Personal testimony - Maureen Hamiyanze

Country: Zambia Name: Maureen Hamiyanze Date of birth: Home: 211 Mochipapa Road, P.O. Box 630434, Choma, Zambia Position: Programme Manager: Hodi - Elimination of Child Labour in Tobacco (ECLT) Programme EMail: myanze78@googlemail.com Tel: +260 955 839826 Background I grew up in one of the most impoverished families and community in rural Zambia and I experienced first-hand chronic hunger and poverty. I always wondered why our fields, which once produced so bountifully, started producing so little food despite the hard work and resources we put in. I realised later that the green revolution which was promoting mono cropping of maize and heavy reliance on inorganic fertilisers, was beginning to have negative impacts on the soils. I further noticed that my parents started struggling to keep up with the fertiliser prices that were ever increasing. I watched as the region where I lived, which was once was a bread basket of Zambia, was becoming more vulnerable to food insecurity due to land degradation, change in rainfall patterns and the high cost of chemical fertilisers. From that experience I decided to study agriculture in order to improve food production and thus break the cycle of chronic hunger. I believed and still believe, the answer out of poverty for rural communities in my region is scientifically proven sustainable agriculture backed by a just Agricultural Policy that does not disadvantage the poor. Professional expertise, interests and work history. My passion is to bring about abundant life to rural households, especially women and children, using Sustainable Agriculture and Leadership Development as tools. I have served as an Agricultural Officer for the Ministry of Agriculture, Zambia specifically in charge of a breeding livestock unit that supplied improved livestock breeds to rural farmers in the Eastern Province. I have also served as a Manager of Livelihood Improvement Programmes for both local and international NGOs such as Women for Change, World Hope International Zambia and currently Hodi. In all these assignments, developing and managing livelihood improvement programmes centered on sustainable agriculture has been my core responsibility. I have also been involved in capacity building, training in cross cutting issues such as leadership, gender, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights. I believe in holistic sustainable development which ensures equal access to resources for the poor. Over the years and particularly now, I have been concerned with land accessibility for the poor, especially women. I would like to scale up the work of the ECLT Programme which promotes and advocates for equal access to resources for communities in the tobacco growing areas. My dream also is to pursue a PhD in Agricultural Leadership and Development which will position me in a role of leadership where I will be able to influence the Agricultural Policy. Current work activities Currently I serve as Programme Manager for the Elimination of Child Labour in Tobacco Programme (ECLT) managed by Hodi, a Zambian Development Non-Government Organization. My core responsibility is to manage the ECLT Programme whose goal is to address the supply and demand factors that perpetrate tobacco child labour in Choma and Kalomo Districts in Southern Province. The three major strategies of the Programme are: 1. Economic Empowerment for Vulnerable Households 2. Education Support for withdrawn children 3. Advocacy through mobilization and capacity building of key stakeholders 4. Information Dissemination on Child Labour 5. Withdrawal of children from tobacco farms and integrating them into schools or skills training centers 6. Infrastructure support for schools Specifically my responsibilities include: - Coordination of Community Development activities with a goal of (a) bringing about economic empowerment of rural households by promoting conservation farming (b) sustainable household food production and (c) sources of income to replace dependency of having children from the target communities work in tobacco farms. Activities I am directly responsible for include providing capacity building training in Sustainable Agriculture/Conservation Farming, Leadership, Planning and Budgeting, Proposal writing and Report Writing, Gender and Advocacy. Educational and Training background - Certificate in Sustainable Environmental Management - University of California, Berkeley (2011) - BSc (Honours) Degree in Agriculture (II:1): University of Wales - Dissertation: Forage Legumes for Low Cost Extensive Beef Production: Effects on Animal Performance, Carcass Quality and Fatty Acid Composition of Muscle from Beef Steers (2002) - Certificate in General Agriculture (With Merit), Zambia College of Agriculture (1989) Awards and Professional Qualifications - African Women in Agriculture, Research and Development (AWARD) -Fellowship winner 2009 - 2011 - AWARD Mentoring Workshop - Mombasa, Kenya - October 2009 - AWARD Leadership Skills Course - Lilongwe, Malawi - April 2010 - ECHO Agricultural Conference (Presenter and Delegate) - Fort Myers, Florida USA - December 2010 - A number of certificates in leadership and specialized short courses in agriculture, Gender, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights.