DAPP celebrates 20 years of development work

In 2010, DAPP clocked 20 years of development work in the country. To mark the event, anniversary celebrations were held on 16thDecember,2010 at Sandy’s Creation outside Lusaka.

The event was attended by DAPP representatives from different sectors, some government officials and several other partners in development. The event was spiced with performances from Children’s Town steel band choir/ dancers.

DAPP Partnership Director, Elise Soerensen, presented the history of the organization in Zambia. Other speeches came from DAPP in Zambia Managing Director Rene Schultz and Community Development and Social Services Deputy Minister Hon. Friday Malwa who was the Guest of Honor.

In his remarks, Mr Schultz pledged more support toward the education sector through the construction of teachers’ training colleges (DNS). 

And in his speech, Hon. Malwa expressed government support to NGOs such as DAPP in their work of complementing government efforts in developing the nation.

All the DAPP projects under the five programme lines were exhibited. These included Child Aid, Farmers' Club, HOPE, Fundraising business, Total Control of the Epidemic and Children's Town project activities were showcased at this occasion.

Development Aid from People to People is a member of the Federation for Associations connected to the International Humana People to People Movement that is implementing social projects in Africa, Asia and South America within areas of basic health, HIV & AIDS, education, human rights, agriculture and others.

DAPP launches the Lukanga Wetland Conservation Project

Chibombo District Administrative Officer, Mr Joseph kawangú speaking on behalf of Central Province Minister Ackimson Banda

DAPP officially launched the Lukanga Wetland Conservation Project on June 6, 2011, at Ipongo Basic School in Kabwe District, a day after Zambia joined the rest of the world in commemorating the World Environment Day.

The title of the project is “Community Involvement in Management of Biodiversity Resources and Natural Forest in Lukanga Wetland Area” and it is being implemented with funding from Global Environment Facility – Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP) through UNDP and Keepers Zambia Foundation. The implementation of the project started on January 1, 2011 and will end on June 31, 2012.

The project is in response to the increasing depletion of the wetland due to unsustainable utilisation of resources in the Lukanga Swamp through unsustainable fishing practices, poaching of wildlife, uncontrolled wildfires, charcoal burning, overgrazing, and other farming practices that harm the environment by the community.

It thus seeks to conserve biodiversity and to improve management of the Lukanga Wetland and the areas surrounding it through community empowerment and involvement. Over 12,000 people in 100 villages in and around Lukanga Wetland area will benefit.

In a speak read on his behalf by Chibombo District Administrative Officer, Mr. Joseph Kawang’u, Central Province Minister Ackimson Banda, who was the Guest of Honour, highlighted the importance of the Lukanga Wetland to the country and hence the need to conserve its natural resources in order to support millions of Zambians across the nation.

“The government has over the years put up deliberate measures to reverse depletion of natural resources, and the Lukanga Wetland Area is one of the key priority areas for conservation as the wetland has plentiful fauna and flora, has potential for developing tourism and it is equally important for the sustainability of the Kafue River basin servicing millions of people in Zambia with fresh water resources,” the Minister said. 

He said Zambia was in a hurry to achieve the Millennium Development Goal on environmental sustainability. Banda thus commended DAPP for its “relentless effort” in supporting the government to achieve this development target through initiation and implementation of environmental conservation projects as well as training of communities in conservation of natural resources.

Speaking earlier, DAPP Partnerships Director, Elise Soerensen, said the current project was not the only environmental project DAPP had implemented during its 21 years of existence in Zambia.

She said DAPP has over the years been mobilizing local communities to produce and plant millions of trees and to construct contours to reduce soil erosion. She added that DAPP has also been teaching school pupils and youth about environmental protection, promoting sustainable farming methods, as well as training communities in forest management and construction of firewood saving stoves.

She thanked GEF-SGP for funding the project and the community for the warm reception of the project in the area.

“I wish on behalf of DAPP to thank the donor Global Environment Facility-Small Grants Programme – managed by UNDP and Keepers Zambia, for securing funds for this project. I wish to thank the local community for welcoming the project and I am looking forward to it progressing successfully,” said Soerensen.

DAPP “Building Weekends” offer training opportunity to 15 former street youth

Fifteen children pursuing their skills training courses at DAPP Children's Town Project were offered a rare opportunity to practise the theory they learn at Children's Town in Chibombo District.

