Our History

1980

Since 1980 DAPP Zimbabwe has developed a strong base as an organization in Zimbabwe. People and institutions have trust in the organization, its leadership and staff and consider DAPP Zimbabwe a permanent part of the development picture.

In the early years after Zimbabwe’s Independence, we were mainly involved in short term projects e.g. construction of schools and clinics and the establishment and forming of farming cooperatives on some of the commercial farms that were bought by the Government of Zimbabwe. These projects were implemented all over the country and gave us the opportunity to get broad knowledge of the variety and diversity of the nature, the opportunities, the people and their needs and the culture in the new and free Zimbabwe. More than 30 projects were carried out during the first five years of operation in Zimbabwe. One such project was the construction of the Chindunduma School together with 3 000 children and youth, who returned from refugee camps in Mozambique.

1985

In 1985 DAPP Zimbabwe took a new approach to its work and started more long term development projects. Ponesai Vanhu Technical College was constructed in 1981. It has trained young Zimbabweans from all over the country in vocational skills and is still doing so. With the skills gained, the youth can fend for themselves through employment or by creating self-employment, and they become productive members of society.
In 1985 small-scale industries were established at the Ponesai Vanhu centre. These were operated commercially for some years and provided funds to support the operation of the college and keeping school fees at a level that the students could afford. It also provided students at the College real life opportunities to practice their newly learned skills and to learn more about management.

1986

In 1986 DAPP Zimbabwe started the Fundraising Projects in Zimbabwe with a triple aim: to contribute to the economical development in the country, to give people access to affordable clothes of good quality, and to raise funds for operation of social projects – all through the selling of second-hand clothes. Second-hand clothes donated by people in Europe were shipped to Zimbabwe, sorted in categories here, and sold in retail outlets. This created direct employment with DAPP Zimbabwe, and at the same time it also created employment in the informal trade sector.
Over the next years, DAPP Zimbabwe was able to expand its activities substantially because of the clothes sales. An additional effect of the trade was that DAPP project leaders and staff got exposed to operate a commercial venture, providing them with valuable skills within economy and management.

1990s

In the early 1990s, DAPP Zimbabwe expanded its activities into farming, further work within education, child development and later also into the fight against HIV and AIDS.

We bought commercial farms in Shamva and started commercial farming as charity enterprises by establishing eucalyptus plantation and citrus production. Park Estate being one such farm was situated next to communal lands, and in 1993 we invited our communal neighbor farmers into the farm to teach them better farming methods using our newly gained experiences. It started a new kind of projects that later developed into a movement called DAPP Farmers’ Clubs, providing new skills and organization of production and marketing for small farmers in Zimbabwe. Soon after its start, this project had enrolled more than 10 000 farmers in the Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and Harare provinces.

In 1990 Park Estate became the home to a new training institution in Zimbabwe called Frontline Institute. Frontline Institute was first established in Denmark in 1985 to train young people from the Frontline States. In 1990 DAPP in Zimbabwe was asked to establish a similar institute here, to give access to many more people to learn project management skills in an international environment. Over the years since then, thousands of participants have been trained at Frontline Institute. The participants are project staff coming from the many member associations of Humana People to People worldwide, and because of this training quite a few advance and develop into becoming project leaders.

During the 1990s the HIV and AIDS epidemic became a threat to mankind, especially devastating to the peoples of southern Africa. Zimbabwe was hard hit, and within a few years the HIV prevalence rate increased to reach a level as high as 30% among the adult population in the mid-1990s. DAPP in Zimbabwe and other members of Humana People to People declared war on HIV and AIDS. HOPE Humana People to People started in 1998. Based in Bindura, the provincial capital of Mashonaland Central, HOPE carried out activities to deal with the consequences of HIV and AIDS and offer Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) services to the people in and around the town.

2000s

In year 2000 another HIV and AIDS programme was developed based on the understanding that “only the people can liberate themselves from AIDS – the epidemic”. There was need for a programme that systematically reached out to each and every individual to take the fight to a new level in order to stop the spread of HIV. Total Control of the Epidemic (TCE) has expanded not only in Zimbabwe, but to 10 other countries reaching over 20 million people on a one to one basis. TCE has proven to be an efficient programme because it mobilizes each and every person to take control of the HIV situation, whether in regard to stop the spreading the disease, caring for the sick or in other ways alleviating the consequences of the epidemic. TCE has also increased the experience and capacity of DAPP Zimbabwe because of its systematic approach, its intensity and its outreach.

Present

During the past 10 years, DAPP Zimbabwe has continued operating within agriculture and rural development, HIV and AIDS and education. We have seen it as a contribution to stability to keep up the work, and we have recognized the necessity of increasing the efforts to support development. The training of farmers has been a strong and growing element, with the programmes being adapted to the changing situation for farming in the country.

From 1996 to 2019, DAPP Zimbabwe organized and trained 25 000 communal farmers in Farmers' Clubs, a model that sustainably increases farmers’ production capacity and improves their standard of living in their communities.

Many Zimbabweans have been trained to contribute professionally to development work, and DAPP Zimbabwe is proud to have supported development projects in other Humana People to People organizations in the region and further abroad with capable and committed Zimbabweans, of which many have got leading positions. We have also seen the return of Zimbabweans who have worked in other countries for some years, and we have seen how the international experience has strengthened their capacity.