Climate adaptation program bearing fruit: Sikana
By Tendai Sahondo
Takunda, a 5 year climate adaptation and resilience food security activity funded by USAID and implemented by CARE is showing great promise as it is already churning early successes worth celebrating, CARE country director, Patrick Sikana has said.
In just two years, the US$55mln project has begun showing evidence that proves how effective interventions by Care and partners could potentially boost sustainable, equitable, nutritional food resilience and income security for vulnerable communities.
In an exclusive interview, CARE country director, Patrick Sikana said the consortium has initiated discussions on how to replicate early successes at a national scale.
“We are already having conversations of how we can implement the successful elements of Takunda in other areas beyond the initial 5 years. We are currently looking at some of these successful components and how they can be amplified and spread to other parts of the country,” he said.
Takunda currently covers 92 wards in Buhera, Mutare, Chivi and Zaka districts with Bulawayo Projects Centre (BPC), Environment Africa, Family Health International (FHI360), International Youth Foundation and Nutrition Action Zimbabwe as implementing partners.
Sikana said some of the early successes include Women Village lending and saving schemes and nutritional improvements among targeted populations.
“We have seen that Village Women Savings groups have begun to improve; there are early indications of better savings among women’s groups. There are also early indications that nutrition among lactating mothers and kids is improving, which means we will start seeing a reduction in stunting rates and malnutrition, at least in the areas we are operational for now.
“Furthermore, we are beginning to see adoption of effective extension service provision, which has improved the ability of experts to reach more smallholder farmers. These are some of the few early successes worth celebrating,” he said.
Care has since partnered the Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Analysis Network (FANRPAN), in collaboration with its Zimbabwe Country Node Hosting Institution, the Agriculture Research Council (ARC), to implement activities under the Takunda program.
FANRPAN is expected to champion adoption of Takunda approaches and models in the areas of Resilience Design, Paravets Extension and gender transformative Village Savings and Loan Associations.
Sikana said $25mln has since been spent on the Takunda project to date.