Back in Zambia

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Zambia Emergency Drought Response - January 2020

Carl returned to Zambia early in January as an International Relief Manager (IRM) to respond to the drought and severe food insecurity. This project is providing food to 91,662 beneficiaries in the districts of Gwembe, Kazungula, and Shangombo. World Vision is undertaking a direct implementation in Gwembe and Kazungula, while Carl is working with World Renew and their partner, the United Church of Zambia, to implement in Shangombo.

Each community elected a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to select beneficiaries who most met the beneficiary selection criteria, to communicate information from the project team to the selected beneficiaries in their section, to help manage complaints, and to assist with the distribution process. The project team continues to work closely with the CAC members to build their capacity in running the monthly food distributions in their communities.

The second round of food distributions to the ten communities in Shangombo district started on January 3 and was successfully completed on January 24. A total of 436.13 metric tonnes of maize, beans, cooking oil and salt was distributed to 33,984 individuals. To ensure the security at the food distribution sites, it was necessary to rope off of a large open space around the food commodities and have two local police officers present during the distributions.

It is currently the rainy season in Zambia and we are thankful for the rain that is so desperately needed. However, due to the amount of rain received during January, some food distribution sites were at risk of being inaccessible. There have been many occasions when trucks got stuck and needed to be winched out. Alternate routes were planned but in one case the transport trucks could only get to within 5 km of the food distribution site.

With the support of World Vision, this project is moving from a paper based system of keeping track of food received by beneficiaries to the Last Mile Mobile Solutions (LMMS) which uses web-based mobile applications. If you are interested you can watch a short video called Last Mile Mobile Solutions: Faster & Fairer Aid Distributions. The project team has been busy working with the LMMS beneficiary registration team to ensure that all the beneficiaries get registered prior to the next food distribution.

Carl and the team have been very busy and working in challenging conditions. We are thankful for the food that is bringing relief to the people in this part of Zambia. Please continue to pray for Carl, the team he works with, and the people for whom this project effects.

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