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MONITORING REPORT

Eastern Province District Women's Development Associations in Chama, Chadiza, Katete and Chipata

October-November 2004

Prepared by Esa Salminen, Kepa Zambia

Table of Contents

Illustration 1 Women pounding maize in Muchereka village, Katete District

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Glossary .....................................................................................................................................................3 1. Executive Summary ...............................................................................................................................3 2. General Issues ........................................................................................................................................4

2.1 Managing change and Risk workshop findings .................................................................................. 42.2 Gender ................................................................................................................................................. 52.3 Training Needs .................................................................................................................................... 62.4 Motorbikes .......................................................................................................................................... 72.5 Computer Skills................................................................................................................................... 72.6 Environment ........................................................................................................................................ 82.7 New Executive Boards and EPWDA situation ................................................................................... 92.8 Continuation of old programmes ........................................................................................................ 9

3. Chama DWDA.....................................................................................................................................11 3.1 General .............................................................................................................................................. 113.2 Other Donors..................................................................................................................................... 113.3 Activities 2004 - 2005....................................................................................................................... 113.4 Sustainability..................................................................................................................................... 133.5 Management of the IGA.................................................................................................................... 133.6 Audits and other financial matters .................................................................................................... 143.7 SWOT for Chama DWDA Income Generating ................................................................................ 14

4. Chipata DWDA....................................................................................................................................15 4.1 General .............................................................................................................................................. 154.2 Other Donors .................................................................................................................................... 164.3 Activities 2004 - 2005....................................................................................................................... 174.4 Sustainability..................................................................................................................................... 184.5 Management of the IGA.................................................................................................................... 194.6 Audits and other financial matters .................................................................................................... 204.7 SWOT on Chipata Income Generating ............................................................................................. 21

5. Chadiza DWDA ...................................................................................................................................21 5.1 General .............................................................................................................................................. 215.2 Other Donors .................................................................................................................................... 215.3 Activities 2004 - 2005....................................................................................................................... 225.4 Sustainability and management of the IGAs..................................................................................... 245.5 Audits and other financial matters .................................................................................................... 265.7 SWOT on Chadiza IGA .................................................................................................................... 27

6. Katete DWDA......................................................................................................................................28 6.1 General .............................................................................................................................................. 286.2 Other Donors .................................................................................................................................... 286.3 Activities 2004 - 2005....................................................................................................................... 296.4 Sustainability..................................................................................................................................... 306.5 Management of the IGA.................................................................................................................... 316.6 Audits and other financial matters .................................................................................................... 326.7 SWOT on Katete IGA....................................................................................................................... 33

7. To be followed-up during subsequent monitoring visits .....................................................................33

Glossary AGM – Annual General Meeting CSPR – Civil Society for Poverty Reduction

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D.E.D. – German Development Service (G.D.S.) DWDA – District Women´s Development Association EPWDA – Eastern Province Women's Development Association G.T.Z. – German Technical Co-operation IGA – Income Generating Activity/ies, used synonymously with Income Generating Projects (IGP) Kepa – Service Centre for Development Co-operation KNH – Kinder Not Hilfe MBT – Micro Banker´s Trust MP – Member of Parliament. NGO CC – Non-Governmental Organisations' Co-ordinating Committee PAYE – Pay as You Earn, Zambian income tax PRSP – Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper PSDP – Private Sector Development Programme SFH – Society for Family Health ZNAN – Zambia National Aids Network ZRA – Zambia Revenue Authority Most sums are reflected in Zambian kwacha. The exchange rate for the Euro on 18th November 2004 is 6280 K/E. For the past year or so, kwacha value has been quite stable.

1. Executive Summary The projects in all the districts have concentrated in Income Generating as planned. This is hoped to raise their self-financing capacity before the Student Union faces out, by the end of 2005. Local groups have contributed to the projects of the DWDAs, which is a good sign of ownership and concern for the survival of the mother organization. There has been several unexpected problems, mostly due to inadequate planning. Among these, the high costs of the guest house extension in Chama is probably the gravest, because only the foundations of the building have been laid, along with some materials bought, and almost all the money has been used. Similar problems have been faced by other DWDAs, with Chipata having the farm far from town which may make it difficult to reach the farm; Katete having trouble finding funds for electrifying the hammermill house and thus slowing the project down and Chadiza having to let the oil pressing machine stand unused because no house and no electricity is in place for the machine yet. Katete and Chadiza DWDAs do not have clear management strategies (including owner's manuals) in use for their machinery. As a general phenomenon it can be seen that the DWDAs have a dream that once the projects really start working, all their problems will be solved and money will be flowing, in to cover any costs. This is based on assumptions, and they haven't really sat down to think how much income really will be forthcoming. Because needs are many, probably even including some moneys borrowed from other projects and individuals, it may prove quite difficult for them to actually save any money for maintenance, let alone for capital repayment, i.e. buying

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of new machines when present equipment brakes down. Definitely these projects will not give the DWDAs 100 % financial autonomy, but if well managed, they will keep them afloat even if there were no other donors forthcoming immediately after 2005. Still, a quest for new donors should not be forgotten, and all DWDAs -maybe except for Chama- have been very active in contacting possible new donors. Hopefully also Chama will get more contacts to other NGOs and donors now that the Chama DWDA chairperson was elected as the chairperson of EPWDA.

2. General Issues In this chapter we wish to go through some general themes that are common to all the four DWDAs. These concern mainly value systems, gender, future training needs, motorbikes, computer skills, environment, new boards and the continuation of programmes that were previously funded by Student Union funds.

2.1 Managing change and Risk workshop findings The change and risk workshop conducted late 2004 by Kepa Zambia had a lot to do with sustainability of the DWDAs. Ending of outside funding is definitely a big change, and brings with it a lot of risks. The findings of the workshop had generally been discussed within the associations, but since the executive boards were recently elected, there had been no time to really discuss proposed actions with the board. Therefore no detailed plans had been made to solve the problems. All the DWDAs highlighted two issues from the workshop findings: the lack of computer skills and the value systems. Computer training seemed to be the number one priority for most, even though the value systems seemed to be the biggest problem areas. All DWDAs identified as one of the key problems the non-adherence by the members to organisation´s values – like honesty, transparency, accountability, etc. The reason for this is that many area and group level members are not sufficiently aware of the values, and just join DWDA without proper training and sensitization of these values, and what they mean in practice. Many have complained that there is a lot of jealousy and gossiping within the women´s groups. DWDAs wanted to tackle the issue by workshops in the area associations. Nevertheless, it was our view that a workshop for certain individuals would not be a perfect solution for these kind of issues, but that the values should be incorporated in all levels in a cross-cutting way – from the head, to the mouth, to the heart and finally to the feet. Therefore, it was suggested that they incorporate the value sensitization aspect to all the trainings and monitoring visits, so that through repetition it would become clear to everyone in the associations what the values were all about. The DWDAs seem to be stuck with workshops as a method, because it is familiar and easy to do. It may not be feasible for obtaining shared values. Therefore a

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more cross-cutting approach is recommendable. Gossiping, jealousy and misunderstandings are almost evident in this kind of setting. After all, why would a rural woman want to join such a group, and face the anger of the husband, the head of the house? She must see that someone else is benefiting, feeling and looking better, having signs of prestige and wealth. I assume that little is told the new groups who join the DWDAs, let alone their new members, about the values of the DWDA, or EPWDA for that matter. And how could for example Chama DWDA reach regularly its 1474 members in 145 groups, in an area that has taken me hours and hours in a four-wheel car to reach some of the groups? Plans have been made to tackle this issue during next year, but an educated guess says that with no further funds for this, it may eventually be left out of the plans.

