Chief Executive Jan Kidd and Partnership Development Officer Sarah Ingleby met with a total of nine charities. One of these was Oxfam, who work closely with lots of other smaller, community-based organisations. Many of the charities have their head offices in the capital, Lusaka, but also run programmes in the Copperbelt province. This province was hit hard by the closure of the copper mines and is now an area of unemployment, huge deprivation and social problems. There are currently a great many organisations working in this province to support livelihoods and income generation activities, and these are areas in which Tools for Self Reliance can offer its support.

Reporting on the visit, Sarah Ingleby commented: “The advantage of going over to Zambia is you actually get to meet people face to face, see how they’re working, where they’re working, and who they’re working with. We can explore what opportunities there are for TFSR to support their work in a meaningful way”.

Preparations for the Zambia visit included a period of research into the economic characteristics of the country, its artisan activity and the organisations already working with local people to generate development opportunities. It is one of the founding principles of Tools for Self Reliance that local artisans are given the help and support necessary to sustain their own development. So it is essential to work with local partners who know the country and the people, and who are best placed to guide our support.

Among the charities visited were several that are working on HIV/AIDS related activities. One of these was Kara Counselling, which provides training and care for people living with HIV/AIDS. Kara’s executive director, John Imbwae, showed Jan and Sarah around two very different workshops where young people are learning carpentry and other trades and using hand tools to practise their skills.

One of the workshops has incorporated business and vocational training into its programme and the students have responded very positively, setting up business groups with definite roles for every member and a high level of motivation and productivity.

The other centre is still in the initial stages of a training programme, as it lacks the appropriate equipment. Members are therefore struggling to set up business community groups. Although the quality of the products made at both workshops is very high, only one has the resources and organisational structure to be able to develop and sustain production.

The Kara workshops and others like them are the principal reason why Tools for Self Reliance is adopting a holistic approach to future projects – one that involves not just sending tools, but also more focused training, ongoing support and evaluation.

We believe we could work with many of the organisations identified, which have HIV/AIDS as a focus or as a cross-cutting issue in their programmes. Developing partnerships and projects with these organisations would enable us to support what we have identified as marginalised groups in our Organisational Strategy.