The Projects
Agriculture
In recent years, The SAM Project has applied more of our efforts to the establishment and support of a member-owned cooperative, Lubemba, that has set up a supply chain amongst rural communities. In 2011, we selected 21 of the best farmers in the cooperative to participate in a pilot crop production scheme. We assisted these members to obtain individual loans from a microfinance organization in order to buys seed, irrigation equipment, and other inputs. The production scheme sets out specific quantities and types of vegetables that are grown at each members' garden, and Lubemba is responsible for organizing transport and sale of the outputs. SAM continues to provide skills and technical support through a weekly schedule of "Train the Trainers workshops" , where Zone Coordinators are given access to new techniques and technologies, which they in turn demonstrate to the cooperative members in their local communities.
CLEAN WATER
The SAM Project continues to work closely with Rotary International, who have a global program of providing clean and reliable water to people in the Third World. SAM provides on-the-ground intelligence and implementation resources to help Rotary install wells in communities that normally rely on remote, unhealthy, and unreliable water sources that are often shared with livestock and wildlife. Additionally, in 2011, SAM is establishing five community gardens, funded by Rotary, that will provide cash and food inputs for local programs such as school lunches, nutritional support for at-risk children and their families, and other community-directed initiatives.
Water for All, a charity that supplies playground and solar pumps in Southern Africa, has provided SAM with solar pump and tank units in order that communities can have reliable access to piped water which will greatly enhance the schools, clinics, and community services where they are installed.
NUTRITIONAL EDUCATION
We are now into the second year of a four year grant provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics. We are using the funds made available to us to conduct interviews and observations amongst families with under-five children. Using principles of Positive Deviance, the findings have been used to inform a program of nutritional education that teaches mothers of young children how to achieve improved childhood nutrition. The stunting due to chronic malnutrition that afflicts half the children of Zambia not only leads to reduced physical vitality, but cognitive and mental development also. Providing mothers with the knowledge of locally-available foods is cost-effective and sustainable response to the problem of poor nutrition.
Resource Centre
The SAM Project has established a Community Development Resource Centre at Overland Mission's base near Livingstone where we can refine the techniques and methodologies being implemented in the village projects. In 2008 we planted more than 12 different tree species and over 20 new cultivars and hybrids of vegetables. The Resource Centre was expanded in 2009 thanks to an individual donor and we have doubled the area under cultivation, installed a demonstration drip irrigation system, enlarged the seedling nursery and constructed a multi-purpose building for the germination of seeds, grafting of fruit trees, and storage of supplies.
Tree Seedlings
All the households involved in our enterprises rely on fuel wood for heating and cooking. Women walk increasingly greater distances to cut down native trees, adding to their work day and the rate of environmental degradation. The SAM Project is growing fast-growing hardwood and softwood seedlings such as Leucaena and Sesbania, which are transplanted to establish community-managed woodlots. In 2009, our first operational tree planting year, over 20,000 seedlings were established. Starting in 2010 we will be establishing a network of seedling nurseries to enable the planting of woodlots in each of the communities where the SAM Project is active.-delete the highlighted portion