MAZABUKA

ZINGO November 2005

DPEC COMPOSITION 

Administrative Issues

The DPEC office which is also the Referral Centre is housed in a Building belonging to Nakambala Market HIV/AIDS Project.

DPEC Leadership was experiencing some conflicts with the Pastor’s fellowship who wanted to control and run the activities of ZINGO as their own. This situation was reportedly settled.

Rentals and Volunteer Allowances 

Arrears are dating from March 2005; February was paid. The period outstanding is from April 2005 for both rentals and allowances. The number of Volunteers is three; the fourth person works as a guard at the premises.

Equipment

The equipment of DPEC in this district is in a good state.

DPEC Meetings 

These go on with a schedule of twice a month though with a few hiccups. The hiccups are mostly due to competing commitments on the part of FBO leaders.

Resource Mobilization

DPEC in this district has already submitted their proposal to Community Response to AIDS (CRAIDS) and now they are waiting for CRAIDS’ response.

They also had a chance of presenting their activities for possible funding through Plan International at a Partners meeting which was held at Mulungushi International Conference Centre. At the last minute this chance was lost due to communication breakdown on the part of the organizers of that meeting.

Concerns 

• Volunteers bemoaned the lack of an appointed Referral Centre supervisor who should have been coordinating others and reporting to DPEC. They said DPEC is a policy maker who should leave this aspect to Volunteers.

• The issue of Volunteers being put on a shift was raised as a matter of concern to Volunteers because the period of three weeks each volunteer covered in a single shift was too long. They felt that this period put them out of touch with clients.

• They also raised the need for refresher training saying it has taken long since they trained.

DPEC gave reasons for the shifts that it was a move aimed at allowing volunteers to find other means of economic survival in the meanwhile as they are still looking for resources. However, this is yet to be re-discussed because of the dissatisfaction expressed by the volunteers.

Partners

DPEC collaborates with the following partners in the district;

• Plan Zambia

• social welfare

• NZP+

• the hospital

• Police VSU                                

• FBOs

• Ministry of Education

• Nakambala HIV/AIDS

• YWCA

• MDP(microbiside)

• DHMT

• Nakambala Urban Clinic

• Labour office

• Mendif

• PAF(people action farm)

• DATF

• RAPIDS

Successes

DPEC achieved the following;

The DPEC secretary was elected DATF Chairperson. This is attributed to their high level of commitment and involvement in the fight against HIV/ADIS in the district.

The other success story is the selection of the Organization as a Secretariat of the sub-committee of the DDCC

Challenge

Lack of funds to carry out activities