Establishment of a support center for agro-pastoral livestock farming on the edge of Kafue National Park

In Zambia, a country of nearly 20 million inhabitants, 65% of the population lives on less than US$1.90 per day, and its level of human development is among the lowest in the world. Furthermore, nearly half the population is food insecure. This persistent poverty is primarily a rural phenomenon; in 2010, the moderate poverty rate in rural areas was 74%, more than double that of urban areas (35%).

Established in 1950, Kafue National Park is Zambia's largest park, but today it is the source of numerous conflicts with local communities: poaching, agricultural encroachment, cattle grazing in protected areas, and bushfires. On the park's southeastern edge, 6,000 people live in the Musungwa chiefdom, a pastoralist people known for their large cattle herds. In the 2000s, the arrival of a second ethnic group, called "Tonga" because of the fertile soil, only increased the pressure on Kafue Park's resources, exacerbating conflicts between humans and wildlife.

Livestock farming plays a crucial role in the survival of farming families in the Musungwa chiefdom. It is in this context that the present project, a continuation of the Community Veterinary Project initiated by the Melindika association in 2016, was designed. The project aims to develop local veterinary services to help farming families of the Ila and Tonga tribes to make a sustainable living from their livestock, a food and economic alternative to poaching animals from Kafue National Park. The project includes strengthening the animal health network through the construction of a community center where campaigns will be concentrated.
vaccination, animal health training and research programs.