UNDP Accelerator Labs & Africa Borderlands Centre are harnessing innovative digital solutions to put border communities in Zambia in a stronger position to navigate the COVID-19 crisis & stay in business. Lilian Masiye, an informal female cross border trader, was in dire straits. After sales at her duvets stall plummeted, she applied for a loan from a bank to keep her business going. She was unable to access funding because she did not have a fixed salary or own any property that the bank requires as collateral. “It was emotionally disturbing,” she sighs, with her smile temporarily giving way to a frown. Lilian had a somewhat flourishing business – importing and selling duvets and kitchenware in Zambia’s tourist capital, Livingstone, a hub for visitors to the Victoria Falls, bordering with Zimbabwe - before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Her business took a massive hit when the tourism sector was hard-hit by restrictions imposed by the government in response to the pandemic. It prevented her from crossing the borders into neighbouring countries – Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana – where she sourced her goods. The COVID-19 certification fees of 1,000 Zambian Kwacha (US$55) charged at the borders also increased the cost of doing business for Lilian and many informal cross-border traders, mainly women and youths whose start-up capital, usually drawn from household resources, is very low. To keep their businesses operating during COVID-19, the women pooled their funds, using middlemen or runners to buy and deliver their goods. “But there is a lot of risks with such arrangements, and it is twice as expensive,” Lilian said. Livelihoods at risk More than 70 percent of informal cross border traders in Zambia are women who rely heavily on small-scale cross border trade for their livelihoods. The COVID-19 crisis has disproportionately affected these women by making it far more complex for them to make ends meet. With a maroon colourful ‘chitenge’ (wrapper) tied around her waist, Lilian remembers redirecting her business capital to covering family needs when the pandemic put cross-border trade on hold. The 27-years-old single mother, with a child and three dependents to put through school, makes only a small profit which is barely enough to meet the basic needs for her and her dependents. When borders were closed due to COVID-19, tourism and trading livelihoods were immediately affected resulting in loss of income for informal cross border traders. Moreover, the nature of their trade render them unable to secure loans to manage their business operations, putting their livelihoods at risk. Stacked against all odds In patriarchal societies like Zambia, when a woman from a marginalized community wants to start or grow her own business, the odds of securing a business loan from a traditional financial institution are heavily stacked against her. This affects women like Lilian, who was unable to take out a loan for her business because, as a woman, she could not provide administrative papers such as proof of property ownership and income demanded by mainstream banks. Building resilience through innovation In a surprising turn of events, Lilian has bounced back, thanks to her entrepreneurial spirit and the Africa Border Lands Centre Innovation Challenge project funded by UNDP and led by its UNDP Accelerator Labs which is helping border communities in Zambia overcome the double hit from COVID-19 and climate change while staying in business. Lilian is among the 75 beneficiaries – mostly women and youths – who were initially trained in digital and financial literacy as well as basic entrepreneurial and group savings management practices through the far-reaching and innovative project. The Innovation Challenge project was made possible with initial pooled funding of more than US$250,000 from the Africa Borderlands Centre (ABC), an initiative led by UNDP to conduct research, policy analysis and programming dedicated to Africa’s borderlands and from UNDP Accelerator Labs in Zambia and Zimbabwe. The ABC aims to improve the wellbeing of communities living along the borders by working with borderlands influencers and leaders to co-create ‘innovation challenges’, aimed at transforming security, economic and environmental vulnerabilities in the borderlands into opportunities for inclusive development. The Accelerator Labs are part of a global UNDP initiative that responds to the widespread recognition that business-as-usual will not take us to the world we want in 2030. It will take new solutions that are locally relevant and locally driven, that can be adapted, sustained, and replicated to address these complex needs. The Accelerator Labs create actionable intelligence and test solutions with national partners. Working through the Cross Border Traders Associations in Livingstone and Victoria Falls Town in Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively, UNDP Accelerator Labs in both countries in 2021, began discussions with local innovators - the “local problem solvers” to find innovative ways to ensure business continuity for the traders. Two start-ups stepped in with innovative solutions to address the twin challenges that small-scale cross border traders face. VillageSavers, a Zambian start-up, created a digital app that helps traders manage their savings digitally through a Self-Help Saving Groups (SHGs) initiative, while providing digital and financial literacy training to help their businesses grow, boosting their incomes so they could pay for schooling and medical bills. As it accelerates its activities, the ABC-funded project also intends to help informal cross border traders buy and sell their goods online without crossing the borders, using the VillageSavers App.  