Organization of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP)

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Organization of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP) is an indigenous, culturally-rooted membership based movement for development. Founded in 1980, the organization was registered as a welfare organization in 1981, dedicated to the promotion of rural development from the perspective of grassroots communities in Zimbabwe. ORAP works in partnership with rural communities in 5 provinces in Zimbabwe on a wide range of development issues including food supply, water sources, sanitation, education, agri-business, micro-finance [micro-credit], skills training, HIV/AIDS prevention and coping, agricultural development and community grant making.
The philosophy of Zenzele (do it for yourself) is at the core of ORAP and it aims at building self-reliant communities that are resilient and free from hunger and poverty.

Vision
ORAP envisions empowered grassroots communities free from hunger and poverty.

Mission/Purpose
ORAP exists to fight all forms of poverty through empowerment of people by facilitating their development in their cultural context.

Our goal:
To see rural communities of women, men and youth enabled to plan, implement and manage poverty alleviation strategies on a sustainable basis.

Our strategy
• Organisational Development: To strengthen and position the ORAP brand as a Leader in Community development in Zimbabwe.
• Workplace and Community Wellness: To ensure a healthy community and work environment.
• Community Mobilisation: To have well-organized members who can Plan and implement their actions.
• Enterprise Development: To increase economic participation and incomes.
• Food and Nutrition Security: To ensure food and nutrition security at Community level.

Projects:
• Amalima Loko Program: Program designed to improve food security in Zimbabwe through increased food access and sustainable watershed management.
• Schools Feeding Program
• Food Security and Habitat Protection: The project is working with 700 champion farmers from 5 wards (11, 12, 16, 17 & 21) to demonstrate climate smart agroecological practices that enhance sustainable food production in the drought prone area. The project has facilitated the establishment of 25 Farmer Field Schools (FFS) and 25 demo plots for demonstrating various agroecological practices like minimum tillage, use of organic manure, mulching, intercropping, crop rotation, weed and pest management, composting, early planting and planting of drought tolerant crop varieties.
• Strengthening civil society through an organizational development approach project: The aim of the programme is to promote an active and effective civil society by strengthening the capacity of civil society actors, promoting participation and the representation of their interests and scaling, learning & exchange.
• Education: School development has been our central focus with libraries being developed and stocked, sports education equipment being donated and early childhood development centres being set up.
• Sport: An annual soccer tournament – The ORAP Zenzele Isuzu Champions Cup – has been organized around the One World Futbol, a soccer ball designed to be very difficult to destroy.
• Lean Season Assistance (LSA): The organization has distributed food, cash and vouchers to over 300,000 people, ensuring that they had adequate food during the lean season, thereby allowing children to continue attending school and protecting productive assets for the households.

Mvuselelo Huni is the Chief Executive Officer of Organization of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP).

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.