2.2 Gender The purpose of the organisations is to empower the rural women. They have done a good job in organizing and educating women, and it looks like women have been getting more appraisal and respect from the men in the society. Part of this is undoubtedly due to the fact that foreign money is supporting women´s activities, but also because of sensitization and especially improved food security due to agroforestry programme. All the DWDAs reported that in the group and area levels there are two or three male members, who can only hold the position of a trustee. They pay the same membership fee, and can benefit from the same support functions, but cannot hold positions in the DWDA structures like the women do. This was noted during the group visits, as there usually were 1-3 trustees present in the meetings. Besides the official trustees, there are individual farmers who may be using agroforestry methods with the support of the DWDA without being official members. These are both male and female. Practically the trustee is like any other member, and during some of the group visits they seemed to overpower the women in a discussion setting – some DWDAs reported that men have a tendency of trying to overpower the women, and they need to be reminded sometimes that these are women's organisations. DWDAs have experienced that they cannot isolate the men completely from the activities, because that creates suspicion and jealousy, and a lot of problems related to these. Even if the husband is not involved in the group activities, the money raised from the projects is discussed with him, and sometimes also with the family´s older children. “That is why they let us go to these meetings and trainings”, one villager explained. During my visits to the DWDAs and groups, I have not seen or heard evidence of the men grabbing all the money from the woman and using it for his purposes (drinking), and I believe that even though this may happen, it is not widespread. Two years ago there were regular reports of men getting jealous and cutting trees from the fields when being drunk, and about men not letting women attend group meetings due to suspicions. I have not heard these stories for some time now, which I hope to be an indication

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of increased understanding. During the group visits, it was also clear that the wine-making projects have been very well accepted by the men of the villages, and therefore also have raised the esteem towards the active women. Without any benefits for the men, it was said, they easily get bitter and offended, and since it is a deeply-rooted tradition that men are the leaders and owners of the houses and fields, the women can´t take a big leading role in family affairs. The men are also a benefit for the groups, as they are used for jobs considered too difficult or not suitable for women, like digging of fish ponds, mixing the cement and laying bricks in construction and cutting of the trees in agroforestry. More men have wanted to join, but have been refused, in a fear that they may overtake the women's associations. It has been unclear to me to what extent the men are involved in the activities of the DWDAs in general and in women's tasks in particular. It has been reported repeatedly that the men are able to help in household chores (mainly when the woman is away), like cooking and fetching water. They may also take children to the clinic, a task that is definitely women's work in Zambia. ”Especially less than five-year olds”, they said. I believe some change has definitely taken place, but so far during my three longer and a couple of shorter visits to the East, I have not witnessed a man in these chores, except the husband of Misozi Zulu in Chadiza carrying a baby in his back while cycling. Misozi had been in a meeting with us.

2.3 Training Needs The DWDAs have attended probably dozens of workshops organized by Kepa during the last years. Still a wish for further capacity building was raised, and there has been a continuous complaint that the things learned by the workshop participants do not filter down to the whole organisation. Mostly it has been the Executive Secretaries who have participated the workshops, sometimes accompanied by other members, usually the chairperson, secretary or the treasurer of the board. This has benefited the individual people, which is not very sustainable from the associations' point of view. One solution to the problem would be to organize targeted workshops to NGOs and then follow-up these with hands-on visits to the respective organisations to see how they have implemented the things they have learned. This is Kepa´s plan for next year: we hold specific capacity building programmes on financial policies, e-mail use, Finnish project cycle,

Illustration 2 Gender problems seem to have diminished, but not disappeared

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sustainability, agroforestry and advocacy skills, which will be followed up either during monitoring visits or specific follow-up visits. Other solution could be to concentrate more on in-house training workshops for individual organisations. This approach would reach a bigger audience within an organisation, but would be more expensive to execute. With this approach, one organisation would probably benefit from only one (maximum two) training per year, whereas this year one organisation is attending 3-6 training workshops each year. Last year the number was closer to 10 workshops for most of the partners. Kepa could consider reserving a budget line for 2006 for “in-house capacity building for liaison partners”, identifying the biggest problems for each organisation and funding a facilitator to capacitate the organisation in this issue. The budget implication may prove to be too heavy, but this could be considered during next year´s annual planning sessions.

2.4 Motorbikes All four motorbikes in the DWDAs are out of order at the moment. Only Chama DWDA reported that they are going to repair the motorbike, others have given up hope with the old machines. They have been bought a long time ago, and have now reached the end of their life span. Katete and Chipata have other motorbikes in their use (through the government liaison officers who work with them). Motorbike maintenance costs have been in some budgets still, and I believe this is justified – if they are using for Student Union activities motorbikes other than the Student Union ones, they should contribute to the fuel and maintenance costs of these. Chadiza has abandoned the plan of applying for a new motorbike, and are planning to use the money to income generating activities instead. They hope to get a new motorbike with some future projects.

2.5 Computer Skills Out of the four DWDAs, Katete is the only one with no reported problems in computer use. The Executive Secretary, Office Assistant and the treasurer are all able to use the computer, and Vainess Phiri is able to type the quarterly reports herself. Besides Kepa, the liaison officer of Ministry of Community Development has trained them in computer skills. In Chama. the computer had not been used since Sabina´s visit in August, because of ”lack of time”. They promised to start practicing, even though they were complaining that 3 days was not enough for training. It is my fear that if they have not practiced since mid-august, there is not much they remember anymore, and the training may have gone to waste. In Chipata, Florence and Tangu (treasurer and executive secretary) were out of the office when Kepa trained the staff, and only the office assistant and board secretary were able to benefit from this training. They have not had time to learn more on the computers, and are still taking their reports for typing at the G.E. offices. They are planning to send the Executive

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Secretary and one member of the board for computer training in December, and if they have the money, they want to send two more people to the same training. Chipata DWDA applied for Internet connection from Kepa, which could not be approved, and now they are planning to pay the 120 000 K per month from their own funds. They were informed that if they could revise their next year´s plans without increasing the total budget, and include these costs in the Student Union budget, it would be considered, because direct communication between partners is always appreciated. We took the computer (but no printer, they were out of stock, to be bought later this year) to Chadiza DWDA, and I gave a very brief introduction to its use. The Executive Secretary Misozi Zulu is now able to open and close the computer, as well as do basic typing and editing of text. She said she could acquire help from other people in Chadiza to learn more. While she seemed to be learning very quickly (can her claim of never using a computer be true?), a basic training course should be done. If possible, Kepa could still organize a refresher training in computer skills for all the four DWDAs.

2.6 Environment Environmental concerns are not a priority anywhere in Zambia, which is also the case with the DWDAs. The animal droppings are being used as maneuver in the fields in all the projects, but no intermediary shelters were present. The projects are so small-scale that no problems are forthcoming, I believe. One project with a fish pond in Chama has had trouble with maintaining enough water during the dry season, and have been transporting their fish to another fish pond of one private individual. He has cheated them in the process, though, giving them baby fish back when collecting, thus making their progress minimal. The local groups takes care of the cleaning of the piggeries, poultry houses and cow shelters, and apparently take the maneuver to the fields regularly. Some groups have had problems with piggeries, with piglets getting ill and dying, and it was stated that with proper feeding and enough water these incidents could be avoided. In Chipata farm project, the water ways will be protected by conservation ridges, as taught by the agricultural extension officer in a conservation course that Chipata DWDA has attended. There are very little, or practically no problems with waste management in the projects in Chama so far. The construction apparently produces quite little waste, and anything that can be recycled is, as is the case with everything in rural Zambia – not because of concern for the

Illustration 3 Chadiza DWDA learning to use their new computer

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environment, but because of very scarce resources. The construction process does not produce much waste because of the nature of building in Zambia: You only need cement and bricks, plus doors, windows and roofing. No insulation or chemicals involved, almost organic building.

Chadiza DWDA did not know what to do with the dirty waste oil of the oil expeller, and they thought this would be covered in a training they were hoping to get from Africare. They were advised to remember this when the training takes place. There was no cleaning add-on in the oil pressing machine. In all the DWDAs, except Chipata who have gone through a conservation training, the environmental concern is not a priority, and nature conservation aspect is lacking in almost every sector in the Zambian society. An environmental policy is being formulated at the moment, for the first time in 40 years of independence.

