ZDDT partners with Souls Comfort in anticipation of increased involvement in Gwanda

Souls Comfort’s work in Gwanda involves HIV prevention, orphan care and support, Home Based Care, Sexual Reproductive Health and gender related programmes, inclusive of advocacy programmes.

Director of Souls Comfort and ZDDT Matabeleland south Voluntary Provincial Development Officer (VPDO), Costain Mpala (CM), recently travelled to Bulawayo and met up with the Trust’s News Correspondent, Ntando Sibanda (NS) to discuss the relationship of the two CSO’s in Gwanda.

Below can be found parts of the interview that ensued:

NS: What is your view of ZDDT’s involvement in the community Gwanda?

CM: It is a very important way forward in terms of programming, where you get other partners to come in and assist, not only in programming but also in implementation, follow-up and offering support to local communities. When we see ZDDT coming in, we know that it’s not only an organisation coming in, but these are new skills.

NS: What is the real impact of the arrival of ZDDT in Gwanda?

CM: ZDDT has brought with it a huge impact. For instance, when we went to Gwanda with Angela (Angela Mason is the ZDDT Regional Coordinator) and Netsai of HIVOS, I realised that Angela had a lot of ideas which she shared when we had discussions with the donors. The ideas gave recommendations on the way forward on how best we can perfect our interventions in the community. Even the donor was impressed to learn from ZDDT experiences. Now the blending of ZDDT experiences to Souls Comfort experiences resulted in the perfection of some of the activities we are doing in the communities.

NS: What more could be done to strengthen the relationship between ZDDT and Souls Comfort?

CM: I will just stress the need of ZDDT partnering with Souls Comfort in resource mobilisation and the actual planning of some programmes where we think we have common interests to share.