An Outcomes Evaluation of a Lean Season Assistance Programme in the Chivi District, Zimbabwe

This is an outcomes evaluation of the lean season assistance programme (LSAP) implemented by World Food Programme (WFP) as the funding partner and Caritas Zimbabwe as the cooperating partner after establishing an acute food shortage affecting 55 523 vulnerable people who desperately needed food assistance in Chivi District. Some households were engaging in negative coping strategies to manage extreme food shortages affecting them. The objectives of the LSAP intervention programme were: to alleviate acute food shortages; to improve nutrition and income for households; to improve gender issues and child protection; and to provide sustainable coping strategies for the vulnerable communities in Chivi District. A mixed method for data collection was employed, namely questionnaire, interview, document analysis and observation to evaluate the outcomes of this intervention. The study employed the survey methodology to collect data key for this evaluation. The study findings established that the LSAP was very successful with a success rate of 93%. The study population of 55 523 vulnerable people in Chivi District were no longer food insecure as they were now able to enjoy three meals a day compared to the two, one or in some cases no meal at all. Some children who had dropped from school were now able to go back to school. There was a reduction of early child marriages and fewer cases reported of women and child abuse. Prostitution was also reduced as single women were empowered with more positive coping strategies such as savings (mikando). The vulnerable also received increased knowledge in farming and identifying and reporting the fall armyworm to local leadership, the District Administrator and Agritex Offices