2.7 New Executive Boards and EPWDA situation Since our last visit, the executive boards have changed in all the four DWDAs. Many faces were still familiar, but chairpersons had changed in all but Chama DWDA. We believe that going through the audit procedures and other project management issues helped the new board members in understanding their roles, but some problems may arise with new inexperienced board members, and a wish for leadership training was expressed. During our visit, EPWDA also had its AGM, and a totally new board was elected, with no single member remaining from the previous board. Eunice Banda, the chairperson of Chama DWDA, was elected as a new chairperson after a tight race and a lot of campaigning.

2.8 Continuation of old programmes The agroforestry programme has been continued after the funding for it was stopped (although some is still used for field days), and new farmers are being recruited, and the initial seed is given for free in all the three DWDAs (excluding Chadiza) who were funded in agroforestry. There have been only small problems, like cattle-herding boys sometimes burning the fields in search for Mbewa, a mice that people eat DWDAs have trainers and contact farmers with seed orchards, and they hope that these people continue their valued voluntary

Illustration 4 With proper care, the diseases of piglets can be avoided

Illustration 5 The habit of eating Mbewa brings fire to the fields

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work in the future. When bicycles for the trainers get old and need to be replaced, they will either need to source the money from another donor, or save money from their income-generating activities for that. As the Zambian way goes, these things are not worried about now, because many bicycles are still new and it will take a few years before the problem comes about. Also, it is a problem that without funds, it is difficult to bring the trainers together for review and encouragement workshops, because transport is difficult to arrange, and with ICRAF support only one-day meetings can be held. Seeds for cajanus, teprhosia and sesbanja can bee sourced from groups and farmer trainers, and only very little seed is sourced from ICRAF. We also visited an upcoming orchard of gliricidia sepium in Chama, which should start producing seed next year, after three years of planting of the trees. Food-processing component in Chipata of the agroforestry programme is doing well, there are a lot of people processing indigenous fruit and cajanus cajan for a nutritious diet, as well as drying fruit, like bananas and mangoes. On the nutrition programme in Chadiza, there has been continuity after the funding was ended last year. They see the new projects, like the piggeries and bee-keeping, as part of the programme. The principal responsibility of the programme now lies in the groups, with the district supporting, encouraging and advising them. Many are planting cajanus cajan and cassava for nutrition purposes, and DWDA has donated seed for this. Many groups have group fields where demonstration crops are given each year. Also individuals grow the seed and donate to other farmers through DWDA. Bicycles have been donated to Chadiza nutrition trainers, and nutrition monitoring is done when other monitoring visits are conducted. Nutrition levels are assessed with the local clinics quantitatively and qualitatively, by observing that many farmers have diversified the crops they produce, and by generally observing that children do not look malnourished, “The kids are fatter than before”, they described one of the indicators. Orphans and HIV patients are still supported with the revenue from the Income Generating Activities in Chadiza. HIV/Aids project in Katete continues, but practically now only in group level. Some groups have continued their home-based care programmes, and individuals are keeping orphans and groups try to contribute money for their school fees. In the villages visited, most families had 1-6 orphans that they were keeping, in addition to their own children. The resources of the DWDA are not sufficient to continue effectively with this project, and that is why they have applied for funds from ZNAN and SFH. The DWDA keeps a registry of HIV patients.

3. Chama DWDA

3.1 General The biggest programme and challenge for Chama DWDA has been the extension of the guest house. Of the four DWDAs, Chama is the most isolated and thus has very little other funding windows in its use.

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3.2 Other Donors At first the DWDA reported to have no other donors, but after a while I found out, that DED has been supporting some income generating activities for the groups, and that GTZ has given some support to legal support committees. They have also applied funds for HIV/Aids activities from ZNAN, but there has been no reply yet.

3.3 Activities 2004 - 2005 Besides the guest house extension, this year has seen activities in monitoring of projects, meetings and agroforestry days, funded by Student Union funds. The foundations for the guest house extension have been constructed and some roofing sheets have been bought, as well as window frames. All the money for this year has been spent, however, except for a small figure that will be used for buying paint and bricks for further constructing. The budget allocation for next year is about 4 600 000, plus a balance of about 500 000. The constructors report that the building could be finished during this year if the money was available. Now the work is in standstill because no money is available for their salaries. DWDA has applied 40 million kwacha from the German Embassy for the conference hall (which also already has its foundation). The application is still with DED (Rikeh), who wanted to hear our report first before trying to convince the Embassy people. She was not very hopeful about the possibilities of getting those funds, however, and wanted to be able to show the Embassy that the project had already been started and the possibilities of it failing were minimal. She said the construction of the hall could benefit the whole of Chama constituency, because such facilities do not exist in Chama at the moment. Then the increased number of rooms also seems justifiable, because the DWDA could host bigger workshops and trainings in the conference room. At the moment such bigger events are held in school halls. The constructor reported that the overall budget for the extension in this magnitude should have been around 150 million (possibly an exaggeration thinking that the white man might have money), and that the original plan was severely under-budgeted. The latter point is clearly true. I was there when the budget was made, and do not understand very well how this happened. I imagine that the Chama ladies did not realize how expensive the extension would be, and even so, they consciously under-budgeted the project in the hopes of getting a positive response. The original budget was higher than the approved one. It was cut because the Student Union funds could not have accommodated the needs expressed by the DWDA. In several occasions the DWDA was advised by myself, accountant Patrick Chileshe and the Student Union representatives to make the extension smaller than planned, because money was not

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enough, and no more could be applied from Student Union. The DWDA seemed to agree, but later applied for more funds anyway. They were refused (the budget was slightly increased) and reminded to make the extension smaller, saying that they could further extend the guest house when they have accrued funds from the extended guest house profits. Nevertheless, they proceeded with the original extension plan, hoping to extend the present guest house with at least 200 %. All the money was used, and only foundations laid and some further materials purchased. Apparently they hoped that things would work out once they started the work, hoping and praying that some miraculous plan would save them. No such Saviour has yet come to the aid of Chama DWDA. Now they requested that they could get the funds for 2005 guest house extension already during this year, but I suppose this may be impossible to do, due to accounting procedures. They have approached a local Member of Parliament (MP) for accessing some public funds that can be allocated to such projects. These results come only in December, though, which was "way too late" in DWDA's opinion. I reminded them that no donor fund would come sooner than that anyway, because the process of applying is lenghty. At the moment, the accommodation in the guest house costs 25 000 for the night, and there is some pressure to increase this. Other guest houses charge 30 000 to 35 000, according to the women. It was difficult for them to give an estimated monthly income, because "sometimes the guest house is empty and sometimes full", which indicates that no system is in place for monitoring the guest house use. During my visit, the only other occupant of the guest house was the driver of Lusaka-Chama bus. The guest house is clearly a number one priority and the women are seemingly worried about its success. Apparently they dreamed about the fortunes that would come with the guest house, but the planning was too light, the costs resulted being unreachable with planned funds and now the situation seems grim. Work has halted because there has been no payment of the construction work done. They want to be paid before they are willing to work again. It must be noted that the nearby women´s groups have been helping voluntarily, filling the foundations with soil, according to the constructor´s advise. This shows that the groups feel ownership of the extension project. Also, in the past 85 women´s groups out of 145 in Chama District have been helped with small income generating activities with the existing guest house funds.

