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Lovemore Chikova  : News Editor

It started as a small idea when Chivi Rural District Council chairman Councillor Dr Killer Zivhu called for a conference last year to discuss what he called the “Chivi Village Zim-Asset.” Invited to the first Chivi Zim-Asset conference were people who hail from the district and investors from elsewhere. What should have surprised some then was the overwhelming response the conference received, as evidenced by the huge attendance.Technocrats who come from Chivi and are working in various fields were present, as well as those interested in development in the district.

A number of investors also came to find out what Chivi has to offer and weigh the possibilities of committing their funds. Tomorrow, all roads will once again lead to Chivi Growth Point where the second Chivi Zim-Asset Conference will be held.

Already, invitations have been extended to people who hail from Chivi to come and contribute to the future of their home area.

One of the purposes of the conference, according to Cllr Zivhu, is to take stock of the year gone by from the first conference. Well, Zim-Asset is a huge national programme which some might find difficult to implement at a lower level like a village.

But Dr Zivhu has managed to dissect the document and locate the villager’s place within it.

And part of the Village Zim-Asset concept is to encourage people who hail from Chivi, who have made it in life to return to their villages and find out how they can help initiate projects.

The goal is to have a different Chivi in the next few years.

Chivi district’s woes are well documented, especially considering that the district is known for its semi-arid status.

But what is important is that people in the district have now embraced the Village Zim-Asset concept and have been doing several projects to further the idea. Zim-Asset puts emphasis on capital intensive projects whose benefits, when complete, will eventually cascade to the people.

In the meantime, what should people do while waiting to benefit from some of the medium to long term projects? Perhaps the answer lies in Dr Zivhu’s Village Zim-Asset concept.

It is the essence of this concept that should be embraced by rural authorities in their quest to change the lives of the people.

The Zim-Asset document has four clusters — food security and nutrition, social services and poverty eradication, infrastructure and utilities and value addition and beneficiation.

Some of these measures can easily be implemented at the village level, especially food security and nutrition.

The Chivi Village Zim-Asset concept has been designed to appreciate that food security starts at household level.

In Chivi South, for example, and through the efforts of Dr Zivhu, people have started emphasising on small scale irrigation schemes.

Whenever rain comes, they are now conscious that they harness through their combined efforts to establish small reservoirs which they use to water small scale irrigation schemes.

The importance of the Village Zim-Asset concept is that it can provide the impetus for people to be directly involved in the implementation of the economic blueprint at their local level.

This strategy can work wonders if it gets the support from all structures of Government as it has potential to change the status of people at that lower level.

What is important about Village Zim-Asset as pronounced by Dr Zivhu is that not much resources are needed to implement some of the projects.

For instance, it can only take someone to mobilise villagers to rehabilitate a road or resuscitate an idle irrigation scheme.

Village Zim-Asset might look like a small vision, yet it is an idea which, with time, might end up being the anchor of the Zim-Asset economic blueprint.

In Gomana Village in Chivi South, where Dr Zivhu comes from and in other parts of the district, projects being implemented under this concept have contributed to a better social status of the people.

Villagers have embarked on small-scale irrigation schemes, market gardening, cattle feeding, rehabilitation of roads, building of modern houses and installing solar panels at their homesteads. A number of schools and clinics have been renovated through efforts of the villagers mobilised under the Village Zim-Asset programme.

A good example is in Chief Madzivire’s area where a new secondary school is being constructed by parents.

Dr Zivhu mobilised resources such as cement, doors and door frames and roofing material.

But the parents have taken ownership of the project and organised themselves to provide free labour.

Those with building skills have offered them for free, while the other parents make the bricks and provide their labour for other related tasks.

It is now a matter of time before Chebvumbi Secondary School opens its doors to its first intake and relieve pupils of walking for almost 15 kilometres to the nearest secondary school.

As hundreds of people from all walks of life descent on Chivi Growth Point tomorrow for the second Chivi Zim-Asset conference, what should they look at? One of the issues that should top the agenda is the state of infrastructure within the district, as this has a potential to derail progress.

For example, what is the state of roads in the district? Are they enough and capable of linking villagers among themselves and also link them with appropriate markets?

Some of the schools in the district were built a long time ago and now need rehabilitation.

The state of clinics and hospitals also need to be reviewed to ensure that the population stays healthy and ready to undertake important tasks.

Chivi is a semi-dry area and receives poor rains, but there are a number of dams in the district with a potential to retain water throughout the year.

There are numerous irrigation schemes like at Bindamombe, Nyahombe, Tizai, Muzhwi, Nyevedzanai, Nyamakwe, Banga and Gororo.

These need to be revisited to ensure they start production of crops to strengthen the Zim-Asset cluster on food security and nutrition.

It is important that Dr Zivhu has already championed the formation of a think-tank of people who come from Chivi.

The think-tank is made up of people from different spheres of life, including top executives and top civil servants who hail from the district.

What is important is that the think-tank remains open to all those who think they can make a contribution.

Despite the formation of this think-tank, Dr Zivhu and his team have ensured that villagers remain the owners of the Chivi Village Zim-Asset programme.

If there is no buy-in from the villagers, the think-tank can do nothing except to come up with ideas which will have no takers.

The particular needs of villages might not be the same, so each community must be accorded an opportunity to offer its priorities.

The other issue that people from Chivi should be concerned with is the mega Tokwe-Mukosi Dam which is set for completion soon in Chivi South.

There should a clear strategy on how the people from the district will benefit from the dam.

The dam is also going to attract lots of business in the tourism sector, but will the people in Chivi be ready for that when the time comes?

Whatever development plan the authorities are going to come up with for the dam, it should be within the ambit of Zim-Asset and ensure that people in the district have their fair share. Perhaps the Chivi think-tank should start thinking hard on what can be done to ensure that the dam eventually changes the lives of the ordinary people in Chivi.