Investing in Early Years Project has donated 200 bicycles to volunteers and caregivers from Traditional Authority Chekucheku in Neno to improve access to early childhood development services in the district.
Speaking on Wednesday during the handover at Neno District Council premises, the council’s nutrition officer Esnath Macheka said the bicycles will help caregivers to reach more households to share important information on nutrition and hygiene.
“This is the second time we are donating bicycles. We also donated bicycles to volunteers such as cluster leaders and promoters in the first phase. Those receiving bicycles today were missed in the first distribution exercise,” she said.
Macheka said cluster leaders and promoters have been failing to discharge their duties due to mobility challenges.
“We hope there will be more outreach programmes because the volunteers have bicycles,” she said.
Neno District Council human resources management officer Samuel Tanaka, who spoke on behalf of Neno district commissioner Rosemary Nawasha, urged the beneficiaries to take care of the bicycles and use them for the intended purpose.
Tithandizane Cluster leader Lilian Mwangongo from Kaluphya Village expressed excitement with the donation.
“The bicycles will help us reach more people with information on nutrition and hygiene. It was difficult to beat our targets due to mobility challenges, which compromised the programme’s objectives,” she said.
The Investing in Early Years programme focuses on improving early childhood service coverage and utilisation with an emphasis on nutrition and early learning.
The promoters and cluster leaders work on a voluntary basis, visiting people in their homes and encouraging them to follow health eating habits and to send under-five children to community-based childcare centres (CBCCs).
Through the project, Neno District Council has constructed 15 CBCCs in the District
