GOVERNMENT CHALLENGES MUNGU FM RADIO TO TAKE THE LEAD IN COVERING CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE BAROTSE SUB BASIN-ZAMBIA. Natonga Zone in Imalyo ward of Mongu District in the Western Province of Zambia was last week turned into a field learning point, this was during the five days training workshop program for the 100 days Challenge orientation on the Zambia Strengthening Climate (Screbs) in the Barotse Sub basin funded US 36 million by the World Bank from 2013 to 2019. Natonga Zone was pin-pointed by the Imayo Ward Development Committee (WDC) as the worst hit among the other eight Zones in the ward and requires urgent attention and in a related development Mungu Fm Radio a community based radio station was challenged by the Zambian government to take the lead in covering climate change activities in the area. The following day after visiting the WDC in Imalyo, a convoy of more than ten 4 by 4-wheel powered vehicles headed for Natonga in the eastern direction of Mongu District a distance of about 90 kilometers from Mongu the provincial capital. The journey took two hours as the route to the area is characterized by deep sands, twists and turns, the vehicles had to cut through the plains and forests before reaching the area at the far top boundary of Mongu and Luampa district. Except for one vehicle which developed a fault on the way and delayed to arrive, the whole visiting team eventually safely arrived as they were lead by Mike Notulu one of the most competent and experienced drivers working at Mongu District Agricultural office, Mike understand the terrain! Natonga Primary school was the meeting and learning point as earlier said but levels of underdevelopment and backwardness is first seen by its infrastructure as the team arrived. The Schools has three classrooms all made up of poles and mud. Nearby the school premises is a Clinic also made of pole and mud. Except for the interventions of Oxfam which left one unfinished building made of bricks and some boys and girls Latrine and the water bore-hole at the center of the school the rest of the area still need more assistance from development stakeholders. As we arrive around mid-day, the residents have set up desks and some chairs under the trees were us the visitors were expected to meet them as they had turned out in large numbers to come and hear what was forthcoming. Thanks to Mr. Bwalya, the Agricultural extension officer who under difficult situations has managed to mobilize such as large crowd comprising men, women, children and the youths at short notice. He used his only motor bike to communicate the message as mobile network is intermittent in Natonga among the few with access to cell phone. As the visiting team disembarks from their vehicles, they are welcomed by the Natonga teachers and the head master leads them under the tree were the meeting was to take place. The visitors team is also a big entourage comprised of District Agriculture and Administrative officers, Planners, and other government officials from six districts were the project is to be implemented, others on the entourage are representatives from Non-Governmental organizations like Oxfam, Kaza Trans Frontier conservation, Women for change and the Director and Reporter from one community based media Mungu Fm Radio. Above all the Lusaka team from the PPCR Secretariat under the leadership of the Project National coordinator Mr. David Kaluba had also travelled all the way to also see what happens on the ground deep in the rural remote poor set up were the project was to be implemented. After the salutation and introductions lead by the Mongu District officials. The objectives of the visit was then shared by Mr. Pumulo Mate from the Provincial Disaster Management and mitigation unit and then the area councilor Mrs. Martha Mwenda gave her brief remarks as she come with the visitor’s team from Mongu, among the many things she said was that, As an elected Area Counselor she was very committed leader in ensuring that Imalyo Ward is developed by the Government working with other relevant stakeholders adding that as a Woman Counselor it was not easy for her to advocate in the Mongu Municipal Council for her ward among others to be among the areas were the Pilot Project on Climate Resilience was to be implemented. Mrs. Mweenda said the people of Natonga particularly were very lucky and she requested them to share relevant information as well as actively participate in the meetings so that some solutions could be found as more positive developmental intervention to benefit the ordinary people in the area and improve their livelihood. To kick start the process the residents were divided into four groups and allocated different meeting places and given assignments as follows: The first group comprised the traditional indunas and other elders who remained under the same trees were the main meeting was held, the second group was that of women also under the other trees but away from the elders behind the classrooms, and the rest were taken in different pole and mud classrooms, this included the third group of youths both male and female, the men and then the last special group was that of children. The division was done to extract more information among peers as it tends to be more difficult when all are combined due to cultural and traditional reasons among others as earlier observed when we first visited Imalyo Zone. The groups were tasked to draw a resource map of their area Natonga and then also define their means of livelihood and then the challenges they face and how they can adapt. All the groups carried out their assignments after close to two hours and were again requested to reconvene under the main trees to share their findings with everyone in plenary. The first group to present was that of children, who had drawn a very good resource map and further pin pointed the challenges which they face from their perspective in Natonga community and prominent issues which were raised included frosts, droughts, low soil fertility affecting agricultural production and lack of clean drinking water at their homes except at the school which had the bore hole. Other group presentations also focused on similar challenges like that identified by the children’s group except for detailed and additional ones like the clogged canals affecting agricultural production as well raising the levels of hunger in some cases as their harvest is affected, lack of proper farming implements like oxen and ploughs restricted them to remain subsistence farmers, the impassable road network as well as lack of proper bridges which becomes difficult to pass during the rainy season especially when the area is flooded. Despite the challenges the opportunities in Natonga Zone from the groups included the favorable environment for agricultural production such as rice and cassava cultivation, although they requested for early maturing varieties and seeds, others included livestock rearing such as cattle and goats among others. The concern here was that the numbers of livestock was getting depleted as a result of challenges of grazing land when there is drought as well as medicines to keep them healthy. Considering the limited time as the visiting team still had a long difficult way to travel back in the dark, the meeting was closed by the remarks again from the ward councilor and the traditional area induna from the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE). The traditional leader thanked all the project visiting team for having travelled to Natonga despite the difficult terrain, and further thanked the residents for having shared their life experience and hoped that it was the beginning of work implementation. Then the Visiting team started off using an alternative route to Mongu after realizing it was getting dark for the twists and turns route as well as the sandy terrain for inexperienced Drivers but similarly the alternative route was also another challenge as one of the eleven Vehicles on the entourage developed a fault and they it had to be left in the nearby village. On Saturday 1st February 2014, the program for the 100 days orientation training workshop on the Zambian Strengthening Climate resilience (Screbs) in the Barotse Sub-Basin was closed at Nalumba 2 lodge by the Deputy Permanent Secretary Mr. Mwangala Liomba who during his closing speech thanked all the participants for having been around in all the five days from (27th January-1st February 2014). The Deputy Permanent Secretary further challenged the participants that the failure or success of this project lies squarely on them, thus they must ensure that they work hard to implement what they had learned in the remaining days. Mr. Liomba requested Mungu Fm Radio –a community based radio station- to provide project publicity by reporting and covering all the activities on what was happening in order to serve the people with relevant information surrounding the project so that they understand it. Before that Mr. David Kaluba the Pilot Project Climate Resilience National Co-coordinator also thanked the participants for their active participation and that the five days experience added a lot of value to the project, he too underlined the fact that the lessons in the whole workshop as well as that learnt from Natonga Zone in Imalyo ward of Mongu District should be translated into action in the other respective districts by the participants who took part in the training such as Limulunga, Nalolo,Mwandi, Senanga, Sesheke, and Mongu. The 100 days Challenge began on 15th December 2013 and is expected to end in March 2014 Mungu Fm Radio as a community based station with a passion in covering environmental issues as well as climate change matters will go beyond that period and take the lead in covering all activities in all the 8 Districts and 24 wards of making up the Barotse Sub-basin.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 15:48:55 +0000
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