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Takunda

Takunda, which means “we have overcome” in Shona, will reach out to more than 300,000 participants with training and support for sustainable, equitable, nutritious and resilient food and income security in the Masvingo and Manicaland Provinces in Zimbabwe. The program builds on decades of work between USAID and CARE across many countries to save lives, promote food and nutrition security, empower women, and improve gender equity.

Intervention

CARE will work to address gender inequality with tailored interventions to address specific barriers and constraints experienced differently by women, girls, men, and boys of various ages, life stages, and socioeconomic status. CARE will apply its Gender Equality and Women’s Voice Framework to implement interventions that engage both men and women to empower women and adolescent girls by: increasing their autonomy; improving structures that influence gender power dynamics; equalizing relationships historically reinforced by long-standing social norms and beliefs. This will take place in Zimbabwe using community visioning approaches that put community aspirations, needs, and voice at the center of all of Takunda’s objectives and interventions. The program will work closely with local authorities and the government of Zimbabwe to improve maternal and child health, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene, climate change adaptation, and gender equality.

Takunda will also focus on improving incomes from on-farm and off-farm activities through integrated pathways, including: enrollment in CARE’s Village Savings and Loan Associations; increased adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices; improved technical and vocational skills through Technical and Vocational Education and Training. Takunda will also train farmers in Farmer Field and Business Schools on topics, such as climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive agriculture, and work with agro-dealers and farmers to ensure the availability and use of essential agricultural inputs. To build long-term program sustainability, the program will enhance the capacities of key actors to strengthen the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of agricultural extension services.

Highlighted resources

Takunda Technical Brief: Gender Equality Programming in Food and Nutrition Security

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Takunda Technical Brief: Men, Fathers and Husbands Committed to Improved Nutrition in Their Homes and Community

This brief outlines Takunda’s work with men and boys to redefine masculinity. It highlights the progress made in changing societal norms and examines how these changes affect food and nutrition.

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Takunda Program Brief 2023

A program brief highlighting the impacts of Takunda in Zimbabwe as of 2023.

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Takunda Gender Transformative Impact Stories

Stories on Gender Transformative Impacts captured from Takunda program areas.

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Takunda Outcome Mapping Baseline Report

Takunda acknowledges that gender inequality is both a cause and consequence of food insecurity; hence gender equality is at the heart of the Takunda Program. This Progress Marker Monitoring/Outcome Mapping assessed the extent to which gender transformative changes are taking place in Takunda Program areas among men, women, and youth based on age, life stage, socio-cultural norms, and religious practices.

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Takunda building resilience through VSLAs and training for Youth

Stories captured from the Ngonya and Gombakomba Village, Mutare District regarding the impact of Takunda on the lives of the marginalized in Zimbabwe through Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) and capacity building training for the youth for income-generation.

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