Amalima Loko Highlights Community Visioning During Strategic Learning and Adaptative Management (SLAM) Meeting
The USAID-funded Amalima Loko activity, implemented in Zimbabwe by Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA), presented its Community Visioning strategy at the Strategic Learning and Adaptative Management (SLAM) meeting hosted virtually by the Implementer-Led Design, Evidence, Analysis and Learning (IDEAL) activity earlier this month. Amalima Loko and IDEAL are funded by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), which works to support the U.S. Government’s goal of improving food and nutrition security among the world’s most vulnerable households and communities. The purpose of the meeting was to share experiences and approaches for improving local engagement in learning and adaptive management among a wide range of international organizations, including CNFA, AVSI Foundation, Catholic Relief Services, Mercy Corps, and Nutrition International.
Speaking during her presentation on “Using Community Visioning for Action Planning and Adaptation in Zimbabwe,” Amalima Loko’s community mobilization specialist, Sipiwe Dube, explained the activity’s adoption of Community Visioning as the foundation for its people-centered efforts to enhance inclusive local ownership over food security, resilience planning and sustainable development.
“One of the things that the Community Visioning process aims to do is to improve the voice and agency of communities to be able to identify their capacities and limitations and inclusively work towards addressing the challenges that they are facing. This then helps communities to ensure that they are identifying needs and prioritizing actions that address these needs,” said Dube.
Community Visioning supports building relationships that empower citizens and communities to set their own course: identifying their shared ambitions and priorities and constructing a clear vision and pathway for development on the basis of which they can organize, and advocate for, resources.
Community Visioning is also a critical element of Amalima Loko’s Refine and Implement methodology, a BHA process that aims to improve collaboration, activity design, focus and planning in partnership with programs, typically during the first year of implementation. The process is evidenced-based and adapted to each activity’s unique context, enabling activities like Amalima Loko to effectively learn from, and adapt to, experiences and contextual changes, while also assisting communities to be engaged in activities that identify and address their needs. To read more about Amalima Loko click here.
