At the beginning of 2019, in consultation with the municipality of Lutindi, we founded a community agricultural cooperative for the benefit of single mothers, to whom we provided land parcels on our 90,000 m² property for their own cultivation.

For this purpose, ZAC provided the women with seeds and the necessary equipment as well as rubber boots for field work. The preliminary planned costs were around 3,000 euros. As of May 2019, around 2,100 euros had already been collected via MSV Duisburg fans on the MSV Portal and commercial donors from food retailers. The difference was provided from own funds.

The aim was to enable the single mothers, who otherwise could not provide for the family’s livelihood due to their personal situation, to grow food for themselves and sell harvest surpluses on the market. The harvest surpluses sold are intended to help the women lead a more self-determined life and enable their children to attend school. Again, “helping people to help themselves” is the guiding principle.

We were supported by our founding member Martin Osing and his network with regard to sensible seeds, cultivation methods, crop rotations and soil optimization. And all this within the framework of ecologically sensible, purely organic cultivation for healthy nutrition and with educational added value for the region.

After joining the project, the women immediately began clearing and reclamation of the land provided, as well as the first sowing.  However, the fall of 2019 undid all the work, as severe storms destroyed all the sowing. Here, too, climate change is clearly noticeable.

But the women were not discouraged at all and cultivated the fields anew. With great success. The harvest was very abundant and rewarded the persistence and efforts of the single mothers. Moreover, the success is an incentive to continue the work. Thus, a sustainable project could be completed.

In February 2021, this initiative was officially recognized by the district government and officially registered under the number HWK/2021/KIKUNDI/KE/0672 as “C.B.R.O.  Single Mother Cooperation Lutindi”. This means that the women’s work is officially recognized and they have the opportunity to open their own account and thus also gain access to small loans.

Registration letter
registration certificate single mothers group
 

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