Illustration 6 Only foundations have been constructed for guest house extension in Chama

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3.4 Sustainability It is mentioned that the groups may be able to contribute to the DWDA when their IGAs are working. This, combined with the income generated from the guest house, is hoped to help the DWDA to succeed. ”Hoped” is a right word, because there are no real plans on how to fund the projects once the guest house has been completed. ”We cannot really know how it is going to be, since we have not seen it working yet”, they shrugged. It cannot be over-emphasized that Chama is a very remote place of the earth, with rather limited contacts to the outside world, no newspapers and no radio nor TV coverage. These people do know how to read and write, but have no idea for example that America is having elections this year. So it has to be noted that they are living a rural life in a place that looks semi-urban, but Chama can hardly be called more than an almost isolated small town. Therefore, I do understand that the planning is very rural in nature, probably no long-term sustainability strategies can be expected of these women of Chama. It is evident that without outside support, Chama DWDA would not collapse at once, but the lack of funding would severely damage their activities. They mentioned that they do not expect to attain 100 % financial sustainability, but would still need to rely on donor support for administration and some activities' expenses. I explained that Student Union funds would not continue after 2005, and that it would be difficult for them to find other donors for the DWDAs. Kepa could try and link them to somewhere, but it would not be easy either. I also advised them to try and cover their administration costs from fund-raising activities and try to source donor funding for activities, which is usually easier. They took this as a good new idea, but I have my doubts whether they really understand the importance of this, because this advise has been given to them several times before, at least during the previous two monitoring visits. They inquired whether Kepa could support them financially, and I said it would be impossible when other Finnish NGOs are supporting them. Then they asked whether they can be supported once Student Union would pull out, and I could not say much – I said they could of course apply, but that I had no idea what kind of moneys we would have at that time, and if we would be able to do anything with them. I did say that Kepa could not forget the DWDAs altogether, but no assurance of funds was given.

3.5 Management of the IGA The guest house is managed by the book-keeper of the DWDA, who gets a small salary, along with two caterer-cleaner -ladies. Executive secretary takes the money from her and goes through the books ”every day”, which probably means whenever she is not too busy with other business, or out of town. The management committee (The chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the board) monitor the guest house funds and management every month, and give their report to the board in every meeting (four times in a year). The management seems to be adequate, although during last year´s visit we were unable to get receipts because "they had finished some time back" and new ones had not been bought.

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This casts doubt on the financial management and book keeping. This time, however, receipts were readily available.

3.6 Audits and other financial matters The DWDA had not had time to look at last year´s audit with the board. They were signed in June, and apparently they had not reached Chama before last board meeting. I explained that the association is supposed to give comments in writing to the recommendations. They seemed to understand and agree. Just in case, we went through the management letter so that they understand what was being said about them. In short, nothing had been done since the audit, except that quite recently they had been introduced payment vouchers for approving payments, one of the recommendations. They promised to look at the issues concerning employment documents, assets register and statutory deductions. They were told to give their comments in writing soonest.

3.7 SWOT for Chama DWDA Income Generating Strengths Weaknesses - commitment of groups to the project - local constructors are capable and (still) flexible - DWDA has experience in guest house management

- Very unrealistic under-budgeting - Inadequate sources of funds - Few efforts in sourcing more donors for completing the project - Plans have been too ambitious: only foundations built with money that should have been used for almost completing the project.

Opportunities Threats - Virtually no competition for guest house and conference facility - Conference facility may attract more workshops and bring business to the guest house

- Possible inability to finish the project due to lack of funds - Constructors may quit the job due to lack of payments - Very few donors due to Chama's geographical location - There may not be enough business for the bigger guest house

4. Chipata DWDA

4.1 General

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Chipata DWDA seems strong and capable enough to manage its projects, and out of the eight DWDAs in the Eastern Province, Chipata is the oldest and most experienced. This may also be a contributing factor to why their needs seem to be bigger than the other DWDAs, the dreams may be bigger, and the capacity to implement bigger projects can be seen. Agroforestry activities seem to be on a sustainable path. Mpezeni village that we visited had continued the agroforestry trainings and recruiting of farmers, and they were not even aware that the funding for the programme had seized. Naturally some DWDA funds are being used for the programme, and probably indirectly also Student Union support, because also agroforestry issues are discussed during regular visits to the groups. DWDA claims to be self-sustaining in terms of most of the seeds, but some needs to be purchased from ICRAF and the groups. It is hoped that the farm could start producing enough seed of agroforestry trees, so that they can be independent in this regard. Mpezeni women´s group has managed to elevate the living standards and food security of their village. The group is concentrating in two activities: conservation farming with agroforestry and income generation through making wine from indigenous fruits and through peace work activities. Also human and legal rights are addressed through Chipata DWDA paralegal programme. One individual member told us to have raised K 420.000 this year from selling wine, with very little input costs, and that she had managed to pay her children´s school fees, school uniforms and books, as well as covering some other domestic costs, such as soap, clothes and so on.

4.2 Other Donors Chipata is doing pretty well in terms of other donors. They may have so much in their hands right now, that the implementation of Student Union programmes may have been left a bit aside. For example, it was the first time the Executive Secretary visited the production farm, when we now went there. They get one-off support from time to time from EPWDA, and used to get support from DED, but now they have practically faced out, because Agroaction, from who the funds came from, has pulled from the whole continent of Africa, according to the DWDA. This concerns all the DWDAs, who no longer receive, thus, IGA support for the groups from DED. ICRAF does not give funds to Chipata DWDA, but help them sometimes in organizing training, giving technical support and

Illustration 7 Mpezeni women have lifted their living standards for example with wine making

Illustration 8 Tangu Nyirenda, Executive Secretary of Chipata DWDA

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sometimes seeds. Chipata DWDA is the only one of the four that has not applied money from ZNAN to conduct HIV/Aids activities, but have nonetheless made HIV awareness as a cross-cutting issue in all activities, from training in agroforestry to legal training. Oxfam has recently faced out their support to Chipata DWDA. For three years they supported adult literacy classes and income generating activities for the groups, through integrated approach. This means that they gave IGA projects to groups, who were willing to take classes in literacy, so that they could earn some money while learning to read and write. The projects supported included grain banks and piggeries. This was working as a revolving fund. The support ended in June this year. Kinder not Heife is supporting Chipata DWDA´s legal education programme with considerable funds. This is an extended project from the programme that EPWDA is running. Chipata district was reported to be too extensive for them to reach all the members and have an impact with the support from EPWDA, and with KNH´s help they have managed to extend the programme. With KNH support they also cleared and insured the vehicle. In the application it was mentioned that the vehicle would be used for multiple purposes, not only for legal education. After the visit I found out that Micro Banker's Trust is supporting Chipata DWDA with micro loan scheme, in the same way as in Katete and Chadiza. Also apparently Heifer International is going to start working with them in a similar way as in Katete and Chadiza (see below). Other co-operation partners include NGO CC (Women´s umbrella body, who shares information with them and has donated some bicycles), CSPR (an advocacy NGO working mostly on PRSP issues, and has involved and trained Chipata DWDA in poverty monitoring – Mary Mumba from Chipata DWDA is the CSPR regional chairperson), and Panos Southern Africa (An HIV/Aids organisation who has supported DWDA in airing a weekly radio programme in local radio)

4.3 Activities 2004 - 2005 Chipata DWDA has bought some parts of the hammermill, and are yet to acquire the motor and some other parts. They are going to use the 14.500.000 intended for the hammermill from the Student Union funds, and they will furthermore use some of their own money to cover the rest of the costs. In the original plan they wanted to buy a diesel hammermill, but seeing how diesel prices keep hiking up, they decided to purchase a more expensive electrical hammermill, and cover the difference in price from their own funds. Also the houses in the farm -which Student Union did not want to fund- were built from the funds of the DWDA, Major part of these funds came from their existing hammermill project, which has proved to be quite profitable. It is presently providing the DWDAs with about 1.2 million every week per hammermill, and it is managed with its own bank account, where money is put aside for maintenance costs. This money is also being used to cover part of the administration costs and stationary.

