PROJECT OWNERSHIP:A Success Story from Nakonde

Muleuke Weir in Nakonde district, Muchinga Province

Project ownership is integral to the sustainability of the goals and objectives of interventions that are implemented in rural communities. One effective way to achieve this is through community participation which involves communities identifying solutions to their problems and what they are willing to do to implement those solutions.

Community participation assures not only ownership but also accountability and the opportunity to the share benefits of the resources that many rely on.

In Ilola agricultural camp in Nakonde, vegetable gardening has been a hindrance for the smallholder rural community there. These farmers were limited to seasonal rain-fed gardening while the demand for vegetables awaited 70km away in Nakonde town.

From this need, the construction of Muleuke weir was conceived. 

Through government’s implementation of the Smallholder Productivity Promotion Programme(S3P), farmers are enjoying the benefits of irrigated agriculture thanks to the Muleuke weir that they built in collaboration with the S3P.

The community began with providing basic materials upfront such as stones and sand; and they worked to excavate the foundation and canal intake,

“There was nothing like this is a man or this is a woman – we all engaged in manual labour side by side,” explained Florence Nawale.

She is one of the 49 direct beneficiaries of the weir. She said that the construction of the weir began with only 35 farmers. However as the labour began to intensify and results took time to show, 18 members dropped out of the work.

“We started the construction of this weir in September 2019.When the rain season started, our friends who dropped us mocked us and said that we were wasting our time because the weir wouldn’t feed us after the rain season,” she added.

Slyvia explaining the amount of manual work women engaged in alongside their male counterparts

However, today the weir is. complete and is providing the valuable resources of water.

Derrick Siwale is among the 17 who worked until the weir was completed. For him, the weir has translated into all-year round agriculture because of easier and constant access to water.

“This is a permanent investment, even our children will benefit from this weir in their agriculture…We are able to sell and eat fresh vegetables everyday thanks to the construction of this weir,” Derrick said.

He added that the farming community is also now able to diversify their agriculture and has constructed fish ponds in preparation to venture into fish farming.

“The vegetables we are growing are also being used to feed our fish 

Before the construction of the weir, farmers would have to trek back and forth with buckets in order to irrigate their vegetable gardens during the dry season. This proved to be tiring and as such farmers were limited in the extent to which they could cultivate vegetables.

Provincial Agricultural Coordinator, Fred Chikuta – explained that the construction of the weir was conceived from the need to boost vegetable production in the Nakonde among other places.

“We had farmers who had land but they [could not] access water, so we helped them divert the water through the weirs so that farmers could easily produce vegetables,” Mr. Chikuta explained.

He added that the weir was among some other sites that had been identified for development.

The original design of the weir was conducted by an earlier project called the Technical Cooperation on Community-Based Smallholder Irrigation better known as T-COBSI. The project was a JICA funded project which empowered staff under the Technical Services Branch with capacity building skills in designing and construction of water harvesting infrastructure. 

Siwale Alinani - one of the Cooperative members who engaged in the construction until fruition

The Muleuke weir was one that was selected for development by the S3P. Construction of the weir was K375,935 out of which the community contributed 93,983.75 and S3P funded the remaining K281,951.25.

The beneficiary farmers consider the weir a permanent gift that has changed the socioeconomic status of the area for good. Their participation in the construction has made them alive to the fact that the investment is theirs and has ignited their self-reliance on their farming practices.

Their capacity to increase their vegetable production and even diversify their agriculture is translating into growing household incomes for most their members.

Today, the community of Ilola agricultural camp is grateful for this return on their investment which is enabling them to also improve their household nutrition and diversify their diets.

“I’m hoping to buy myself a vehicle like the one you’ve come with,” Florence chuckled as she pointed to a Nissan Patrol parked in the distance.

  “I want to be transporting my own produce to market easily with my own vehicle instead of hiring from other people,” she added.

She also said that they had surveyed the potential market and the preferred vegetables there; and they were growing them easily.

Community participation is key in enhancing sustainability of project interventions. It invokes in the communities, the awareness that they have the capacity to be self-reliant and can share the benefits of their efforts.