With their uniforms and books often drenched, the children’s school attendance was affected. Furthermore, all their household items – including clothing, African mat, and bedding – were consistently damp during the rainy season. This posed a significant risk of pneumonia for her family. “I feared that my children would get sick, “she said.

While rain was a constant source of anxiety, so too were recurring droughts.

“When my crops were affected by drought, we did not have any harvest and ended up cutting down on meals; at times we would sleep on empty stomachs. When I did piecemeal work on other people’s farms, I would buy a 2kg bag of maize meal that would only last us a day and this meant not eating the following days,” she said.

In 2022, Nanswau learnt about the SCRALA project through a camp extension officer who informed her about a meeting that was going to take place within her community regarding the project. Intrigued, she attended the meeting, during which the project’s aim was explained by project officers. Afterwards, her name was registered and was later selected-she qualified under the categories of vulnerable households.

Implemented by the Zambian Government through the Ministry of Agriculture, with funding from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and support by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and World Food Programme (WFP), the project – known as SCRALA – targets vulnerable smallholder farmers at risk of being left behind, such as women, the youth, persons with disabilities and the elderly. It aims to reach more than one million people, including transforming the lives of more than 940,000 farmers in Zambia. 

The project operates across 16 districts in Zambia and provides comprehensive support to small-scale farmers throughout the agricultural value chain, from farm to market. This encompasses agricultural planning, production guidance, and post-production assistance, along with access to reliable weather information to enable farmers to make informed decisions, including which crops to plant and when. 

Additionally, the project offers farmers farming inputs (seeds for resilient crops such as cowpeas, groundnut, maize seed, as well as soil kits and farming tools), enhanced knowledge of conservation agriculture, market access, financial management skills, and opportunities for alternative livelihoods such as goat and chicken farming, fish cultivation, and beekeeping. 

These efforts aim to enhance food security, promote sustainable household income, promote climate-resilient agricultural production, thus contributing to the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals, notably No Poverty (Goal 1), Zero Hunger (Goal 2), and Climate Action (Goal 13). 

Ultimately, the project is helping build a shock-responsive, risk-informed, and inclusive society, aligning with the country’s Eighth National Development Plan.

Nanswau's journey is just one example of the difference this vital initiative is making for communities facing growing challenges driven by climate change.

Later in the year, she had become a participant in the project’s pass-on mechanism-the model provides goats (four female and one male) to individuals who have been severely affected by climate change-especially focusing on women and persons with disabilities because they are disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change. Under the mechanism, each participant initially receives five goats and subsequently, once their herd grows to 10, they pass on five goats to the next person in line.

“I was very happy when I received five goats last year because I knew for sure this meant a better life for me and my children, so I looked after the goats so well,” Nanswau said.