Siphiwe Mpofu
Name and highest qualification: Siphiwe Mpofu M.Sc.
Designated role in Africa AHEAD: Programme Manager
Date of joining Organisation: 2012
Summary of expertise: Siphiwe first impressed the Founders in 1999 when they met her as a District Social Support Officer in the first CHC project being undertaken in Tsholotsho. She completed her Post Graduate Diploma with a thesis on the CHC approach in 2003. She also has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Counselling obtained through the ZOU, Intermediate Diploma in Accounting from Bulawayo Polytechnic and Certificate in Local Government Finance.
Siphiwe spent 17 years in Tsholotsho Rural District Council rising through the ranks from accounts clerk in 1985 to acting Chief Executive Officer before resigning in April 2002. She then joined UNWFP as a field monitor for 5 years from August 2002 becoming Programme Assistant until 2010 and Project Manager in 2011.
To balance the largely shona speaking staff, Siphiwe was invited to join Zimbabwe AHEAD in 2012 as an experienced CHC enthusaist. She was responsible for a number of projects for the Organisation as Project Officer under Cholera Mitigation Programme in Manicaland in 2012-13, training other NGOs (Amalima) staff on the CHC methodology approach in 2014. She was sent to Zambia in 2018 to assist Seed of Hope on entrepreneurship skills. Siphiwe has stood in for the Country Director when he is travelling. She is currently responsible for the Gwanda Urban Resilience Program.
Due to love of the community work spare time is spent as a volunteer at Mpilo Central Hospital at the physiotherapy department as a guide counsellor for mothers with children with clubfoot condition, a programme sponsored by Zimbabwe Sustainable Clubfoot Programme (ZSCP).
Current Responsibility: Urban Resilience Program
Objectives: Reviving the CHCs in Gwanda and building their resilience through entrepreneurship training, so as to facilitate employment creation and improving household income for CHC members and their families. The models and the knowledge papers were key in documentation of key lessons learnt in the pilot project.
Target Population: Residents, Council Staff, Youth, women, WASH committees, private sector, CHC members. The target was to refurbish two public toilets and construction of one water kiosk
Target area: CHC all the 10 wards of Gwanda- Public toilets in ward 2 and 8 while water kiosk is in ward 5
Targets:
- Support for the community of Gwanda through CHC and creation of revenue base for the CHC members,
- Support the local authority in the clean-up campaigns, training local authority staff to facilitate good service care and delivery, strengthening the U-report systems,
- Build capacity for both CHCs and Local authority staff for sustainability of the structures constructed that is Toilets and water kiosk. These constructed toilets to be run as pay toilets and water kiosk to charge service for provision of water to the community. The three structures will be run by CHCs through the CBM structures for them to realize income and also be hygienically run structures and enhance the creation of a reserve fund for maintenance of the structures so as to foster sustainability
Beneficiaries: 4685 (CHCs 1785 and water kiosk/2 pay toilets 2900)
Staff in Gwanda: 3