This was when they were taken to Mkushi District to participate in the renovation of the DAPP buildings in the district that will house the DAPP DNS College of Education Mkushi expected to open on January 15, 2012.

The students were from the carpentry and construction classes. The students furnished shelves in the library whilst others assisted in roofing the males' hostel. Others from the construction class took part in constructing slab concrete for the outdoor kitchen. Isaac Mubiyana, a 19-year old skills training student in the construction class hailed the Children’s Town management for taking them to Mkushi to participate in the renovations of the buildings.

“It was really a good thing for me and my fellow students to take part in the building weekend. I enjoyed what I was doing on that day such as making a concrete for the out-door kitchen and putting rim beams under the windows,” he said.  

Meanwhile, Children’ Town Social Welfare Officer Elizabeth Kandunda has said the students’ participation in renovating the DNS College buildings has helped them develop confidence in themselves and the skills they have acquired. She said the students have a renewed vigour and are set to perform wherever their services are needed.  

“They have been exposed to a different environment and have come back with confidence that they can work anywhere after leaving Children’s Town,” said Kandunda.

After all is said and done, the skills training students await anxiously to see who takes them on board after they graduate from Children’s Town and vow never to let down their prospective employers. They have promised to soldier on in life with the skills they have acquired, as they are positive the skills will bring to them fortunes.

35 skills training students sit for trade test exams

Thirty-five skills training students from Children’s Town have successfully sat for their trade testing examinations administered by the Technical Education, Vocational, and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA). The students were from the Construction, Carpentry, Metal Fabrication, and Tailoring classes.

Margaret Lusaka, 18, is one of the tailoring students who sat for the examinations. She has challenged to pass the examinations as her performance has always been above par.

“I know I will pass the tests because I am always good at what I do and I have always passed with shining colours even in my skills training class,” she said.

Upon receiving her trade certificate, Margaret wants to venture into tailoring business in Chibombo, her home district.

“All I will need is sponsorship. If I can be bought some sewing machines I will have to start up my own tailoring shop and begin supporting my mother and father,” Margaret added.

DAPP runs a 2-year skills training project for former street and vulnerable children at Children's Town. The project rehabilitates former street youth by providing them vocational training and psychosocial counselling in order for them to reclaim their life-values and self-esteem. This is done through a 2-year rehabilitation programme and a 1-year re-integration arrangement.After the 2-year training, children are integrated and monitored for one year making sure they stand on their own in business or get employed, and are therefore not expected to go back to the street or stay idol.

The vocational training students go through includes carpentry and joinery, metal fabrication, construction, tailoring, shop keeping and agriculture. After they attain the needed theory, the students practise their skills at the project and those in advanced level go on attachments to several organisations and companies, after which they go for trade testing examinations offered by TEVETA in order to get trade certificate. 
Currently there are 75 skills training students at Children’s Town.

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Crocs gives back to the needy
In its relentless effort to contribute to community development and education, Crocs defied the physical barriers that lie between Africa and Europe by donating funds for the construction of dormitories at Children’s Town project in Zambia.  

In 2010, the company donated 15,000 Euros to Development Aid from People to People (DAPP) in Zambia to construct a girls’ hostel with four bedrooms and in-house ablution facilities.

The hostel has since been built and all the 17 girl students who are in skills training have occupied three of the four rooms. The school matron occupies the fourth room as she awaits her house to be constructed.

Staff from Crocs visited the project in Chibombo District to commission the hostel and to put the company’s logo on the wall. The company has since offered another 15,000 Euros for the construction of the second dormitory for girls at Children’s Town following the successful completion of the first hostel and having been impressed with the way the first dormitory was built.

Female students pursuing their vocational training courses at Children’s Town now have every reason to smile as they have been provided with a safe haven where they will be spending their nights with a sense of security, sanity, and contentment as they pursue their training.

It is not the first time Crocs has supported Children’s Town Project. In 2009, the company donated hundreds of pairs of shoes to the 415 boarders (former street children) and orphans and vulnerable children from the surrounding villages including to the general workers at the “Town.”

The other side of the story is that as it rolls out its corporate social responsibility beyond Europe, Crocs is making an indelible mark in the lives of many and it is publicising and popularising itself to many people in Zambia, thereby making inroads in Africa, creating business opportunities and expanding its market base in new areas.