Agriculture is the main stay for Zambia?s economic growth and for enhancing household food security. But small holder farmers living in rural areas of Zambia are not able to command food resources because of their low per capita productivity to grow and store food to provide for their families throughout the year. The two three months prior to harvest (January, February and March) are the period of sufficient national deprivation for many rural households in Zambia. This scenario has created a serious food insecurity problem among most households living in rural Zambia as they cannot afford descent meals a day. Maposa community is one of the communities that is food insecure due to a range of factors which include poor agriculture practice, lack of farm inputs and civic awareness on matters that affect their livelihood. The Reformed church in Zambia (RCZ) has been implementing a food security project in Maposa community on the Copperbelt of Zambia from 2007 to 2010 whose main objective of this project is to empower household farmers with agriculture skills so that they can be able to produce food on a more sustainable way to feed their families.
This study therefore, offers an ecclesiological evaluation of the Maposa Food Security Project implemented. Ecclesiological evaluation in this case implies using the Biblical theological perspective to assess the tools RCZ used in this food security.
In addition, it is important to note that Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ) belongs to an ecumenical body called the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ). The Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) is an organ that unites all Christian Churches in Zambia and advocates on behalf of member churches all matters related to church registration and also provides guidelines to member churches how to implement community development programmes in line with the governments development plans on national building such as (5th National Development plan and vision 2030). Furthermore, Reformed church in Zambia (RCZ) and other CCZ member churches feed into the annual report of the Council of Churches in Zambia which meets once every year. Though this evaluation is focussed on the Maposa food security project implemented by Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ), the Council of Churches in Zambia cannot be isolated since it is the mother body of all Christian Churches in operating in Zambia.
The results of this research will be shared with both Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ) and the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ).
The researcher believes that the outcome of this research will help in improving the performance of both the Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ) and the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) as they participate in transformational development.
This study therefore, investigated the following four areas of transformational development in the food security project:
Participation: to assess whether the farmer beneficiaries in the project have been involved in the planning of the food security project, have identified their own priorities for the project or have used their own resources to exercise control over their own economic, social and cultural development.
Capacity building: to assess how the food security project implemented by RCZ has strengthened the capacity of the local people. This includes the transfer of skills through training for purposes of equipping people to engage in their own development.
Local resource mobilization: to assess the community?s participation in the mobilization of their own resources in the project implementation.
Sustainability: to assess the long term viability of this food security project beyond the support of the RCZ.
This study is answering the research question, „How can the church and its context participate in a practical way in transforming communities where there is poverty and food deficit?? This research argues that if the church can effectively participate in transformational development through the promotion of sustainable agriculture and food production, the majority of the people living in the rural areas of Zambia can be economically empowered and become food secure all year round. Poverty in this rural area is as a result of inability of households to meet basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing.