Picture below shows a complete Dead Level Contour at Majahana Ndebele’s field of Empandeni West village of ward 13, Mangwe district. The contour measures 200m in length, 1.7m in width and 0.23m deep.
DERP is a Food For Assets (FFA) project currently being implemented in Mangwe district of Matebeleland South, Zimbabwe. The program is being implemented by Caritas Zimbabwe, Archdiocese of Bulawayo and Catholic Relief Services (CRS), funded by the Latter Day Saint Charities.
The project is operating in 3 wards: ward 1, 2 and 13 targeting a total of 675 participants across the 3 wards. Targeted households receive food vouchers in exchange for their physical labour to construct Dead Level Contours (DLC) in their fields. The contours serve in soil and water conservation in a drought prone region. There are then able to redeem at pre-approved vendors in their local areas. The project’s main goal is “Restoring household’s dignity and resilience through food provision and asset creation” through the following interventions:
- Voucher district
- Associated trainings with Food For Assets (FFA) works
- Establishment of farmer groups
- Digging of 675 contours to protect 60Ha
- Catchment management (reclamation of degraded land)
To date, participants have completed 667 DLCs in 180 hours of works. All 675 Participants redeem a package of:
- 50 kg mealie meal
- 5 kg sugar beans
- 4 L cooking oil
Project participants receive their vouchers in a form of a Short Message Service (SMS), they would then take this voucher SMS valued at USD$50.00 to elected local shops/vendors where they were validated using a mobile phone ‘Validated application’ to redeem their vouchers.
The project aims to address the food insecurity situation in the 3 wards of Mangwe as well as conserve the top soil and water in the fields. The region receives an average of less than 450mm of rainfall annually and thus a DLC will harvest the water, spread it in the fields and water the crops. This will increase the yield and address the food insecurity situation in the wards.
COVID-19 guidelines are being observed throughout works and distributions, groups are encouraged to maintain the 1-2m apart, have facemasks and washing their hands as much as possible. As for the distributions, shops provide hand washing stations and ward based EHTs visit all the shops to check for compliance before distributions.