Zambia

Ndola chicken farm

Through Be a Good Egg funds WER has been able to set up a chicken farm for the wives and families of prisoners at Ndola prison. The farm has been funded through local partner, Prison Fellowship Zambia.

The chicken farm supports 10 families of prisoners and has been a great success, providing children with nutritious eggs and an income for the families.

There are currently 150 chickens the farm, looked after by the wives and partners of inmates.

There is some work involved, but the women are very happy to be taking part in the project.

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Prisoner Family Support

The imprisonment of a parent can have a severe impact on the well-being of a child, particularly if this also leads to the loss of essential income provided by the family's breadwinner. In Zambia, and in many countries around the world, young children may have to live in prison with their mother and face huge challenges in confinement, not least the lack of adequate hygiene or nutritious food.

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Zambia

Zambia is a land-locked country in southern central Africa and shares its borders with eight other countries: Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe.

Once a major copper producer, Zambia suffered enormously after the collapse of world copper prices in 1975 and the country fell swiftly from being one of Africa’s most prosperous to one of the poorest countries in the world. The industry is now experiencing promising growth after privatisation of the mining industy in 1990 and copper once again accounts for a major proportion of Zambia’s foreign earnings. Increase in GDP grew substantially between 2005-08 and even though world commodity prices caused Zambia’s GDP to dip in 2009, the rise in copper prices and a good year for maize crops have helped Zambia recover. However, despite its rich copper reserves, Zambia remains one of the poorest countries in the world and the money made by its rich resourses of copper do not benefit ordinary people.

Infant mortality rates in Zambia are among the worst in sub Saharan Africa. It is estimated that one in five mothers is HIV positive and deaths from malaria and AIDS continue to severely hamper the development of Zambia. More than 60,000 people die from AIDS each year from all sections of Zambia’s society.

Millions of Zambians live in conditions of extreme poverty with earnings below the World Bank threshold of $1 a day. Zambia also faces the challenge of hosting tens of thousands of refugees who have fled conflict in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Zimbabwe.

The most recent Human Development Report ranks Zambia at 164, with a low human development rating status. The Human Development Index (HDI) value is 0.481 compared to the HDI of the UK, which is 0.947.

WER works in Zambia in partnership with ADRA  Zambia and PFZ.