HIV/AIDS working group which meets monthly to discuss issues related to HIV/AIDS is finalizing guidelines for Food Aid in support of Chronically Ill beneficiaries. The working group has been using the TFA tool and Learning Spaces material from Zambia to develop those guidelines.

Training
Following the staff "HIV/AIDS and Stigma Facilitators’ Training workshop" (sponsored by the C-SAFE Learning Spaces initiative in Johannesburg, February 2005), Zimbabwe held multiple one day stigma reduction trainings to help professional staff recognize and mitigate stigma among themselves and to improve leadership and relevance in targeting and program delivery. Approximately 270 C-SAFE Zimbabwe staff have been trained through their individual agencies. Each agency has reported excellent feedback from the participants and from national authorities (Ministry of Health).

Food For Assets
The rolling-out of a Food-For-Work activity for vulnerable individuals who work as cooks in schools ("school cooks") has had positive changes as cooks attendance and commitment reported to have remarkably improved in March 2005. More than 1300 cooks were registered in Zimbabwe under the school-feeding program by February.

Main season FFA projects are implemented between April and September when labour is available and not needed for agricultural purposes. World Vision continued with community agricultural support projects during the period. Gwanda has a total of 11 projects for People Living with HIV/AIDS and CARE has launched 15 new projects under the same category.

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