‘Naughty mangoye ate my chicks’

By Conrad Mwanawashe

Two days after delivery, mangoye (cat) dinned on 14 of Magadelen Munsaka’s 50 day-old chicks in Manyanga high density suburb, Binga.

The following day, Munsaka fixed the fowl run reinforcing areas which she thought the mangoye had used to gain entrance.

Despite her efforts, mangoye came back, this time with his whole tribe and dinned on the rest of Munsaka’s chicks.

Sadly, the chicks carried Munsaka’s dream of purchasing a residential stand in the remote town.

The poultry business had been born out of savings from the benefits under the Emergency Social Cash Transfer (ESCT).

The ESCT programme was implemented by UNICEF and the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and World Vision with financial support from the Government of Germany through KfW Development Bank since 2021.

“I was planning to increase my batch to, maybe, 100 birds and expecting to earn US$750 from that. I was going to then use the money to apply for a residential stand but umangoye ate all the chicks. The sad thing is that my mortality rate before that batch was next to zero,” said Munsaka.

But Munsaka has refused to let the naughty mangoye episode kill her dream.

“I still have the same focus and I will definitely buy a residential stand,” said Munsaka, a 38 year-old single mother of two.

Munsaka had been running the poultry project for about a year before mangoye struck.

Before moving to the chickens business, Munsaka was supplying eggs to restaurants in Binga town.

She said the ESCT programme had inspired her to start a sustainable project.

“I was getting US$36 from cash transfer from which I sacrificed US$20 every month to start the project. I secured a market from local restaurants and started with 10 crates. I was getting the eggs from Bulawayo for resale in Binga. After a few sales I then started the broiler chickens project with a batch of 50 chicks.

“From the profits, I managed to buy food for my children, kitchen utensils and other household goods. I made sure that my children got standard education. Being a single mother is challenging but I try by all means to make my children happy and comfortable,” said Munsaka with a chuckle.

Munsaka is one of hundreds of vulnerable households who benefitted from the ESCT programme that aimed at cushioning communities against the economic effects of Covid-19. The ESCT programme assisted 637 households in Binga and 394 households in Lupane. Each household had a maximum of four people.

For Percy Ngwenya, whether by design or fate, living the scripture seems a calling.

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another…” Romans 13:8 says.

This appears to be Percy’s inspirational scripture.

“I do not owe anyone, not even school fees,” Percy, (36), a widow with four children, boldly declares, proud of her hard work following the injection from the ESCT.

Through her Midas touch, just like Jesus turning water into wine, Percy, turned US$20 out of her monthly allocation of US$42 from the ESCT, into a sustainable incoming generating project.

So successful was Percy’s poultry project that she invested a portion of the profits into adding four more rooms to the two her husband left her with seven years ago.

“We contributed US$20 each to a money club with my three friends. I saved from that and started the poultry project with 25 day-old chicks. I sell to mostly restaurants and caravans,” said Percy.

Some of her friends used the money to build houses while some just fed their families.

But Percy was thinking sustainability, which the partners emphasized to the beneficiaries during the subsistence of the programme.

“They advised us to invest a portion of the benefits in projects that would carry us when the programme ends. This why I decided to start an income generating project,” she added.

Having witnessed “significant progress” in her life, Percy is grateful to the development partners for the ESCT programme.

“Such projects assist communities greatly especially single mothers. I have personally seen positive impact of this programme in my life. My children are going to school. I do not owe anyone, not even the schools. I am up-to-date with my children’s school fees,” said Percy.

“I also invest some of the profits into buying and selling small grains. This helps me to look after my children,” she added.

The ESCT programme empowered communities especially mothers and their children who are disproportionately represented among the poorest and most vulnerable populations.

The United Nations estimates that two-thirds of unpaid family care work is still the responsibility of women, especially mothers, which is one of the main causes of their particular vulnerability to poverty.

The ESCT programme, to a large extent, promoted the economic emancipation of mothers to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 1 (SDG1).

The World Bank has found that, on average, women reinvest 90% of their income in their family – compared to 30% to 40% for men. Food, education and health: mothers invest in their children so that they emerge from poverty.

UNICEF Zimbabwe Social Policy Manager, Andrew Kardan, said the ESCT programme had good outcomes and from the benefits received some households went beyond buying food and supported their children’s education through paying school fees, some also used the money received to pay for medical bills.

“We also witnessed some good initiatives from some beneficiaries where they saved to start livelihood projects through saving clubs, which is very commendable,” Kardan said.

Chiedza Muvengwa, a 60 year-old granny wants the cash transfer programme back.

“We bought groceries and cement from the benefits. I then managed to build a two-roomed house which I live in,” she said while attending to her grandchild at her vegetable stall.

“That allowance made a difference in our lives. We face the threat of kwashiorkor if that programme is not resuscitated,” she said.

Deputy Director Family and Social Protection, in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Joseph Tirivavi said the programme is continuing under the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer (HSCT).

The Emergency Social Cash Transfer targeted urban domains and was piloted in 2 districts Gutu and Highfields during the Covid 19 pandemic and was later spread 6 districts, Beitbridge Urban, Bulawayo Metropolitan, Lupane Urban, Binga Urban, Mufakose Urban and Chitungwiza districts.

It was meant to cushion vulnerable groups and households that had lost their source of income.

It targets vulnerable households which are

1. Food poor (having 1 meal or no descent meal per day)

2. Labour constraint households – these are households with no person aged 19 to 59 years of age who is able bodied to do productive work so as to fend for the household. Labour constraint categories include:

(i) child headed households

(ii) elderly headed households

(iii) households with chronically ill member

(iv) households with disabled members

“There is also a component known as the CASH PLUS component – these are additional services to cash for example the nutrition component cushioning pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under 2 years provided they are in vulnerable households,” said Tirivavi.