Church Based Development Project Proposal

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Church Based Development Project Proposal Chipako Community, Zambia Project Background Bright Hope has been working in partnership with Samfya Community of Care Providers (SCCP) in the town of

SCCP and its church partners have had a great deal of success with their ministry programs which in turn has sparked the interest of other communities in the area.

1 Church Based Development Project Proposal Chipako Community, Zambia Project Background Bright Hope has been working in partnership with Samfya Community of Care Providers (SCCP) in the town of Samfya, Zambia, since SCCP s work in Samfya has focused on developing church based ministries that are focused on alleviating poverty in the community. SCCP and its church partners have had a great deal of success with their ministry programs which in turn has sparked the interest of other communities in the area. One such community is the village Chipako. For the last two years a delegation of church leaders across seven churches from Chipako have been visiting SCCP in Samfya, asking for assistance to start church based development similar to SCCP s. They believe that the church can be the solution to poverty in their village and have pledged to put aside denominational differences to work together for the greater good of their community. Early in 2010, SCCP and its church partners decided it was time to reach out beyond Samfya and assist the community of Chipako. The local churches of Samfya raised K6,700,000 ($1400) to initiate a loan program in Chipako. Through the microloan program, the churches goal in Chipako is to see the Church meet the spiritual and physical needs in Chipako. They have developed the following objectives: Objectives To increase and diversify house hold incomes To invest in the leadership of Chipako s churches To increase the level of nutritious food available in the community Program Goal: To see the Church meet the spiritual and physical poverty needs in Chipako Figure 1 Map of Zambia Geographical Location Lusaka Capital city Samfya, SCCP, & Lake Bangweulu Chipako The village of Chipako is located in the District of Samfya; the Province of Luapula and the Country of Zambia. The community is spread out along the northern shore of a small inland lake. The village is 10km from Lake Bangweulu. This larger lake provides Chipako access to a large number of fishing communities with whom they often trade cassava and maize for fish. A good all-season gravel road connects Chipako to the town of Samfya which is the District capital. Samfya provides Chipako with formal market access as well as access to the government offices. Page 1

The remaining agriculture land has been heavily cultivated. The soil in the area tends to be acidic and low in nutrients.

2 The village has good access to water and great irrigation potential but the water is not suitable for drinking. The land surrounding the village is suitable for livestock grazing, however only a small number of goats are raised by the community. Much of the arable land is prone to water logging. The remaining agriculture land has been heavily cultivated. The soil in the area tends to be acidic and low in nutrients. Many of the trees in the area have been felled either for fire wood or burned to provide nutrients to farmer s fields. Baseline Summary for the Chipako Community Figure 2 Women pound cassava to make the flour base for their staple food The population of Chipako is approximately 2,000 and the average household consists of 5.8 individuals. The people of Chipako come from fishing, farming and trading backgrounds. Yearly household incomes in Chipako average K1,640,000 ($365) per year. This means that, on average, individuals are living on 17 cents per day. With cash incomes so low, families are very reliant on subsistence agriculture. Most families grow cassava, both for household consumption and sale. Next to cassava production, fishing and fish trading are the next most important industries in Chipako. There is a small government clinic and a basic school in Chipako, but due to low incomes, almost 40 percent of families interviewed can not send their children to school. Figure 3 A large family and surrounding neighbors gather together for a picture Page 2

