Jette - Petauke

UDVIKLINGSPROJEKTER (2) - DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS (2)

Børn, der ikke kunne komme i skole
Chitimba broen var vasket væk, så børnene fra den anden side af floden ikke kunne komme i skole i regntiden. Mennesker var druknet i forsøget på at vade over floden med deres cykel. Vi var ude og inspicere forholdene i tørtiden, hvor man kunne krydse floden. Det endte med et kombineret bro- og dæmningsprojekt, hvor der så skulle udsættes fisk i den opdæmmede sø.

Children Unable To Go To School
The Chitimba Bridge had been washed away so the children from the other side of the river could not get to school during the rain season. People had been drowned trying to cross the river with their bicycles.We inspected the conditions during the dry season when the river could be crossed and the outcome was a combined bridge and dam project where fish should be put in the dam.

Chitimba-dæmningen blev færdig i 2004 og har - sammen med broen - stor betydning for lokalbefolkningen.
The Chitimba Dam was finished in 2004 and - together with the bridge - it is of great importance to the local community.

Fiskene, der er sat ud i søen, giver hårdt tiltrængt proteinholdig mad til områdets beboere.

The fish that have been introduced into the lake provide much needed high-protein food for the people of the area.

Kaulu-dæmningen - Kaulu Dam

Det enorme brud på Kaulu-dæmningen – den modsatte kant ses nederst i billedet.

The huge gap in Kaulu Dam - at the bottom of the picture is the opposite edge from where I took the picture

Efter feltvurderingen af Kaulu-projektet med over tusind voksne deltagere
On the field appraisal of the Kaulu Project attended by over a thousand adults

Genopbygges Kaulu-dæmningen nogen-sinde?
Da Kaulu-dæmningen brød sammen i februar 2003, stod 48 landsbyer i en desperat situation. Tørke i tørtiden, intet vand til husdyrene, ingen fisk...

Lokalbefolkningerne havde ikke selv taget initiativet til projektet, så jeg var noget skeptisk, da vi kom for at hjælpe landsbyboerne med at udfylde projekt-ansøgningen. Fremmødet imponerede mig ikke, men det viste sig, at der var nogle begravelser. Når nogen dør i Zambia, som det alt for ofte sker, går alting i stå. Da vi kom til derud feltvurderingen, var jeg forbløffet. Vi kunne høre dem, da jeg slukkede motoren, selv om vi var et stykke derfra. Der var et tusind voksne plus et ukendt antal børn.

Desværre havde Petauke District med de 13 godkendte projekter opbrugt sin kvote hos ZamSIF, men via et tørke-nødhjælpsprogram havde vi håbet, at disse 48 landsbyer havde en spinkel chance for at få hjælp. Det håb var forgæves. I dag er pengene stadig ikke fundet.

Will Kaulu Dam Ever Be Rehabilitated?
When Kaulu Dam was washed away in February 2003, 48 villages were left in a desperate situation. Drought during the dry season, no water for livestock, no fishing...

The project was not initiated by the communities so I was somewhat sceptic when we arrived to assist the villagers with the filling in of the proposal form. The number of attendants did not impress me, but it turned out that some funerals were taking place. When somebody dies in Zambia, which happens all too often, everything stops. And when we came for the field appraisal I was amazed. I could hear them when I killed the engine even though we were still at a distance - and there they were: a thousand adults plus an unkown number of children.

Unfortunately Petauke district exhausted its ZamSIF funding quote with the 13 projects approved, but through the Emergency Drought Relief Programme we had hoped that these 48 villages had a slender chance of receiving relief. In vain, it turned out. To this day the money has not been found.

Dette område var tidligere dækket af vand - This area used to be covered with water

Kalimba Community School

En af de få heldige - One of the Lucky Few

Kalimba Community School var en af de heldige landsby-finansierede skoler, der fik deres projektansøgning godkendt. Ovenfor til højre ses et udsnit af deltagerne i et borgermøde vedrørende bygningen af deres nye skole - ved mit allersidste borgermøde i Petauke District.

Kalimba Community School was among the lucky community-funded schools that had their project proposal approved. Above a section of the attendants at a community meeting concerning the construction of their new school - at my very last community meeting in Petauke District

Råd og vejledning - Advice and Guidance

Selv om de lokale projektstyregrupper selv skulle styre projekterne, støttede vi (the District Facilitation Team) dem med råd og vejledning under vores monitoreringsbesøg
Although the community-based project management committees were to manage the projects themselves, we ((the District Facilitation Team) gave advice and guidance during our monitoring visits

Vi holdt borgermøder sammen med lokale ADC-medlemmer, hvor vi kom med oplæg omkring f.eks. ligestilling og Aids, lavede behovsvurderinger sammen med folk, diskuterede projektansøgninger med dem eller foretog feltvurderinger af projektforslag osv.. Til højre taler Rosa Motumbo fra Community Development.

Together with local members of ADCs we held community meetings where we sensitized people on e.g. gender and HIV/Aids, did needs assessments with them, discussed project applications , or conducted field appraisals of project proposalsetc. Right: Rose Motumbo from Community Development is facilitating.

