Zimbabwe
Africa
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PHOTO: Eva Berglund/ACT International
Conservation farming Indawa ward north. Aaron Msutu, chairman of the farmers' organization in the area.
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PHOTO: Eva Berglund/ACT International
Unloading bags of maize from South Africa with the Lutheran Development Service.
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PHOTO: Eva Berglund/ACT International
Women on the way home with maize flour, beans and cooking oil. Matutdelning in Mwenezi district.
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PHOTO: Eva Berglund/ACT International
Young woman gets water from a hole dug in the ground in Chidhindi.
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PHOTO: Eva Berglund/ACT International
Chidhindi food-for-work project. A field being plowed and seeds sewn
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PHOTO: Eva Berglund/ACT International
Chidhindi food-for-work project. A field being plowed and seeds sewn
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For many years Zimbabwe prospered as the “breadbasket” of the Southern African region – a net crop exporter and the world’s third largest tobacco producer. However, in 2007, Zimbabwe’s economy faced serious hyperinflation affecting the general population and particularly the vulnerable people already struggling to make ends meet.
ACT members reported that factors that hastened the country's economic decline included the HIV and AIDS pandemic, the impact that restructuring the agricultural sector has had on the overall food security, and a massive unemployment rate, with some 80 percent of the population considered to be living under the poverty line. In addition, 2007 saw one of the worst harvests in recent times, with the year officially designated as “Drought Year” by the government.
As ACT members in the country responded, political circumstances within the country in 2008 created an even more desperate situation for vulnerable families. Through a partnership with the UN World Food Programme (WFP), ACT members worked to mitigate the impact of the enduring crisis on the most vulnerable population groups.