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They have cleared (stamped) 6 hectares of the farm land, and plans are to plant 10 hectares of different species this year; maize, sunflower, ground nuts and soy beans to the cleared patch, and cassava to another 4 hectares in the the part which is still forest. The total land donated by the Paramount Cief Mpezeni of the Ngoni people is 100 hectares. In the future, they want to extend the farm area, and plant also a garden with fruit trees and rear animals, such as cattle, goats and pigs. The cows and some farm utensils have already been bought and are kept in the Mpezeni village until the farm is ready to have

them. All the animals will have separate houses where they will be kept, in shelter from the rains (and thieves) in the nights, and will be herded by herding boys during the day time. The balances can be used immediately when the money is available. The best time for starting tuck shops is in February. As for next year's plans, they do not see that any plans will be altered, expect maybe adding the tuck shop from the balance budget if the permission is given. If further balances are to come, fish farming projects for the groups will be considered.

4.4 Sustainability Chipata DWDA recently introduced a concept of “joint projects”, whereby they ask the groups who have been given IGAs to provide the DWDA with 10 % of the net profit they get from the project. This will be used to cover parts of the administration costs of the DWDA. In the Student Union plans, the production farm is the biggest IGA for Chipata DWDA. It will be managed by a farm assistant, and the management team will do the monitoring regularly, at least twice per month – more when the season so requires. Board members will also visit the farm from time to time. Also the area association chairperson has the task of monitoring the farm regularly. She is also a board member for the DWDA. With Student Union money this year was bought fertilizer, the stamping, seed and farm equipment. Most of the farm work will be done by local contribution. All the areas have contributed K 75 000 towards the farm project. The communities will benefit from the project through the employment possibilities, and joint marketing: they will be able to get their products to the markets along with the DWDA farm

Illustration 9 Six hectares have been cleared of the Chipata DWDA production farm

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products. Part of the income is destined for IGAs for the groups, and the pigs and goats in the farm are expected to produce projects for the nearby groups. The farm is also expected to produce seed for agroforestry activities. Since it is a new farm, the land should still be quite fertile, but some fertilizer will be used for the first two years. Also agroforestry trees will be planted, and it seems that in the future no fertilizer should be needed. Agroforestry cannot be the only method in the beginning, because the trees take 2-3 years to grow before they can be cut and the land used again for farming. At the moment, administering three hammermills constute the biggest IGA for the DWDA. They have employed one cashier, three machine operators and one watchman, who get their salaries from the profits. Prices have been fixed considering the market around, the clientèle is mostly the surrounding community and the Association´s members. The cashier reports to the office assistant of the DWDA, who reports to the Executive Secretary, who reports to the board. Money is reconciled to the office assistant every Friday. To assess average weekly profits, the office assistant sometimes spends a full week monitoring the hammermill – to avoid money loss and to ensure accountability. The DWDA has designed weekly and monthly return forms that the cashier has to use in reporting. These reflect income and expenditure, as well as what type of costs have been met (from maintenance to capital repayment). The biggest season for the hammermill is from May to November. Months from January to April bring very little income. This is a thing also the other DWDAs should take into consideration, and especially in Katete's case it should be taken into consideration that their income projections probably work for only three quarters, and even then they are probably over-optimistic. The hammermills were purchased from Africare, which has provided basic maintenance training for the machine operators. Should bigger problems occur, they have identified mechanics who can help them to repair the machines. Chipata DWDA puts aside roughly 5 % of the net income to maintenance of the hammermills. They have one account for the hammermills only, where the maintenance costs are taken from. They said they do not manage to set aside enough money to be able to buy new hammermills when these finally brake down, because needs for money are various. 1.2 million kwacha is taken for DWDA administration each month. Then they subtract bills for electricity, salaries for the workers of the mills, repairing costs and spare parts, DWDA phone bills, transport costs, motorcycle maintenance, stationary for the DWDA and specific other things, like building of the houses in the production farm. After all these costs, understandably hardly anything remains in the bank for further investments. The new hammermill, even though part of the farm project, will not be situated in the farm, but in Chiboko area, along Lusaka road. This is because drawing electricity to the rather distant farm would have been too expensive. This naturally increases a bit the transport costs from the farm to the hammermill. One problem in Chipata DWDA fund raising has been the subscription fees of the members.

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They have more than 7000 individual members, out of whom not everyone is able to pay the 1500 K fee. In this year´s AGM it was resolved to raise the fee to 5000 K for raising more revenue. This year DWDA received only 2.7 million kwacha from membership fees. They say that advocacy skills can be used as a tool to sustainability and continuity of the DWDA – they can try to influence the local government and private structures to help them. “Women are oppressed because of poverty”, they said, and therefore they want to be involved in reducing poverty in all levels. The target of Chipata DWDA is to reach to 60 % self-financing. They seem to be “really sure that they may pull through tough times, just as long as there is good management, (they) will be able to survive even if donors pulled out completely.” 60 % of all expenditure, they feel, can keep the association alive even without any donors, which is good, because the process from applying money from somewhere until actually getting it is usually long and tiresome.

4.5 Management of the IGA The farm will have a manager, resident at the site, as well as a security guard, to keep thieves and animals at bay. A special kind of tree will be planted to form a fence around the farm to keep the wild pigs and monkeys away. The actual work in plowing, planting, weeding and harvesting will be done jointly by the DWDA, the local women´s groups and other groups, like local football teams doing “peace work”, i.e. voluntary work for fund raising for football shirts, etc. The manager is there to see that all goes well and to ensure the accountability of the project. A possible manager has been identified by the local group, but the DWDA has not met him as of yet, and he has not been hired. A strong involvement of the local groups can be seen, and this is a strength of the project. According to the local people present during the visit to the field, there is no risk of the locals stealing or vandalizing crops or the animals, which is a good sign, but is not necessarily the whole truth: where ever there is money and abundance of food, there will be a risk of jealousy and thievery. Clearly the participation and ownership of the local group diminishes this risk. A possible problem with the farm project lies in its distance to town. The farm is situated about 45 kilometers towards Malawi from Chipata. The last part of the road is in quite bad shape, and the last few kilometers have recently been cleared by the DWDA for cars to pass. We did not manage to drive all the way, and the last kilometer or so had to be done by foot. After a little more work on the road, the farm can be reached by a high-clearance 4-wd vehicle, at least in the dry season. It is unclear if the DWDA van is able to reach the farm, it has not been tested, and it being in the garage, I was unable to physically assess the vehicle. According to DED development workers, it may well be a 4-wd (as the DWDA said, and I do believe they know what type of car they have), but it is not a real bush car, but a big open van intended to move goods on reasonable roads. A vehicle is needed for the farm project to be able to work nicely, either a rented or own. It is possible that the vehicle the DWDA has is not the most appropriate one for this purpose, and that it may not reach the farm during the rains.

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The car was bought with Kinder nof Heifen -foundation´s grant, or actually cleared and shipped, the car was donated by Japanese car aid. The original purpose for the car (as told to the funders) was to implement better the legal education programme, but also to use it for other activities. As I was explained, the car will probably be in use for transporting farm produce to the markets in town. The car is being repaired at the moment due to finished cylinder plugs. This partly confirms a fear that I have had concerning this Japanese car aid – the vehicles are quite expensive to ship and clear, and this is the responsibility of the receiver. There is no factual means of verifying the conditions of these vehicles, and at least in this case the car was apparently in the need of servicing. Also, it is unclear whether many of these cars are suitable for the conditions of Zambia. Furthermore, with the money used in clearing and shipping, an NGO could find a second-hand car within Zambia, in this case most likely within Chipata itself. I can only hope that the cylinders are the only weak spot in the vehicle, otherwise maintaining it in use, especially on these roads, may prove to be a big cost for the DWDA. But the purpose here is not to evaluate the car aid programme, so let us continue.

