Social Development
Victoria Falls

Social Development

Since 2010, ALERT has been involved in many social development programmes in Victoria Falls. In 2010, ALERT assisted in refurbishing the Victoria Falls Old People’s Home and helped develop a nutritional vegetable garden for Victoria Falls HIV/AIDS Centre. 

ALERT has committed to community agriculture projects for several years and have supported three agriculture projects in and around Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. In 2013, ALERT sponsored three community gardens for communities affected by AIDS, for personal consumption and revenue generation when the extra food is sold. These include the Chinotomba Garden Project close to Victoria Falls town, Dako Garden in the Monde rural community, and Ntabengwe Garden in the Ntabengwe village.  Through ALERT’s efforts, the Chinotimba and Ntabengwe Gardens have been very successful and continue to do well. ALERT was able to withdraw from these projects in 2015 as they were given over to the garden’s caretakers. This allowed ALERT to focus primarily on Dako Garden in the rural village of Monde, assisting in the refurbishment of the reservoir and the pump for this garden, which was installed previously by ALERT and in need of repair. This refurbishment of the reservoir allowed it to function at full capacity again, and ALERT also provided 550 seedlings for vegetables to grow.

ALERT continued working to assist the Victoria Falls Old People’s Home in creating an environment that is safe and agreeable for residents, providing day-to-day support to the Home’s two staff members, and assisting in contributing to the sustainability of the home through cost-reducing initiatives. In addition to the assistance ALERT provided in the form of manpower to tend and expand the vegetable garden, which was expanded to five lots with baboon-proof fencing, ALERT assisted with infrastructure upgrades, which in 2017 included the installation of ramps on homes with steps which were too steep for the residents to climb unassisted.