Lubango – Five villages in the Toco sector, 35 kilometers off Lubango City, southern Huíla Province, are already feeling the benefits of the refurbishment that the Ngana Zenza Foundation for Sustainable Community Development (FDC) is carrying out, within the scope of the Integrated Program of Community Development.
This is a project that aims to organize local leaders, strengthen public administration and empower the community, through the creation of village management centers, as well as actions to improve agricultural practice, provide drinking water and build schools.
The actions seek to improve territorial planning, streets, improvements to rural roads and the provision of services closer to citizens.
According to the First Lady of the Republic, Ana Dias Lourenço - who concludes Wednesday a two-day visit to Huíla, where the Foundation's pilot project has been running for a year and a month under her direction - the Camutcha , Camiombo, Ombala yo Mukua, Toco and Pongo villages are part of the scheme, all in the rural commune of Hoque, municipality of Lubango.
When speaking to the working group on Tuesday, Ana Dias Lourenço reinforced that these local leadership groups created by the project interact with the FDC and deal directly with the community, to allow them to get involved in the programmed actions.
“We trained 21 community promoters, who work with the community on a daily basis to implement the project, and support was provided to seven peasant associations, because we believe that only with the direct involvement of people and in an organized manner can the objectives that motivated the implementation of the pilot action, so that the experience that emerges from there can be transported to other locations in Huíla and other provinces”, she stated.
According to the Foundation's patron, the conditions to boost the local economy, guaranteeing an income for self-sustainability, is the focus, which is why they started with agriculture, although the program foresees a focus on small industry, such as creating production of blocks.
Ana Dias Lourenço added that along this path, seeds, agricultural equipment, threshing machines and motor cultivators were delivered to seven peasant associations, with 14 operators of these machines having been previously trained.
In total, 3,887 families, which included 18,282 people from Toco sector, by 2025 will be included in ten projects and 27 subprojects.
The Toco sector benefited for a year, from the Integrated Community Development Project (PDIC), an initiative of the Ngana Zenza Foundation for Community Development (FDC), whose objective is to create a differentiated reference, with concrete responses adapted to the needs, realities and current challenges, with a special focus on the rural world and the most vulnerable groups in society.
The Ngana Zenza Foundation was established on February 20, 2020. It is a tribute to the mother of the First Lady of the Republic, Ms Isabel, also known as “Ngana Zenza”.
MS/MRA/jmc