4.6 Audits and other financial matters The DWDA adopted S.Mulungu Banda as their auditors for this year, and KNH has approved them to do the work. They were informed that Kepa and HYY might engage some other auditor, due to severe difficulties in working wit S. Mulungu Banda during the last audit. It is lamentable for the DWDA if they have to work with two different auditors, but in our opinion, S. Mulungu Banda should not be trusted. On the recommendations, the Cashbook has been worked on, after changes demanded by KNH. Also proper approvals are reported to be better and are still being worked on, and an assets register has been started. There were some questions on what to put in the register, and how to value them. DWDA was advised to record assets, excluding land and animals, and in the case of used equipment, like the motorcycle, to assess its present market value, and calculate a depreciation for it.

4.7 SWOT on Chipata Income Generating Strengths Weaknesses - Good management skills - Many co-operation partners and linkages - Good relations to the Paramount chief - Commitment by the local groups - DWDA has previous experience of administering IGAs - DWDA has been paying parts of the administration costs from their income - Plans and expectations seem to be realistic

- No electricity in farm for hammermills - Road may be impassable during rains and with a bad vehicle - Long distance to the farm makes it hard to reach

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Opportunities Threats - Market possibilities are good if transport to and from the farm is efficient - Local groups may get good employment opportunities in the farm - A central location gives DWDA visibility and possibilities for donor support

- Jealousy may cause stealing of crops and animals - No title deeds or written documents by the chief to the land: may cause problems if the chief changes - Vehicle condition not good - DWDA may be too busy with other projects to do effective monitoring

5. Chadiza DWDA

5.1 General Chadiza DWDA's biggest investment has been the oil expeller, but they have also concentrated on group activities. They have a huge balance for this and last years, and they want to use that mostly for group projects.

5.2 Other Donors Chadiza DWDA is the leading organization of the Programme Against Malnutrition PAM, a para-statal NGO programme on food security. As the leading organization, they co-ordinate the food aid, and have a PAM tractor in their use, which they can also use for other activities, as long as they pay for the diesel for this. Private Sector Development Programme supported the DWDA during this year in training 60 members in business management. The programme faced out this year. Zambia National Aids Network ZNAN has funded three youth groups that work loosely under Chadiza DWDA. The money came through Africare, and was 31 million for each NGO, destined for implementing HIV/Aids awareness programmes through training and sports. DWDA has applied for a guest house from ZNAN, but there is still no certainty of the reply. GTZ has helped them in legal education through EPWDA, as the other DWDAs Icraf supports the DWDA only in the form of technical support and advise in the agroforestry programme, no money has been given to the DWDA since 2002. Micro Banker´s Trust MBT has given the DWDA money for a revolving fund for income generation. The DWDA reported that they do not get any monetary benefit from this, but are using their own resources for monitoring and administration. MBT regional officer in Katete later denied this, saying that all the co-ordinating associations get 5 % of the total money

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given to them to help in the administration, and that they were free to add a small commission to the interest gathered, if they needed more to cover their costs. A brief calculation shows that from the 9 000 000 given to them, they should have gotten 450 000 as a contribution towards the administration. Clearly there has been a misunderstanding somewhere. Kinder Not Hilfe KNH were given a project proposal on legal education, similarly as Chipata has done and received funding. No reply has yet come. Heifer International is starting a programme in Chipata, Chadiza and Katete with the DWDAs (and others?). Their programme relies on the premises of “passing on the gift.” They donate cows and goats, maybe also pigs to the groups, with the condition that when they produce offspring, this is further donated to other groups, and so on. The regional office will be in Chipata but there is a possibility that they may second one DWDA member to monitor activities in Chadiza.

5.3 Activities 2004 - 2005 Chadiza DWDA has bough four cows for the dairy production project for the DWDA. The plans were to buy six cows, but they proved to be more expensive that planned. It was suggested that if possible, they could add the number of cows from the remaining balance. Mr. Haambote advised that if they manage, they could buy a very good bull for reproduction, which would also help in income-generation. Many people have only cows, and bulls are borrowed from someone. A good bull would ensure a good breed of cows. The poultry house has been built, and when the roofing sheets are put in place, they will buy the chickens. All the trainings have been held and the oil pressing machine has been bought, but is not yet working, DWDA is waiting for the building to be ready. The beekeeping project will start shortly, they are still working building the hives. For next year, no big changes to the plans are forthcoming. The cows, pigs and fish ponds can be done easily, the only problem may lye in the orphanage centre. They have the bricks ready for the building, but they have not yet been able to acquire a plot from the council for this. Furthermore, the house that is being rented out that they have bought years ago from District Co-operative Union, is in danger of being repossessed by the Union. The staff in the Union as well as in the DWDA has changed, and it seems that all the papers of title deeds and receipts of payment have been lost in both sides. The new management in the Union has given notice that they may repossess the house if no documents will be found. DWDA was advised to contact the Ministry of Lands, who is supposed to be keeping a registry of title deeds, and they could get a certificate from them, since the plot number is known. Besides increasing the number of the cows (or one bull), other income generating activities from the balances could include one more piggery and two dairy projects for the groups. These activities would be best implemented during the first quarter of next year, because the price of the cows tend to be lower in the rainy season, when people are desperate to get money.

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At the moment the DWDA cows are based in the farm of the Executive Secretary and are being taken care of by the local women´s group and one herd boy. They were supposed to be based in a farm for the DWDA, which was applied from the council, 100 hectares all together. The problem with the council land is that they were told that if they buy that land, they would have to grow tobacco there. Tobacco is, they felt, too labour-intensive and they could not manage to get the labour to do that during this year. The hope is to get a farm during next year. The women seemed not too happy about the council telling them to grow tobacco. Tobacco-production has seemingly grown a lot during the last year. Dimon is buying tobacco from local farmers. Chadiza DWDA was not aware of the environmental risks that come with tobacco production, and I advised them to talk to the local agricultural extension officer about giving them the details. Besides the chemical fertilizers being used (sometimes very close to big rivers, which worries Zambia Wildlife Authority), the effects of tobacco to the soil-fertility are quite devastating, especially when the land´s fertility is not good to begin with. They are stuck with the council land, though. “Our chief is not good for the DWDA, he would not give us land like in Chipata”, they said. The chief has accused the women´s groups of not doing anything for development, and that they “just were too talkative”, a Zambian way of scorning too liberal behaviour of women, ranging from promiscuity to just being socially active and breaking old taboos and gender roles.

5.4 Sustainability and management of the IGAs The DWDA wants to base its self-sustainability in several projects: The oil expeller, the farm, a hammermill, hiring of the hall (plus maybe a guest house) and the dairy cows. They were told about the Chipata DWDA 10 % scheme for joint projects, and they liked the idea and started planning its implementation for future IGAs for the groups. The farm project is on hold until the land is acquired, and they are hoping to produce several crops for sales, not preferably tobacco. The cows will start producing offspring (and milk) slowly. One cow is already pregnant. The hammermill is old, and was recently repaired, has been working now for two moths. The

Illustration 10 In Chadiza, four cows have been bought, and the poultry house is almost finished

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hall brings some income from people hiring it for one-day meetings. Due to lack of accommodation facilities, there are few workshops held there. Still, they said there is need for applying funds from other donors, and a request was made that Kepa could help them in this aspect, as was done by all the DWDAs. It was said that Kepa could indeed keep all eyes open, but that finding willing donors was not easy for us because projects were many, and there was no Finnish NGOs looking for new projects. The principal responsibility for finding funding is with the DWDAs. We did a participatory exercise on expected oil expeller financial management, where the DWDA ladies demonstrated with a pile of beans (representing the quarterly income from the project) how the revenue gathered would be used. The results were as follows: Piles were made for – transport of residue cake to Malawi for sales each quarter – purchasing of containers and empty bags, only once – purchasing of sunflower seed for groups to cultivate, they would give back sunflowers for

