Abigail at the rabbit project
Paidamoyo Chipunza Senior Health Reporter
Securing funding to start up a low cost income generating project is a mammoth task for many Zimbabweans in this high macro-economic environment.
The situation is even worse for individuals in some rural areas, who also have to look for a market for their products.
This is the case with Hazvidi Hope support group – a group of people living with HIV and Aids based in Mt Darwin, in Mashonaland Central Province.
What started as an ideal project after 10 individuals pooled their hard sourced $2 each for a poultry project became the group’s headache.
They realised that the project was already flooded in the community, resulting in price drops and irregular sales.
Efforts to do away with donor dependence were thrown into naught, as the group pondered its next move to generate income.
“By the time our chickens were ready for sale, everybody was doing poultry business in the village, forcing the prices to drop despite the periodic sales,” said one of the group members, Mrs Abigail Zimbiti.
“After running loses with the poultry project, others advised us to try rabbits and ducks, which we now have.”
Mrs Zimbiti said they now have about 50 rabbits and close to 100 ducks, majority of which are now ready for sale, but again getting a market for either the rabbits or the ducks was still a challenge.
“Our sales are still very low and the prices are so discouraging,” she said. “We should be selling ducks at about $10 each, but people in our community do not have money. Someone may come with just $5 and sometimes we accept it because we would have gone for days without any sales.”
Mrs Zimbiti said by starting income generating projects, they were hoping to be self reliant and stop depending on handouts from donors.
“Although working as a team with the same health condition and common interests brings peace of mind and encouragement to adhere to treatment, it is sometimes discouraging when the same project that brings you together fails to bear tangible benefits,” she said. “Everything appears to be a waste of time.”
Monica Matepaire serves a customer
Mt Darwin district advocacy officer Mr Robert Musekiwa echoed Mrs Zimbiti’s sentiments saying there was need for organisations that assist people living with HIV and Aids to keep educating members on innovative ways of creating markets for their products.
He concurred that Hazvidi Hope was struggling because it had no access to other markets outside its community.
To make matters worse, most people in the community are already living in poverty.
Mr Musekiwa said many non-governmental organisations were also no longer eager to provide food handouts to people living with HIV, threatening their peace of mind and adherence to anti-retroviral treatments.
“As things stand, Hazvidi Hope support group still needs assistance to get their project up and running again or at least links to where the market is for them to be self reliable,” he said.
“They also do not want to survive on handouts, but want to buy whatever they might need on their own.”
ZNNP+ national advocacy and communications officer Mr Edmore Mutimodyo concurred that markets were an issue with some support groups.
He said their funding was also not adequate to meet the needs of every support group in the country.
Mr Mutimodyo said ZNNP+ has a budget of $20 000 for start-up projects to cater for all support groups in the country, a figure he said falls far short of the national support groups’ needs.
“Start up funding is not enough to cater for the needs of every support group in the targeted districts,” he said. “Markets are becoming a challenge, with some products such as ducks, especially in Mt Darwin.”
Mr Mutimodyo said ZNNP+ was assisting the support groups with income serving and lending (ISAL) through various trainings.
He said depending on the support group’s structure and stability, some receive start-up capital to run their projects.
While they have not managed to help everyone, those who have received assistance have managed to buy their own assets.
“We have some groups that have managed to buy wheel barrows, bicycles, goats, food and even pay school fees using proceeds from the ISAL,” said Mr Mutimodyo.
He said his organisation’s main objective was to ensure that men and women living with HIV have sustainable income, and can acquire assets which can enable them to live better lives, thereby reducing stigma and discrimination amongst people living with HIV.
Munda group is one of the support groups that has received assistance from ZNNP+ and is doing well in its tuck shop business.
The group chairperson Mrs Monica Matepaire said they make $100 on a good day.
Mrs Matepaire said they had no regrets with regards to their project and were looking forward to buying their own land and building a shop.
“I have already made sales of $20 and it is still early in the morning,” she said. “I would have made more sales by the end of the day.”
She said they were lucky to receive a capital boost of $150 from the ZNNP+, which they then invested in stock.
ZNNP+ Mashonaland Central provincial coordinator Mr Simba Guzha said they were working with about 250 support groups in the province some of which were doing well.
He said selection for funding and amounts received was based on each group’s accountability procedures.
“Some groups do not have proper accounting processes because the money is supposed to be returned at some point and extended to other groups as well,” said Mr Guzha.
“We always try to capacitate the support groups through trainings for them to develop proper structures.”
HIV is still one of the country’s public health challenge with an estimated 1,4 million people living with the virus.
An estimated 800 000 people are on life prolonging ARVs and should adhere to treatment for the rest of their lives to avoid complicating their condition and also further infecting others.
Adherence is, however, threatened by lack of proper support structures and financial constraints to meet some basics such as food.