The Zambia Project
Established over 15 years ago, the Arthur Cox Zambia Project continues to raise the standards of living in remote regions of Zambia by supporting a wide range of initiatives to build resilience in the local communities. This includes investment in food and water security initiatives, health and education infrastructure as well as climate and nature positive capacity building.
To find out more about the project please watch our video here.
Food and Water Security
Mwandi Region
The Loanja Rice Growers Company (LRG) was founded in 2019 as part of our Arthur Cox Zambia Project with the aim of addressing food insecurity in the southwest region of Zambia.
Rice farming in the Mwandi district, especially around the Loanja plains, expanded from 100kg of surplus rice purchased by LRG from farmers in 2016 to more than 500 metric tonnes purchased by LRG from farmers in 2023. The cooperative works by selling seed to farmers, providing the means to process the harvested crop, acts as a guaranteed buyer for farmers and then sells the processed rice through shops in local communities – i.e. farm to store.
Chikuni Region
Water security is also a key focus for the Project in the Chikuni region of Zambia. Each of the six schools funded by our Zambia Project have the benefit of hand-pump boreholes.
Recognising the key role that water access plays in ensuring food supply and energy so that school children can focus on learning and expanding their future opportunities, upgrading the existing hand pump boreholes to solar boreholes in each of these communities will be one of the focuses of the Zambia Project in Chikuni going forward.
Education
Our Arthur Cox Zambia Project has partnered with the Chikuni Jesuit mission since 2014 on a community schools programme, which provides primary education to those who do not have adequate access to State facilities across 17 different communities in the region. Across the 17 community schools, of which our trainees have helped to build six, student numbers have increased from 2,776 students to a total of 3,946 students in the past year. Students attending these community schools often out-perform their peers in fee-paying government schools.
Health
Healthcare in Zambia has always been a key area of focus for the project since 2008, with the renovation of a rural medical clinic in the village of Masese which provides services to a population of 5,700 people. We installed a borehole water supply and running water and also built a seven-bed maternity ward.
Arthur Cox Zambia Project Highlights FY23/24
Continuity of the Arthur Cox Zambia project is ensured through the Zambia Leaders from the firm who oversee the project and manage the recruitment and training of new groups that travel to Zambia each year. This group of leaders have all travelled to Zambia themselves and led a group each year, passing on their knowledge and experience from one year to the next.
Developing projects in conjunction with the local communities in Zambia is also key to the Arthur Cox Zambia Project’s continued success. All projects are ultimately handed over to the communities. New ideas and developments are always stress tested and researched in association with local experts and implemented within the communities where they are needed.