Thumeza, a Zimbabwean logistics start-up, facilitates the movement of goods for traders across borders, using a digital transporter tracking system. This aims to address the challenge the traders face due to travel restrictions and required COVID-19 certifications for every travel across the borderlines. “The aim is to increase access to financial products through digital loan management and real time tracking of savings and income, the co-creation of a virtual marketplace and the safe delivery of goods across borders,” says Salome Nakazwe, Head of Solutions Mapping at UNDP Accelerator Lab Zambia. The project is just one example of many innovative approaches taken by UNDP through its Accelerated Labs to help identify local solutions developed at grassroot levels to solve local development challenges in rural Zambia, where poverty stubbornly stands at 78 percent, directly affecting  women and adolescent girls who are particularly vulnerable due to lower human capital accumulation, according to World Bank data. Boosting financial and digital literacy Single mothers and breadwinners like Lilian Masiye are among the most vulnerable in Zambia’s patriarchal traditional communities, where age-old customs dictate a woman’s life. This vulnerability is compounded by the ravages of climate change and COVID-19. “I have been able to pay school fees for my children, unlike before when the income from my business was uncertain,” Lilian happily said while smiling and thumbing through a wad of banknotes as she stands by her makeshift stall with duvets, touting for business in central Livingstone. As the project scale-up its intervention, each beneficiary will receive a smartphone to help them keep track of all financial transactions including savings, which constitutes a vital record of a person’s ability to save and repay a more formal loan in the eyes of a financing institution. Records from a baseline survey show that at the start of the project, 99.9 percent of the women and youths had no savings with limited digital knowledge. As a result of the initiative, all the beneficiaries were able to save as a group and individually access low-interest loans, which they are now successfully repaying. The group savings are paying off. With physical record-keeping, the group saved US$110 collectively. After deploying the App and using it to monitor their savings, the users changed their savings behavior, began trusting the tool more, and more members were encouraged to save through the group. As a result, funds started growing. By the end of February 2022, the traders had saved over US$3,500 collectively. “We have seen an amazing improvement in success rates after a few months of working with the women and youths on ways to develop their business and digital skills, collectively save money and in turn facilitating their access to affordable loans,” says Moses Mwansa, CEO and Co-founder of VillageSavers.  Game Changer “These are small-scale traders whose working capital is just about US$300, therefore, having access to a larger amount of money is a game-changer for these women and youths,” Constance Nalishebo Muleabai, the Mayoress of the City of Livingstone said. This life changing moment did not just stop with Lilian’s family. Michelo Moono, 33, a single mother of four selling at the Zimbabwe Market in Livingstone said: “The practical digital and business tips and low-interest loan I received from the project are a real lifesaver.” At the Zambia-Botswana border in Kazungula, 68 kilometres from Livingstone, Getrude Mateu who trades in perishable goods is also struggling. She ended up dumping sacks of rotten fruits in the landfill after the pandemic stopped foreign tourists who had been predominantly her clients. She couldn’t hide her delight hearing about the project: “We will now have solutions to make sure we have some financial security to handle whatever surprises come our way.” “The Africa Borderlands Innovation Challenge is an important and necessary development disruptor to aid African countries in the attainment of the SDGs. We know that cross-border trade is the socio-economic back-bone of many borderland communities. The unique premise of the Innovation Challenge is its rooting in co-creating solutions with border communities and stakeholders who are engaged in cross-border trade. Therefore, any sustainable solutions should consider existing innovations and incubate new ones,” said Zeynu Ummer, Team Leader and Senior Technical Advisor, The Africa Borderlands Centre. Ummer said the role of the Africa Borderlands Centre is to create a launch pad for this innovation, spark new innovations and support the scaling of solutions that benefit all borderland communities.” A self-sustaining future “Widening access to finance for informal cross border traders into vibrant micro-entrepreneurial activities has a significant potential not only to help reduce poverty but contribute to food security and drive a stronger recovery from COVID-19,” says Lionel Laurens, the UNDP Resident Representative in Zambia.  Laurens said UNDP’s goal is to work with local actors to find sustainable solutions to the barriers against informal cross border trading, mainly through the expansion of livelihoods opportunities to women and youths for a self-sustaining future, ensuring that “nobody gets left behind.” Lilian, Michelo and 73 other beneficiaries were without a doubt among the most vulnerable members of their communities. Having benefited from digital and financial literacy training and the group savings and tools to keep their businesses growing, they are now in a stronger position to navigate the COVID-19 crisis and stay in business. For more information on the Africa Borderlands Centre Innovation Challenge, please click here Story and photos by Moses Zangar, Jr., Communications Specialist/UNDP Zambia.

