The Resilience of Zimbabwe’s Food-Insecure Communities in the Face of COVID-19

Small assets, big outcomes

Clever Moyo from Mwenzi poses proudly in a geotagged photo, showing the progress he has made on his keyhole garden. The keyhole garden is a sustainable gardening method that retains moisture and supplies nutrients through a notch cut out of the structure, allowing easy access for watering and adding nutrients to the soil. / WFP Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, the COVID-19 pandemic is far more than a health crisis. It has exacerbated an already-dire economic and humanitarian situation marked by high inflation rates, currency shortages, and recurrent droughts. Nationwide lockdowns have further disrupted the informal economy, where 75 percent of Zimbabweans earn a living. The 2020 Rural Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee survey estimated that 5.7 million rural Zimbabweans were food insecure between January and March of 2021.

Building Community Resilience

Since 2011, USAID has worked with Zimbabwe’s rural communities through the Food Assistance For Assets program to build, rehabilitate, and upgrade community assets to improve food security.

Community members, USAID, and implementing partners work together to reduce the risks and impact of climate change, increase food productivity, and strengthen resilience to natural disasters over time.

These activities bring communities together to build shared assets such as small dams, irrigation systems, cattle dip tanks, fishponds, community gardens, seed banks, cattle sales pens, market stalls, and fodder gardens.

Community members provide labor and locally available resources toward constructing assets, and USAID contributes construction materials and technical advice, in addition to monthly food baskets that include maize meal, pulses, and cooking oil for participating households.

A single community asset can provide long-term benefits to more than 100 food-insecure households. Since its inception, the program has reduced the need for emergency food assistance by funding the construction of more than 1,700 food security-related community assets across Zimbabwe.

Adapting and Innovating During the Pandemic

When the Government of Zimbabwe announced a nationwide lockdown in March 2020 to slow the spread of COVID-19, USAID and local communities quickly adapted so the program could continue.

The activities pivoted from constructing large community assets, which normally bring together large groups of up to 300 people, to building smaller assets that neighboring households can work together on and share.

Nomagugu Mabhena from Nkayi District shows off an example of an energy-saving stove built from the skills learned through the Food Assistance for Assets program. / USAID/Zimbabwe

‘‘We now work in small groups of 10, while following COVID-19 measures to prevent spreading the virus,” says Nomagugu Mabhena from Nkayi District, who lives with her husband and four children. “We wear masks, avoid sharing tools, practice social distancing, and use tippy-taps that we constructed for handwashing.”

In order to continue monitoring progress, an integral part of ensuring that beneficiaries participate in the activities, USAID introduced geo-tagging as a way to virtually monitor the assets. By cell phone, beneficiaries send geo-tagged photos and videos to show the progress of their work. Through the virtual system, USAID staff are also able to continue sharing technical advice.

“The strict COVID-19 travelling restrictions have not hindered us from monitoring the programs. Remote monitoring has offered us a unique opportunity to keep in touch with our beneficiaries,” says USAID/Zimbabwe Humanitarian Assistance and Resilience Director Marialice Ariens.

A geotagged mature keyhole garden constructed through the small assets program. Geotagged photos help program managers track and map the locations of the thousands of assets funded by USAID. / WFP Zimbabwe

Smaller Assets Yield Surprising Outcomes

The shift to building small, shared assets — including keyhole gardens, compost pits, solar dryers for preserving vegetables, granaries, and energy-efficient stoves — is helping increase the long-term food security and resilience of these communities beyond the pandemic.

Heaped compost made in Hwiridzo Ward 16, Masvingo. / WFP Zimbabwe

‘‘At first, we were not sure how much we would achieve from the small assets. I must admit that the smaller assets left us in awe! We have filled up all the gullies, planted trees, constructed contour ridges and basins across the shared fields and pastures. If we continue on this path, we will be able to preserve our soils and vegetation better. Our livestock will never run out of pasture. We plan to maintain this good practice beyond the small asset program,” Nomagugu explains.

Left: A geotagged photo of a shared village well under construction. Due to COVID-19 restrictions around large groups, the Food Assistance for Assets program pivoted to focus on smaller groups building smaller assets like this one. Right: A geotagged photo demonstrating the tippy-tap hand washing station, which allows users to wash their hands without touching any surfaces. / WFP Zimbabwe

The community aspect of the shared assets have also come with unexpected benefits. “Working on smaller shared assets within our villages has brought us closer and there are few conflicts because we are smaller groups spending more time working together,” Nomagugu added.

Hope for Food-insecure Communities

Between June and November 2020, community members created more than 600 small community assets, and the program assisted 66,000 food-insecure households with monthly food baskets.

A group of women from Binga District showcases solar dryers. The farmers dry the surplus of vegetables from the nutrition gardens, which ensures seasonal vegetables year round. The solar dryers preserve the vegetables, retaining the nutrients that would otherwise be lost if they were dried directly in the sun. The Food Assistance for Assets program trains the farmers how to use dryers for processing and preserving vegetables. / WFP Zimbabwe

Since 2011, USAID has partnered with organizations such as the World Food Program, Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture, World Vision, Save the Children, and Catholic Relief Services to address the long-standing food insecurity crisis in rural Zimbabwe.

USAID will continue to work closely with its partners to maximize the potential of the Food Assistance for Assets program to improve both short and long-term food security for vulnerable Zimbabweans.

About the Authors

Erina Machoko is a Food Security and Livelihoods Specialist with USAID’s Mission in Zimbabwe. Themba Nduna is a Nutrition Advisor with in the same Mission.