Community involvement in evaluations is just as important as involvement in the design and implementation of a project. When Moisés Lopes, an external consultant hired by ENI, was part of a team which visited the Integrated Community Project in Gambos and Bibala to evaluate progress and results to date, the visit involved traditional leaders, neighbourhood coordinators, focal groups, municipal authorities, Community Health Agents, families at their homes, teachers and pupils in schools, farmers in their fields, and the project team itself. Moisés Lopes saw for himself the measures being taken to improve basic sanitation, from household latrines, tippy tap systems for hand washing and drying racks, to disease prevention messages through theatre performed by school patrol pupils. In-service teachers explained about the personal and professional benefits of attending 40 Pedagogical Sessions organised by the project, and literacy learners showed how far they had come in learning to read and write. Members of Farmer Field Schools welcomed Moisés Lopes to their vegetable gardens, where they proudly displayed the variety of produce under cultivation. School headmasters, Water & Sanitation Groups and Communal Administrators spoke of the impact of the project, and the various improvements in education, health, agricultural production and general well-being. Visits to health posts and schools with improved water supplies and solar energy installations were included, as was a visit to the sewing workshop where participants displayed their new skills and innovative money earning capacity.

ADPP organised meetings with members of the community to give Moisés Lopes the opportunity of asking about the project, and hearing directly from those present. 

At the end of the week of visits, meetings and question & answer sessions, Moisés Lopes met with the project team in Gambos to discuss topics such as the positive aspects of the project for the community, improvements registered since the project was implemented, further improvements that could be made if the project continued, and any changes that could or should be made taking into account the reality of the community.

For all concerned, the visit was fruitful, whether in terms of witnessing at first hand the effect of the project on individuals and on whole communities; having an opportunity to explain about and demonstrate personal examples of change and improvement; or being able to share remarkable achievements with unbiased observers. 

Water is precious but so is time and energy, so having all three makes life that much easier. After a prolonged period with no water, the well at this school in Bibala, Namibia, is now producing water, despite severe drought. This means less time and energy spent on collecting water- and the joy of local community members is obvious!

A lot has happened in the past month in our project to increase access to water in Cunene, part of the Strengthening of Resilience and Food and Nutritional Security in Angola (FRESAN) programme.

Training local Water and Sanitation Groups, as above, promotes local ownership and future sustainability of the project. Members of Water and Sanitation Groups also received kits to help them in their work.

Well-building and youth employment go hand in hand at the project. The Water Brigades, composed of young people from the participatoing communities, help construct wells, water tanks and water systems, as here in Canuno in Oncocua.

Refurbished wells save lives. They also save precious time and effort. Four trucks brought material to improve a total of 12 wells, two going to Naulila and two to Ombala-yo-Mungu. 12 communities will soon have safe drinking water and shorter distances to fetch it.

Integrated Community Development works with whole communities to addresses a wide variety of the issues that affect them. The basis of ADPP’s project in Huíla and Namibe is drought and poverty among vulnerable populations, which is being tackled through the drilling of wells, the installation of solar energy and training in conservation agriculture, but with an end goal of self-sustainability, these populations require solid organization and many more tools, more knowledge and more skills to maintain development.

Community led total sanitation is one such component, and very much in focus in September. Reducing the incidence of illness caused by a lack of basic sanitation is being achieved through the construction of latrines that is helping eliminate open air defecation. Age is no limit, nor is gender, as demonstrated by a senior lady in the village of Kacu-1, in Gambos Municipality (PHOTOS) who is preparing to build a latrine for herself and her family. Complementing the latrines, and a key measure for preventing the spread of disease, are simple hand washing systems known as tippy taps. They are low cost, simple to use, more hygienic than sharing the same basin, and require little water. Even the most recent villages to join the project learn about community led total sanitation from the very start, as in the case of Kahila where a ceremony on 23 September to celebrate the event included demonstrations on sanitation.