In their strides for gender equality, over 300 Zambian women joined the books of African history, as their witnessed the official launch the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) – Zambia Chapter, at a momentous occasion held on 30 March 2022 in Lusaka. The event brought together women from all works of life, including women politicians, civil servants, entrepreneurs, civil society, women living with disabilities, rural women, and young girls with one common agenda of creating a platform that enhances the leadership of women in the transformation of Africa, with a focus on governance and political participation, peace and security, finance and women's entrepreneurship, youth leadership, agriculture, and social mobilization. Speaking during the launch, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Zambia, Dr Coumba Mar Gadio underscored the commitment of the UN in Zambia on women empowerment. “As the UN System in Zambia, we continually strive for action to lift the status of women and girls. The national ownership and commitment of the Zambia AWLN chapter will be crucial towards more concerted and tangible action if we are to see the change we want,” Dr Gadio said. “The UN system in Zambia pledges and reaffirms its unwavering support to the Government of the Republic Zambia, towards the empowerment of women and girls. We would like to suggest to the Government of the Republic of Zambia to consider ratification of some conventions and treaties aimed at advancing gender equality such as Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security and Convention 190 on harassment and violence in the world of work,” she added. Giving her keynote and launch speech, Her Honour the Vice President of the Republic of Zambia, Mrs. WK Mutale Nalumango called on women to network to share ideas and enhance their leadership opportunities. She said that the government was commitment to ensuring gender equality and the participation of women in leadership. "The 29th Chapter brings renewed hope and momentum in advocating for enhanced strategic actions for women's leadership roles across all sectors including women at grassroot levels," Mrs Nalumango said. Other speakers at the hybrid launch included former President of Liberia and Patron of AWLN Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who congratulated Zambia for joining the AWLN movement and efforts to enhance the leadership of women. Others were UN Deputy Secretary-General Dr. Amina Mohammed who noted that AWLN would support progress on Sustainable Development Goal number 5 on gender equality by ending all forms of discrimination, violence and any harmful practices against women and girls in the public and private spheres. And Zambia’s First Lady of Zambia Mutinta Hichilema noted that Zambia had made significant progress in strengthening women leadership roles across all sectors from politics and peace building to social and private sectors.  She reaffirmed her commitment to the empowerment of women. “As your partner, I reaffirm my commitment to support the implementation of the African Women Leadership Network Zambia chapter, a groundbreaking movement that will enhance the leadership of women and girls towards the Africa and Zambia we want….The future is indeed brighter when women and girls and present at every table where decisions are made,” said Mrs. Hichilema. The launch also had presentations from the following: UNFPA Deputy Regional Director Beatrice Mutali, Special UN Representative in the Horn of Africa Hanna Tetteh, Deputy Executive Director for UN Women Anita Bhatia, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa Ahunna Eziakonwa, AU Special Envoy on Women Bineta Diop and Non-Governmental Organisations Coordinating Council Board Chairperson Mary Mulenga. Others were Zambian parliamentarians Hon. Princess Kasune MP and Hon. Twambo Mutinta MP, and UN Women Special Representative to the AU and ECA and for the establishment of the national chapters, Awa Ndiaye Seck. AWLN was launched at the UN Headquarters in New York in June 2017, under the auspices of the African Union Commission and the United Nations through the Office of the AU Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security and UN Women. Five years after it was established, the network comprises over 500 African women across generations and sectors. The AWLN Zambia Chapter brings new momentum in calling for more visible and strategic action, with deliberate targeting to reach women leaders across all sectors, including women leaders at the grassroots level. Women’s participation and leadership is an essential prerequisite for poverty alleviation and tackling gender inequality. AWLN is a ground-breaking movement of African women leaders who aim to enhance the leadership of women in the transformation of Africa, in line with Africa Agenda 2063 and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“She will leave home anytime and sometimes may not come back. Taking care of a person with a psychosocial disability is not easy.” Kester Mushabati was diagnosed with a psychosocial disability in 2005. Her husband deserted her and left her with their four children when her illness deteriorated. She returned to her mother’s village in Kazungula District and conceived three more children. At 76 years of age, Kester's mother takes care of her daughter, Kester’s seven children, and a host of other children and grandchildren. The family survives through farming though the recent harvest was spoiled when elephants destroyed much of the crop. Things were not always like this. Before Kester was diagnosed with the disability, she was the pillar of her mother’s life. But when her illness intensified, Kester would go missing for days, and stop eating. With