Munali — Life Beyond the Mine

Challenges Zambia
Aug 31, 2018 · 2 min read

The Munali Nickel mine, situated 75km south of Lusaka is set to reopen in 2018 after three years of being placed under care and maintenance. The new owners Consolidated Nickel Mines and PEP-Z have engaged Challenges Group to commission a short study that will provide an assessment of existing potential around the area and provide a roadmap for implementing post-mine livelihood strategies. The mine is expected to employ 700 people at peak as they take advantage of high Nickel global prices.

We are excited to be engaged on this important piece of work as it provides the stakeholders an opportunity to be proactive in developing strategies for life beyond the mine. It has been observed in other mining towns such as on the Copperbelt, communities have heavily depended on the mine for economic survival. Whenever copper prices have dropped or the mine getting closed, lives have been adversely affected, with devastating consequences on the communities.

The implementation area for the project is 800km2 that runs from the Kafue river up to Nega Nega. Therefore, intervention recommendations will not necessarily be one size fits all. We expect to see a unique set of recommendations in our road map. As most of the land in the area is arid due to extensive deforestation and cattle grazing, farmers may have to be introduced to new and sustainable methods of farming.

What makes it even more exciting is that we are keen to look at the feasibility of linking some of the projects we have worked with previously including the Zambia Business Growth Fund to interventions in the Munali area.

The customer centric approach we use on all our assessments will also apply to this project. We look to empathize through conducting a context analysis to help us understand the needs of all the stakeholders, define the opportunities and identify the gaps. Thereafter, we will develop a road which we will then present to the stakeholders for piloting and texting.

Our team is excited about this project! We hope to get down on the ground in Munali to kick off our assessment. We hope to share some of the recommended interventions that will come out of it. Stay tuned to our next Challenges Monthly Charter for more on this exciting project.

Challenges Zambia

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The Challenges Group is a family of companies committed to creating a more prosperous world, specialising in working directly with small and medium enterprises.