Telling the ECSA Story

In the Mutare rural district, many young people are trapped in a cycle of poverty, hindered by inadequate education and scarce resources. For Lisa , a 17-year-old Chitora Secondary School Zimunya Ward 21 student , this was a common case she knew affected her community. Like many students, Lisa found it difficult to imagine a future beyond secondary school, as the consistently low Ordinary-level exam pass rates cast a shadow over her aspirations. Also, t he lack of resources and support made the journey seem overwhelming and challenging.   Lisa 's family situation further compounded her predicament. Her three older siblings had struggled to navigate the education system, leaving Lisa with little guidance or hope. With her parents struggling to make ends meet, it was Lisa's dream to transform the family’s standard of life for the better and a good education was the gateway to that dream.   "I was facing immense difficulties with my studies," Lisa confessed, her voic...

Florence Talakufa at her home with one of her boer goats that enabled her to grow her herd. In a lot of communities in Africa, it is near impossible for women to have a say in family affairs or own any property. In Zimbabwe, women are tasked with the responsibility of taking care of the children and home. As a result of extreme climate change that led to the decimation of pasture lands for cattle and farms, women in the communities started rising and taking charge. This is worse in Region 5 which experiences an annual rainfall of 450mm or less, severe mid-season dry spells, and frequent seasonal droughts .   Florence Talakufa was one of the first female farmers to join the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund- Enhancing Community Resilience and Sustainability (ECRAS) project (ZRBF-ECRAS) in her village in 2017. During this time, many people in the community were bearing the brunt of intermittent dry weather conditions, that affected all matters related to farming.     ...

Sister and her daughter Siyapula operating her biodigester powered cooker. Deforestation in Zimbabwe continues to spread at a high rate due to the over reliance on firewood in the rural areas. Indicators attribute this to be a key factor in some of the extreme weather change patterns that have affected several parts of the country. Climate change-induced drought has been traced in the southern parts of Zimbabwe like Mwenezi where people are inevitably forced to rely on wood for both cooking and selling to earn an income. This has several negative impacts not only on the environment but also on the health and safety of women and girls.     The time-consuming responsibility of fetching firewood is assigned to girls leaving them vulnerable to abuse and at a disadvantage when it comes to studying as they have less time.   Indoor pollution from open fires exposes women and children to smoke and soot leading to respiratory diseases.   Use o f wood as a source of ene...

  Portrait of Agnes in front of one of the 10 latrines she built in her village. In Zimbabwe’s Masvingo Province in Chikore village head Agnes Chikore, 63 is working to better the lives and health of her community. She has gone the extra mile to stop the spread of diseases, such as cholera, by making sure her village is open defecation free. Ward 27 has 42 villages, out of these, 41 villages are led by men with Agnes Chikore being the only female village head. The fearless village head, and mother of seven, tackled open defecation which was very common due to a lack of toilets, washing facilities, and sanitation knowledge. Building a latrine was never a priority among many and most could not afford the cement to build one. “Due to this our food and water were contaminated. During the mango season, we’d have close to 20 diarrhoeal cases every week. Now we rarely have any . Our children were openly defecating near the houses and we would simply get a stick and scrape it aw...