Zambia
Map & Basic Information
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Area
752.61 thousand square kilometers
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Population
18.38 million (World Bank, 2020)
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Capital
Lusaka / 1,272 meters above sea level
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Ethnicity
73 (Tonga, Nyanja, Bemba, Lunda, etc.)
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Language
English (official), Bemba, Nyanja, Tonga
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Religion
Nearly 80% Christianity, others (Islam, Hinduism, traditional religions)
Issues to be addressed
There are refugees from Angola and Rwanda who had to spend several decades in Zambia and decided to remain in Zambia even after the conflicts in their home countries ended and their refugee status was ceased. These "former refugees" are resettled in resettlement areas and have to build homes and establish livelihoods on land that lacks very basic infrastructure. They earn their living through agriculture but are forced to live in poverty.
Activities
Supporting the livelihood of
"former refugees”
Residents were receiving training in cultivation.
Meheba refugee settlement in the Northwestern Province of Zambia is one of the largest refugee settlements in the country. In the settlement, the Zambian government has been implementing a project for promoting a local integration for former refugees, in which former refugees were provided a residence permit and a land plot. Since 2017, AAR Japan has been supporting former refugees and Zambians to create a community together, which would form a foundation for their own effort to improve their living conditions. Since 2019, we have been providing farming equipment and seeds and seedlings to resident groups, facilitating information exchange among group members and outside resource persons on agricultural techniques, helping them to build a system to jointly transport crops which reduce transportation costs and maximize profits.
Major Activities in Past
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1984 - 2004
Support in Meheba Refugee Settlement
In Meheba, one of the largest refugee settlements in the country, we drilled boreholes and built and operated a clinic and library.
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2000 - 2019
HIV/AIDS
In Zambia, where one out of every eight adults was said to be HIV-positive at the time, we conducted awareness-raising activities to prevent infection and provided schooling support for children who had lost parents to AIDS.
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2016 - 2019
Maternal and child health
services
In rural areas where access to medical facilities is difficult, we built clinics, provided medical and office equipment, and trained health volunteers.