Background

FrontLine Development Trust is a sustainable development initiative set up by a team of professionals from the health sector to agriculture, education and the faith-based sector in Zimbabwe. The Trust was established and registered in April 2006 under registration number MA102/2006. It has already seen considerable success of good practice in health, social care, agriculture, child-headed families mentoring and social enterprise initiatives, alongside training and equipping programmes.

The aim of Frontline’s work in Zimbabwe is to establish structures, networks and services at a grassroots level which support the development of the country. Situation analyses are regularly made through baseline surveys, pilot projects as well as key informant interviews with traditional leaders and focus group discussions with communities to help identify priority needs.

In April 2006 in the community of Irisvale, in Matebeleland South, the Trust initiated the development of a sunflower project which has improved the income generation capacity of local farmers through the processing of sunflower seeds into cooking oil. The trust assisted in setting up poultry rearing and candle making projects in the same community (coordinated by women).

These projects have assisted the women to pay school fees for vulnerable orphans in their locality ‘Pass on the Gift’ project was started in September 2007 to empower communities build asset base by giving goats, guinea fowls and chickens as seed stock. The beneficiaries will pass the offspring to the next deserving household after one season while retaining the gift themselves.

The projects target the vulnerable groups in society and the community is actively participating in the identification of the beneficiaries In direct response to the ever increasing child-led families due to the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, FrontLine Development Trust launched a Child-headed Families Support Programme in May 2008. The aims of this intensive mentoring programme are to establish a service which supports young people in child-headed families, offering mentoring, food and income generation assistance and practical training in simple parenting techniques.