Når vi var til lange møder ude i distriktet, blev vi bagefter inviteret på mad: nshima (kompakt majsgrød, der erstatter vores kartofler), kylling - eller en sjælden gang ged - og kogte grøntsager, som regel rasp. Maden spises med fingrene, så man vasker selvfølgelig hænder før og efter måltidet. Her i den nye skolebygning, der var ved at blive bygget i Kalimba.

When we attended long meetings in the bush, we were invited to dinner afterwards: nshima (compact maize porridge), chicken - or on rare occasions goat - and boiled vegetables called relish, mostly rape. You eat with your fingers so of course you wash hands before and after the meal. Here we had dinner in the new school building that was being constructed at Kalimba.

Valg til ADC (lokalt udviklingsråd) - Election of ADC (Area Development Council)

I skyggen af et enormt træ foretog vi omvalg af to medlemmer, en mand og en kvinde, til et nyt ADC (lokalt udviklingsråd -Se under Petauke District Council) i Mwambezi-zonen. Normalt foregår valget ved håndsoprækning, men her havde der været protester over valgresultatet i første omgang - det kom senere frem, at den reelle grund var, at de to, der var blevet valgt, var gift med hinanden - så vi foretog et omvalg med fortrykte stemmesedler. Hver kandidat havde et symbol ud for sit navn på stemmesedlen, så de, der ikke kunne læse, var i stand til at kende kandidaterne fra hinanden. Vælgerne fik mærkeblæk på tommelfingeren som ved officielle valg, så man kunne sikre sig, at ingen stemte mere end én gang.

In the shade of a huge tree we conducted a second ballot in the Mwambezi Zone for two members, a man and a woman, for a new ADC (Area Development Council - See under Petauke District Council). Usually votes are conducted by a show of hands, but in this case there had been protests against the election result - it later transpired that the actual reason was that those who had been elected were man and wife - so we held a second round with preprinted ballot papers. Each candidate had a separate symbol on the ballot paper so that illiterates were able to distinguish the candidates from each other. Like in official elections voters had their thumbs marked with indelible ink to ensure that nobody voted more than once.

Kvindernes rolle i udviklingen - Women in Development

Nogle få af de næsten 600 kvinder, der var mødt op ved Kaulu.
A few of the almost six hundred women attending the meeting at Kaulu.

Tålmodigt ventende kvinder på et hospital -
Women waiting patiently at a hospital

Lokale projektstyregrupper: Nogle af de kvindelige medlemmer i Kalimba projektstyregruppe undervises i projektstyring. Lokalbefolkningen skal nemlig selv styre projekterne for at sikre ejerskab til udviklingsprojekterne, men de monitoreres selvfølgelig fra distriktet.

Local Project Management Committees: Some of the female members of the Kalimba Project Management Committee being trained in project management. In order to ensure ownership the communities must manage the implementation of development projects themselves while being monitored by the District.

Traditionelt spiller kvinder en underordnet rolle, og ifølge sædvaneretten (der bygger på gamle skikke og sædvaner - et retsbegreb, der blev cementeret af briterne) har de meget få rettigheder. Moderne lovgivning har udstyret dem med flere rettigheder, men det ved kun de færreste ude i bushen.

Et skræmmende antal kvinder kan ikke læse eller skrive, og antallet vokser støt. Zambianske kvinder arbejder dagen lang året rundt, og de spiller en afgørende rolle for lokalsamfundet og for familiens overlevelse. Kvinderne bidrager også med deres arbejdskraft til udviklingsprojekterne som en del af lokalbefolkningernes egenbetaling.

I landområderne skønnes desuden 30% af husholdningerne at have en kvinde som overhovede, og de tilhører de fattigste og mest udsatte familier.

Derfor - og af humanitære grunde - forsøger donorerne at tvinge lokal-samfundene til at involvere kvinderne aktivt i udviklingssammenhænge. 50% af projektstyregrupperne og vedligeholdelsesudvalgene skal være kvinder og desuden halvdelen af de valgte medlemmer af ADC'erne - i hvert fald i Petauke District

Men selv om ganske mange kvinder er meget aktive, så har det store flertal meget lang vej endnu.

Women in Development

Traditionally Zambian women play a subordinate role and according to customary law (the law of old customs - a concept cemented by the British) they have very few rights. Under statutory law (Acts passed by parliament), however, their rights have improved, but that still remains unknown to a lot of people in the bush.

A frightening number of women are illiterate and the number is increasing steadily. Zambian women work all day long all year round and are a vital factor in the functioning of the community and the survival of the family. They also contribute with their labour to communities' own contribution in development projects.

Furthermore, in rural areas 30% of households are estimated to be headed by women and those belong to the poorest and most vulnerable households.

Therefore - and for humanitarian reasons - donors are trying to force communities to give women a more active role in development. Fifty per cent of Project Management Committees and Maintenance Committees must be women and so must half the members of the ADCs (at least in Petauke District).

However, although quite many women are becoming very articulate, the vast majority still have a long way to go.

Kvindelige arbejdere hjælper med at bygge Cheso-dæmningen

Women workers helping to construct Cheso Dam