DWDA oil pressing and selling – renovation of the buildings, maybe yearly – electricity bills – salaries for workers – revolving fund for group projects (2 groups per

quarter) – maintenance costs – purchasing of sunflowers for pressing and selling – profit The unlabeled profit, they said, could be used for other costs, and some maybe for sharing between the board members. No plans came automatically for capital repayment, i.e. buying of a new machine when this one brakes down. They estimated that it could work for three years before a new one could be bought, and when asked, they said they could save enough money for a new one. This would mean – on current costs – saving about 5.000.000 K each year The fixed regular costs of the oil pressing machine per quarter are estimated: Salaries K 600 000 Electricity K 600 000 Maintenance costs K 1 000 000 TOTAL 1.200.000

Illustration 11 Chadiza DWDA planning the use of oil pressing income

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Transport to Malawi costs further K 250 000, other cost centres would get money on the proportion of money available. The estimations for income were quite vague. The initial report said “A bit over a million per month”, being over three million each quarter. The income comes from three components: selling of cooking oil by the DWDA, offering oil pressing for people who come with their own seed, and selling of the cake for animal feed. The estimated maximum daily pressing capacity of the machine is 50 bags of 50 kg of seed each. One 50 kg bad of seed produces about 20 litres of oil and maybe 5 kg of cake. Selling of cooking oil gives about 6000 Kwacha per litre, there is no estimate on how much can be earned from the cake. Hiring pressing services gives around 15.000 K / bag, 10.000 K for DWDA members. From this data we can count very rough estimates. Let´s assume the business is pressing 20 bags per day on average. Scenario 1: Only selling DWDA own oil, net income 6000 K per lite * 20 * 20 = 2.400.000 per day Scenario 2: Only providing oil pressing service, assuming half of users are DWDA members, net income 12500 K per bag * 20 = 250.000 per day There is also some income from the cake, but it's unclear now how much that can be. Most likely the DWDA will not get many bags from the groups for pressing and selling per quarter, and big part of the income will consist of offering pressing services. Even so, the estimated income of “a bit over a million” per month seems under-estimated, and is probably only based on a hunch. It should be followed up how much is in reality put aside for maintenance and capital repayment, and how much is the average income if per month, when the machine starts operating. The price has been determined according to the market, according to what others are charging. The owner´s manual was reported to have been given, but had not been read. It was strongly advised that the maintenance cycle and using capacity be carefully observed to avoid serious brake-downs.

5.5 Audits and other financial matters Lack of proper approvals.

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The DWDA acknowledged that something needed to be done with this issue, an official system be put in place, with requests for money and payment vouchers, that they already have. DWDA reported that their payments are approved, but these approvals are not documented. They were advised that the documentation should be constant and complete, because auditors only look at written documents. Also board meeting minutes should be signed and archived, especially when monetary issues are involved, as usually is the case. The DWDA said that they will try and source help in accounting procedures within Chadiza, so that they can easily go and ask for assistance when in need. A new feature in their accounting is the introduction of check books, because PAM programme works with checks. Cashbook It was reported that contrary to auditor´s recommendations, they felt that reconciling the cash book quarterly was justified because they received money quarterly, and some months may have no income nor expenditure. They lamented the fact that they get different advise and recommendations from different auditors and book keepers. They were advised that the recommendations were only recommendations, and if they felt that they could not comply with everything, they should explain the circumstances, but not keep quiet. They were also advised to balance the cash book monthly, even if the month would only show zeros. They should also reconcile the book with bank balances, at least to make sure that the bank showed the right balances, to avoid any bad surprises. If they kept all the withdraw slips and bank reconciliation statements, they could justify any problems which could arise with the bank. Statutory Deductions Chadiza DWDA (as all except for Chipata DWDA) is not paying PAYE tax (income tax), even though they should. They were reminded that the matter was serious and could lead the government tax officials to claim money from them retrospectively, and possibly confiscate their property, like the new computer, if they could not make the payments. They promised to get the forms and start paying next year. Non-adherence to reporting format They were advised that on financial reporting, they should follow the same structure as they have in the same quarter´s application. On narrative reporting, they were advised that it was possible that new guidelines from Student Union might be forthcoming for next year. Insurance During EPWDA AGM the insurance issue was taken up, and Professional Insurance company was introduced as a good option. Chadiza DWDA will ask for a quotation, but as with the other DWDAs, it is possible that financial constraints do not let them get insured.

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5.7 SWOT on Chadiza IGA Strengths Weaknesses - Dedicated executive committee - Central location of the machine (next to DWDA house) will bring market - Expectations for income-generation levels are careful and not exaggerated - DWDA has experience in hammermill management, which was failed. Lessons might have been learnt.

- No written management plan for the oil pressing machine - Owner's manual was not in use - The building for the machine is not ready, although the machine has been bought quite some time ago. - Executive board hopes that some of the profit may be shared among the board members, and not all be used for benefit of the Association

Opportunities Threats - Limited competition, possibility of a good market - Machine operators will not need accommodation because the machine will be in town - Operating the machine next to DWDA will bring visibility and prestige for the DWDA

- DWDA may not be able to save enough money for buying a new machine when this brakes down - Lack of insurance of property makes the project vulnerable - If board members benefit financially, it may cause jealousy and suspicion with the members in area and group levels

6. Katete DWDA

6.1 General Katete DWDA has had good relationships to other NGOs, local politicians and private sector in the area, possibly more than any other DWDA. This has helped them in sourcing help in the hammermill project. Even so, the plans for the hammermill have not been realistic, and costs have proved to be higher than hoped. DWDA has good relations to other donors, and many possible projects are on their way to be approved, but not much money has been given yet.

6.2 Other Donors EPWDA has supported Katete groups with DED income generating projects with one piggery, three gardens and one yenga press. The programme has faced out this year, as in other districts. EPWDA is continuing the project with Katete in legal education.

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The British High Commission supported the groups with four piggery projects. Icraf gave seeds for Tephrosia Candida and Gliricidia Sepium, organized some agroforestry training, and one meeting for the trainers and contact farmers. Private Sector Development Programme PSDP funded some Start Your Business trainings, but faced out this year. ZNAN has in principal approved Katete DWDA application, and has told them that they would come for a field appraisal, but no date has been set. The project would be on home-based care, and the budget K 141 000 000. Society for Family Health has already done a field appraisal for an HIV/Aids project for 47 million kwacha, but has not yet released the money. Zambia Telecommunications Authority has already approved a formation of a telecenter to Katete for income generating and information dissemination, but the final approval is waiting in Geneva. MBT has given revolving fund money also to Katete, and the regional co-ordinator is also acting as a liaison officer for the government in the DWDA, working apparently half-time. Katete DWDA is a member in PAM in Katete, but not as a leading organisation, and no money is coming through them. Heifer International will start to work with Katete DWDA, mainly giving cows and goats to groups on “passing on the gift” premises. See Chadiza-section for details. During our visit we found Priscilla Jere (ex-Kepa employee) from Oneworld Africa visiting Katete and Chipata DWDAs. She informed that there is a plan to start information centres in provinces, with computers with Internet, leaflets and books. Katete and Chipata DWDAs may end up being hosts of these centres in their districts, but it is not certain.

6.3 Activities 2004 - 2005 With Student Union money, Katete DWDA has bought the hammermill and implemented two piggery projects, two more should be coming in December. The fish ponds were postponed until the hammermill started providing funds, because the hammermill was more expensive than expected, and the money received was less than hoped, due to exchange rate fluctuation. Katete DWDA admitted that their planning had been unrealistic with the hammermill project. The Student Union funds only catered for the purchasing of the hammermill; the transport,

Illustration 12 Katete hammermill waiting for electricity and transport

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building and electrifying costs needed to be sourced otherwise. When it was bought, Kepa was assured that it would start producing income in October, but has been delayed because since then DWDA has faced several problems with the construction of the building, which is supposed to be ready before the end of November, and with electrifying because Zesco, the electricity company has still not provided them with a quotation for the electrifying work. Observing the site, it needs probably 9 to 10 electricity poles, which will be costly (DWDA intends to borrow the money from private sector, estimates range from K 700 000 to K 1 000 000 per pole). Knowing the state-owned company´s efficiency, it is probable that the place will not be electrified during this year, nor most likely the first quarter of next year.

