Order in the Midst of Chaos

World Vision and its community partners in Zimbabwe have been highly commended by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Southern Africa Famine Emergency Response (SAFER) for their exemplary food distribution model. It’s impressive praise considering the numbers: Some 600,000 Zimbabweans are receiving food aid from World Vision and its partner organizations, USAID and the World Food Programme. Zimbabwe was once known as the breadbasket of southern Africa. Today, however, more than half of Zimbabwe’s 11.6 million residents are experiencing serious food shortages as a result of bad weather, unreasonable land reform laws, and a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. World Vision and community members in Zimbabwe are working hard to ensure that food is distributed to those most devastated by this crisis. A Visit to the Warehouse Bryant Myers, vice president for development and food resources with World Vision and Paul Weisenfeld, mission director for USAID/Zimbabwe, paid a routine visit to inspect food distributions and warehouses in Zimbabwe this past June. “We spent some considerable time looking through the warehouse files and records to see how World Vision tracks food deliveries and distributions to ensure that all tonnage is fully accounted for, said Weisenfeld. “I was quite impressed with the thoroughness of their tracking system. The percentage of food lost is exceptionally small — well below 1 percent.” The Community Plan Paul Sitnam, SAFER’s director this past year, noted that Zimbabwe’s food distribution plan is efficient and provides community members with a sense of ownership and dignity. To initiate a food distribution in a district, a meeting is called during which local authorities, community leaders, and World Vision staff members develop a plan for selecting and registering those in need of food aid. The actual selection and registration is carried out at the village level by leaders and pastors who know the most vulnerable members in the community. To ensure there is consensus on the beneficiary lists, villagers are called to a central meeting point; the names of beneficiary households are called out for the community to agree or object to their inclusion. After this process is completed, the community works with World Vision to plan and implement the actual distribution. An Orderly Food Distribution During the distribution, families are placed in groups of 10, according to family size. The food is then given to the groups, who later share the allocation according to a family’s ration. This group distribution model is quicker than handouts to individuals, which often results in panic and chaos as villagers scramble for rations. It’s also more cost effective and less labor intensive. After visiting a food distribution, Paul Weisenfeld with USAID said, “We saw quite a large distribution to nearly 1,700 families, with over 9,000 beneficiaries. The distribution was very orderly and World Vision staff handled themselves professionally …. They strategically place around the distribution point large banners in multiple languages explaining that the food is a gift of the American people. All of those we talked to were aware that the food was donated by the U.S.” Letiness Nhuma, one of the recipients at this distribution point, gratefully commented, “If the food distribution stops, we would not know where or from whom to get food. We just would not know what to do. You have really been sent by God to help us who are helpless in this food crisis. Letiness and her husband have four children. “We rely on the land for a living, but this year, because of the drought, we did not harvest anything and have no food,” she says. “With the food aid program, though, life has become much more bearable. We now have enough food to last the month and enough to eat to keep us and the children strong.” A Model to Emulate This past September, World Vision’s annual food aid manager's workshop was hosted in Zimbabwe under the theme: “Food for everyone in need, and the will to make it happen.” The workshop was attended by more than 55 participants from countries across the globe where food aid programs are implemented. Zimbabwe’s food distribution model has already been adopted by World Vision programs in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Liberia. The workshop, which will include visits to a Zimbabwe warehouse and a food distribution point, will surely inspire other countries to enhance their existing programs.

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