3 Budget In order to offer this Church based development program, $29,960 is needed. Thus budget would cover the following items: Description 1. Church Microloan Development Budget Microloan capital $11,200 Loan officer (including church leaders) training $500 Loan officer materials (including bikes) $2,000 SCCP Microloan coordinator salary $2, Church Capacity Building Bible School sponsorship, 1 year program $2,600 Leadership training workshops $300 Training materials $160 SCCP Church Mobilization coordinator salary $1, Agriculture Development Maize production training $200 Training materials $500 Lime $3,300 Lime transport $2,200 Kitchen garden training $300 Irrigated garden workshop (treadle pumps) $ Project Support SCCP Stationeries & utilities $800 SCCP Transport and monitoring and evaluation $1,700 Total $29,960 Activity Narrative 1. Micro loan program: The loan program in Chipako started in July of 2010 with donations from the Samfya Churches. Each Church runs an independent loan program, complete with its own bank account and loan officer. In 2010, SCCP trained loan officers from the original five church partners. (Two additional churches have recently asked to join the coalition and have been included in January 2011). At present each of the original five churches has received K1,000,000 ($215) from the churches in Samfya. This money has been used to initiate the program and give five clients from each church a K200,000 ($45) loan. In 2011, SCCP would like to expand the number of clients to ten in each of the seven church loan groups, thus having a total of 70 loan members in Chipako. By the end of SCCP s five year partnership with Chipako, the number of loan members should grow to around If this target is reached, each church would have enough members to run a sustainable program from their own profits and almost every family in the community will have had an opportunity to join the program. By the end of SCCP s Page 3

ministries properly implemented. One area of intervention is in the theological training of the church leadership. Many pastors and elders have no formal biblical training.

4 five year partnership, Chipako should have the resources, knowledge, and vision to start outreach programs of their own. 2. Church Capacity Building: SCCP recognizes that if its church based ministries are to be successful, then the churches that begin these programs must have the maturity and leadership to see the ministries properly implemented. One area of intervention is in the theological training of the church leadership. Many pastors and elders have no formal biblical training. Over their five year relationship with Chipako, SCCP would like to sponsor three to four leaders from each church and enroll them in a biblical training program. Samfya Bible School (SBS) provides a basic one-year Biblical Foundations program which focuses on practical application of the scriptures, practical ministry training, and agriculture training. SCCP would like to send three students from Chipako to SBS in Because the Bible school is so close to Chipako, the students could return on the weekends and even conduct their practical training in their home community. Figure 4 A local entrepreneur makes a grass mat out of lake reeds There are also a number of trainings that SCCP would like to conduct with the churches in Chipako. These trainings would cover a variety of topics from child and youth ministries, tithing, care for the sick, and the church and poverty. 3. Agriculture Development: In November of 2010, SCCP conducted a simple PRA (participatory rural appraisal) workshop with church leaders from Chipako. The purpose of the study was to assess the resources and needs of the community. During the course of the PRA it became very evident that agriculture development was the community s primary concern, both for household food security and for generating incomes. Over the course of SCCP s partnership with Chipako, agriculture development will be a primary focus of intervention. At present, cassava is the primary crop grown. Cassava is easy to cultivate, requires very little agricultural inputs, it remains viable in the ground for a long period of time, it is drought resistant, and provides families with a good source of carbohydrates. On the other side, cassava has very poor protein and nutrient levels, it contains arsenic which must be leached out of the skin of the tuber and it gains relatively low market prices compared to maize and rice. SCCP would not try to replace cassava production but supplement it with maize and vegetable production that are more nutritious and profitable. Figure 5 Women in Chipako often spend their days pounding cassava Page 4

5 Lives Impacted Currently, there are 25 individuals in the microloan program. As this church based development program is initiated, up to 350 individuals will be put on the loan program, 28 church leaders will be trained in the Bible, and the community, as a whole, will have access to more nutritious food. Nearly all 2,000 community members lives will be impacted. Figure 6 Two boys, although not in school, play checkers out of a homemade board and bottle caps Next Steps It is not difficult to justify a project in Chipako. With a 17 cent average daily income per person, income levels are well below even the United Nation s $1/day definition of extreme poverty. Forty percent of families are unable to send their children to basic school. Fifty percent of family members fall significantly sick every three months. Four of Chipako s villages have no access to clean water, another six villages have access only to unprotected hand dug shallow wells, and all of the communities complain of diarrhea and stomach illnesses as a result of poor water quality. Their primary food supply and income source is pinned on cassava production, which fetches the lowest price for food staples and is extremely poor nutritionally. The churches of Chipako have united themselves and pledged to work against poverty in their community. Their sister churches in Samfya have already given out of their small resources to start the work and SCCP is on the ground ready, trained, and willing to assist. The work has started, but additional financial resources are required to meet the great need. Page 5

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Khirbet Al Malih profile Produced by The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem In cooperation with Funded by February, 2006 This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European