6.4 Sustainability Piggeries are taken care of by the members of the groups, two in turns taking care of the cleaning, feeding and giving water. K 800 000 has been spent for buying food for the pigs in advance, it is estimated that this will still cover the first quarter of next year. Piglets were bought at K 100 000 each, and a grown pig will be sold at K 500 000 – 700 000, depending on its size. The income from the first piglets will be shared among the members, and from consequent piglets some will be given to neighbouring groups “at a fare price.” Kachelele group that we visited said they have 18 members taking care of the pigs, and no more members would be allowed to join, in order to limit the hands who would share the profit. “They should have joined when we were struggling,” they said. This is understandable, because with little income a group cannot support many members. It also poses a risk on how the other community members look at the group if it isolates itself from the rest. They said they did have a possibility to help other vulnerable people from the group´s money, if so needed. Fish ponds have been budgeted to be done with the income of the hammermill. No training has been given to the recipient groups, but the training costs are included in the budget. Some groups have had fish ponds, and training on their sustainable management. The sustainability plan of the DWDA lies heavily on the hammermill, and on future donor support. All groups in Katete district contributed to the hammermill expenses, and it has been explained to them that the contributions were for the benefit of the DWDA, and that they would be expected to pay the same price as others for the milling. Groups were also told that they would benefit in the form of IGAs given when the mill started producing funds. As in Chadiza, we conducted a participatory exercise on the hammermill´s income allocations, with a pile of beans. At first the DWDA said they expected K 700 000 as daily income, but when we started counting the using capacity (10 bags per hour for 8 hours a day for 5000 K each), the expected income dropped to K 400 000 per day, K 9 600 000 per month, 28.800.000 per quarter, which to my opinion is over-optimistic, and will at best succeed during three quarters

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of the year, rainy season being a very low season for hammermills. Katete DWDA separated the beans in quarterly “cost-piles” as follows: 1. Maintenance 450 000 2. Salaries 1 110 000 3. Electricity 1 350 000 4. Administration DWDA 8 500 000 5. Purchase of new hammermill 5 000 000 TOTAL 16 400 000 From the remaining balance, they would first allocate K 2 800 000 for the two fish ponds that have been dropped from the present Student Union budget. After first year of operation, they would start a revolving fund for group IGAs. In the future, they want to have several hammermills for sustainability. In my view, the maintenance costs are estimated very low, and the income quite high, but of course I have no personal experience in hammermill businesses in the Eastern Province of Zambia. But I do have experience in looking at unrealistic plans presented by rural groups – plans that are based mostly in guessing and dreaming. It is very important for subsequent monitoring missions to find out how these plans have succeeded. We were asked if they could use the phone and computer for income generation, by charging outsiders for phone and typing services. We agreed, of course, because this is an idea we presented to the DWDAs during 2002 monitoring visit, and they finally wanted to take it up.

6.5 Management of the IGA The hammermill will be located in Chundamila village, where density of villages is high, and there are no other hammermills around. When we visited the place, there was another building emerging, for another hammermill. I assume someone wants to take advantage of the fact that DWDA will draw electricity to the location. DWDA had told the person that they should share the electrifying costs, but the person had refused. In the end, he had said that the house will not be for a hammermill after all, but a tuck shop. Most likely it will still end up being a competitive hammermill. The DWDA agreed that they will have to concentrate in good management for the project to generate income. The price for the milling is determined by the prevailing market price, and the DWDA wants to

Illustration 13 Katete DWDA planning hammermill sustainability

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charge a bit less to have market advantage. The communities around the area will be the main target group, everyone will be required to pay the same price. They will employ two millers, one cashier and one watchman, but the first month it will be managed by board members, so that they will be able to assess the average monthly income of the project. In the future, the cashier will bring the income to the DWDA office weekly. They will advertise the posts of the millers through the groups, and they hope to find someone who has used hammermills before, from some village nearby. The millers will be trained before they start their jobs, they said, but no money was allocated for this training. The cashier will be employed from within the board, and will be living in the hammermill house. A possible big problem emerged when asked about the owner´s manual for the hammermill. According to Vainess Phiri she had asked the provider for the manual, but was refused to be given one, with only the explanation that “they were not given out”. When asked about a possible guarantee, they said they did not know about such things, and had thought that “since Kepa bought it, Kepa had already asked these things”, which in my opinion was a way of escaping a subject they did not want to discuss. They were reminded that Kepa only wrote the check on their behalf, because the project money was in Kepa´s account. It was Vainess herself who went for the quotation and also to deliver the payment. She was also the one who picked the machine from the providers with the local MP who transported it to Katete. Kepa had no contacts to the provider whatsoever, and the ownership, including the maintenance and repairs of the hammermill was Katete DWDA´s responsibility, not Kepa´s or Student Union´s. Nevertheless, since Katete DWDA will probably not do it, Kepa will have to follow up with the shop that proper owner´s manuals are given. An investment of 27 million kwacha cannot be ruined just because of misuse due to a missing manual.

6.6 Audits and other financial matters Lack of Proper Approvals After the audit, DWDA has already worked on this. Project money is in the bank, and the board approves the quarterly budget. Payments are made with signed approval by either the chairperson, treasurer or secretary of the board. They have also introduced payment vouchers. By the verbal report given by the DWDA, this issue seems to be resolved. Mingling of funds This issue was considered minor, and the DWDA was advised to make sure they keep separate books for different donors, and make sure that the grand total is reconciled with bank total. There is no need for an organisation of this size to open accounts for all small donations, like this K 250 000 from EPWDA. Assets Register

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According to the DWDA, the assets register exists but has not been updated in a while. It does not reflect the costs or possible disposal of assets, however. DWDA promised to update the register. Staff documents This issue has since been addressed and all the employees have signed contracts and letters of appointment. Statutory Deductions The forms for PAYE have been received and should be signed and delivered to ZRA soonest. Insurance of property DWDA was advised to insure their property, but they were quite certain that their present finances would not be able to cover the expensive insurance costs.

6.7 SWOT on Katete IGA Strengths Weaknesses - Good relations to local NGOs, groups, private sector and politicians - Hammermill situated rather close to town for easy monitoring - Groups have shown ownership by donating money to the project

- Inadequate planning in construction and electrifying the hammermill house - Expectations on profit levels are probably way too optimistic

Opportunities Threats - Hammermill situated in a place where market opportunities are good: no other hammermills and plenty of people living in the area - Hammermills have brought a lot of money for Chipata DWDA, which shows that it can be a good business, if well managed.

- Electrifying costs may prove to be very high - Zesco has been very slow in giving a quotation for the electrifying costs, and this may slow the project down - Possible competition may harm the hammermill income generation - Possibly not enough money will be saved for capital repayment - If staff is not well trained, the machine may brake down quickly - No owner's manual given, may end up in bad management of machinery

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7. To be followed-up during subsequent monitoring visits There are some issues that have risen during this trip, that should be followed up when further visits are being made. 1. IGAs in Chadiza and Katete (oil pressing and hammermill) - How much has been saved for buying new equipment (=capital repayment)? - How big have been the maintenance costs and net income obtained? (check the books) - Have the machine operators been trained? - Are the manuals for the machinery being used? - Chadiza DWDA did not know what to do with the dirty waste oil, and they thought this would be covered in a training they were hoping to get from Africare. What is being done? 3. Production farm in Chipata - Are the conservation ridges in place to prevent affluents going to water ways? - How big is the farm's stamped area? - Is the vehicle able to get to the farm? - Is the car still working? - How much is the net profit obtained from the farm? - Is agroforestry practiced? 4. Chama guest house extension - How much has been completed and with what money? - How much is the net income from the guest house? - What is the usage level of the rooms and the conference centre? 5. Value systems - Plans have been made to tackle this issue during next year, but an educated guess says that with no further funds for this, it will eventually be left out of the plans. Has anything been done and achieved?