Elsewhere at the project, September is proving to be a very busy month with harvesting from vegetable gardens, construction of firewood-saving stoves, actions against Covid-19 at schools, Covid-19 vaccinations for the community health agents, major cleaning actions in villages and at town markets, maintenance of and improvements to solar energy systems, campaigns to register births, agricultural training including practical lessons on organic compost, special attention to families most affected by drought.

September is also an auspicious month, with the celebration of World Literacy Day at the project in Gambos, combined with the official launch of the Women’s Economic Empowerment programme that is benefiting female farmers at all ADPP Angola’s agricultural projects.

Community led total sanitation in Kacu-1, Gambos.

After the initial training session on the dangers of open air defecation, this lady decided to build her own latrine.

Creating the hand-washing habit.

A monthly meeting with a presentation of plans for the coming period for Farmers Field School members in Caco, Gambos.

Tables set up ready to inform community members about how to register births and how to get a national ID card.

Opening of the school year at School nr. 707, Rio de Area in Tchibemba, Gambos. The Department of Education counts on ADPP's support in the fight agains Covid-19 and other diseases.

The projecto working with the local administration on a community cleaning campaign.

New batteries mounted at the Ndongue health post by the firm Green América

Fishing communities in Bengo, Luanda, Cuanza Norte and Malanje are receiving assistance to improve their production and income. As always, this is only half the story in the effort to enhance living conditions.

Education, health, nutrition and sanitation are elements of the equally important social component of the project, where health and nutrition mean both knowing how to prevent disease or illness as well as having the means to stay healthy. One of those means is the fresh, nutritious produce that participants are harvesting this month from model vegetable gardens, where a sea of green promises an abundance of beans, lettuce, cabbage and carrots.

Literacy learners in Malanje received their diplomas at the beginning of September at an event organised by the Provincial Education Department to mark World Literacy Day. 48 participants passed Module 1, eight passed Module 2 and 20 passed Module 3. World Literacy Day celebrations in Cuanza Norte took place at the community jango in Cazanga. Massangango Administration, Cambambe Adult Education, directors of two schools in Cazanga, traditional authorities and literacy learners enjoyed the spacious shade of the hut, which is one of several built by community members in the project implementation area. Also well under way is the construction and use of community and household latrines that are contributing to improved sanitation and a reduction in disease in the villages.

AFAP Bengo realizou o encontro de planificação com os representantes da fiscalização do Zenza do Gulungo para definir o programa de trabalho para os próximos dias.

Pedreiro a trabalhar na armação para colocar o tampo na latrina modelo no Caxiri e Cazanga sede.

2 latrinas modelos já foram colocados os tampos nos buracos.

Latrina modelo de Caxiri, a entrada a direita já está concluída e a esquerda ainda em processo.

Dentro da latrina modelo já em Cazanga sede.

Processo de transporte de área para os trabalhos das obras (latrinas e jangos)

O projeto AFAP Malanje recebeu a visita da PCA da ADPP Angola. Fizeram uma visita guiada pela directora Municipal da Agricultura e Pescas de Malanje

Defumadores e tarimbas já estão a ser plantadas na comunidade na Cazanga sede e Porto Pesqueiro).

Manutenção do Jango do porto pesqueiro.

Pavimento do Jango de Caxiri já na reta final.

Em pleno dia mundial da alfabetização numa cerimonia organizada pela direção provincial da Educação em Malanje a ADPP Angola no ambito do Projeto AFAP, aproveitou a ocacião para fazer a gradução de alfabetizandos que terminaram os modulos 1, 2 e 3 respectivamente

Foi comemorado o Dia Internacional da Alfabetização, com a participação da coordenação do ensino de adultos de Cambambe, Administração de Massangano e as direções de 2 escolas do ensino geral, Cazanga.

A cerimonia foi realizada no jango comunitário de Cazanga sede com as autoridades tradicionais e os alfabetizados dos 3 módulos.

De forma fasiada uma parte da equipe do projeto AFAP/ADPP Malanje apanhou a 1 dose sa vacina contra Covid-19

Já arrancou a colheita de feijão na horta modelo de Caxiri e Porto Pesqueiro