As development agencies continue to grapple with the best approaches to engage communities, community leaders in the Buhera and Zaka districts appreciate Takunda’s engagement method.

Takunda, a USAID-funded Activity, is using the Community Visioning process to engage communities to collectively develop a Community Action Plan (CAP) that aligns with their priorities and aspirations. The CAP will not only guide Takunda program interventions but all future community interventions.

On May 31, 2021, during the Takunda community visioning process, Bowas Museki, councilor for Ward 14 in Zaka district, shared his perspective on the factors he thinks are affecting sustainable development in his community, “Whenever we receive support from development partners, some projects succeed, and others fail. Those that do succeed, we hardly follow through with them. When the partner leaves, we too leave the project.” As a part of the community visioning process being run in the four districts of Manicaland and Masvingo, villagers from Ward 14 in Zaka detailed different projects they undertook in the past, including their successes and challenges.

May 31, 2021: Bowas Museki, councilor for Ward 14 in Zaka district, Zimbabwe. © Charmaine Chitate/ CARE

Representing his village, Anthony Gondokondo gives a breakdown of different households, “The most vulnerable household in my village is one without cattle, plows, tractors, that’s the lowest. A middle-range household has a cow or two. The well-off household has enough cattle and a member who works in the capital city, Harare. A small household has 5 members, and a large household has up to 12 members,” says the headman for Gondokondo village in Zaka District.

May 31, 2021: Gondokondo village headman, Anthony Gondokondo, smiles into the camera in Zaka district. © Charmaine Chitate/ CARE

The information compiled by the thirty-four village headmen under Museki’s charge contributes largely to the development of CAP. Bowas offers an olive branch for future engagement, “When development partners engage us, they must make it clear that we own the project, the way you have done today. When we then work together, we will constantly remind ourselves that this project is ‘ours’ and we will ensure we put in measures for its sustainability when the partner leaves.”

MAY 31, 2021: Martin Chauke, a Business Development Officer based at the Takunda district office in Zaka District, introduces the activity and sensitizes local leadership in Ward 14 on the community vision process. The local leadership present included the village health worker, village headmen, and councillor Bowas Museki in a green blazer. © Charmaine Chitate/ CARE

The drive behind Takunda’s community visioning process is anchored in a need to empower communities to develop CAPs that can be presented to any development partner or shared with the government. The CAP reflects a community’s vision and strategies for realizing it.