the support from the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services, Kester was enrolled in the Social Cash Transfer programme. Then with the COVID-19 pandemic, Kester also benefitted from the COVID-19 Emergency Cash Transfer (C-ECT) with a total sum of 2,400 Zambian kwacha. To respond to socio-economic impacts of the pandemic, the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services with technical support from UN agencies (UNICEF, UNDP, ILO, WFP) has been implementing the C-ECT programme to support over 200,000 households in 25 districts in Zambia. The COVID-19 social economic impacts have been felt nationwide. The C-ECT programme was launched to address these challenges and help families avoid negative coping mechanisms such as removing children from school, selling property or reducing on the number of meals. “Most of the money is used to buy food and other basic items for Kester and her children,” says Flanel. “The support from the Social Welfare team and partners really helps ease the burden.” Kester’s two oldest children completed Grade 12 and obtained good results. However, they cannot proceed to tertiary education due to financial constraints. Her oldest son got two distinctions and two merits but opted to venture into a curio business to support his grandmother. Mental health remains an issue that raises a lot of discussion and uncertainty in Zambia. Many cases are understood locally as being linked to witchcraft and superstition. The C-ECT provides stabilisation support to affected families and helps reduce deprivation and combat stigmatisation. This is much needed relief while initiatives to strengthen mental health services at local level remain minimal. Working closely with the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services and the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities, UNICEF and other implementation partners prioritised persons with disabilities as beneficiaries of the COVID-19 ECT programme, as they are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 amidst other existing inequalities. The UN programme is financially supported by the European Union, the governments of Germany (through the KFW development bank), Ireland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.    

“After they harvest, they pay me back for the seeds and sell me their surplus crops”.  Mweendo heads Cassia Agro, one of the 13 aggregators and farmer cooperatives the World Food Programme works with in Zambia to procure cowpeas and beans for its programmes in the southern Africa region.  Last year, WFP committed to procure 1,151 metric tons of commodities through aggregators and farmer cooperatives, valued at almost US$1 million.  Based in Monze district, Mweendo works with WFP to procure pulses from smallholder farmers and to supply airtight hermetic bags – a low-cost, post-harvest tech that reduces food losses of up to 40 percent in the country.  “It gives me peace and comfort to know that the food we are providing to WFP is supporting vulnerable people. It’s a privilege to support their programmes,” says Mweendo.  Food is procured from Mweendo under WFP’s global commodity management platform, which allows food to be purchased in advance of project requests. This reduces delivery lead times and helps aggregators and farmers to better plan their production.  “The airtight bags help smallholder farmers to store the crops perfectly until they sell their crops. They keep crops perfect even after years of storage,” says Mweendo. Twaanabo Mwanza is one of the 2,700 smallholder farmers Mweendo buys from to sell to WFP. The 30-year-old grows orange maize, groundnuts, soybeans and cowpeas.  “Before I was introduced to Ederbry [Mweendo], I only used to grow a small amount of pulses. But she taught us about their benefits – they are nutritious, drought-resistant, cheaper to grow than maize, and sell for more,” says Twanabo.  “We smallholder farmers work hand-in-hand with Ederby. She provides us with seeds, airtight hermetic bags and a ready market. Usually, we would guess what to grow and search for markets. But now we are given seeds and sell our harvest back to her,” he says.  This year, WFP procured pulses from aggregators in Zambia to support operations in Angola and Eswatini.   In Eswatini, the beans were provided as part of WFP’s emergency response in the Lubombo region, providing monthly food distributions to nearly 35,000 people who are struggling to put food on the table. Lungelo is one of the people that received beans from Zambia, as well as of rice and cooking oil.   At the age of 15, he became the head of his household when his mother left their family in pursuit of a job. He had to drop out of school to care for his 78-year-old grandmother living with tuberculosis and and his 13-year-old sister.   “There were days we would go to bed on empty stomachs to avoid asking for food from our neighbours,” he says.   Lungelo found a seasonal job at a local sugar factory, but this didn’t cover all his family’s needs. Now, the food he receives from WFP is helping him to support his family.  “With my seasonal job and the food from WFP, we can lead better, decent lives.... we received the beans just as we needed them,” he says. “Now, I don’t have to worry about my family going to bed hungry.” His sister, Tengetile, is a big fan of the beans.  “I can’t believe these beans come all the way from Zambia, it’s so far. I will carry five beans to school to show my friends and maybe we can plant them during our science project on germination,” she says.  “Our teacher told us that beans are body building food. I can get the same nutrients that can be found in meat. So even if I don’t get to eat meat all the time, I will still be healthy,” she adds.