Through community-driven action and practical solutions, the Child Aid Project empowers families in rural Namibia to strengthen livelihoods, improve health, and build resilience—laying the foundation for lasting change and a better future.
DAPP Namibia builds capacity in communities through sustainable development initiatives, which form part of the DAPP Child Aid Project, a community-driven, holistic programme concept designed to uplift marginalized communities through collective action and self-reliance. The project fosters collaboration and active participation, enabling individuals and families to take ownership of their development journey while addressing critical socio-economic challenges
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The Child Aid Project is built around ten key intervention areas, focusing on:
A core component of the project is nutrition and food security, with initiatives such as backyard/family and community gardens, sustainable farming practices, and climate-resilient food production. Through knowledge-sharing, capacity building, and practical solutions, the project equips rural communities with the skills and resources needed to build sustainable livelihoods, improve resilience, and secure a better future.
DAPP uses backyard gardening as an essential strategy for enhancing household nutrition and resilience in the Omusati region, where challenging climatic conditions and limited resources make food production difficult.
By adopting climate-smart gardening techniques, families grow a variety of nutritious vegetables and fruit trees, improving dietary diversity while reducing dependence on store-bought food.
In addition to strengthening food security, backyard gardens provide an opportunity for income generation, as surplus produce can be sold within local communities. Sustainable farming methods such as composting, organic pest control, and efficient water use further contribute to long-term productivity and environmental conservation. Through training and knowledge-sharing, families are empowered to build self-sufficient food systems, ensuring a more sustainable and food-secure future.
The establishment of community nutrition gardens in the Ohangwena and Omusati regions, empowers families to grow their own food, improves nutrition, and builds self-reliance. These gardens serve as more than food sources serving as hubs of learning, sustainability, and community resilience.
In Ohangwena, a 0.6-hectare garden provides households with individual plots to cultivate nutritious vegetables and fruit trees, using organic farming, composting, and water-efficient irrigation.
Families gain practical skills to sustain their food supply while working together to strengthen their community.
At the DAPP Centre in Omusati, another garden supports local families, students, and staff, serving as both food production and a hands-on training site. A solar-powered water pump and irrigation system ensure year-round horticulture production, creating opportunities for education and economic empowerment.
Grow Food Circles with healthy and cheap vegetables and fruits.
The introduction of food circles in rural villages across the Omusati and Ohangwena regions has provided families with a simple yet effective way to grow nutritious food with minimal resources. This innovative method integrates organic composting and greywater recycling, offering a sustainable solution for communities facing water scarcity and food insecurity.
A food circle is a small planting bed surrounding a compost pit, designed to enrich soil while requiring little water. Families use household greywater, such as leftover cooking or bath water, to keep their crops hydrated, reducing dependence on costly or inaccessible water sources.
Through training and hands-on support, community members have established hundreds of food circles, turning home gardens into reliable sources of fresh vegetables and fruit. Beyond improving nutrition and food security, this initiative empowers families to become self-sufficient while strengthening climate resilience and sustainable farming practices.
The introduction of Mimi Moto clean cookstoves in Omusati is transforming household cooking by replacing firewood with marula husks, a sustainable, locally available fuel. These fuel-efficient stoves reduce indoor air pollution, deforestation, and household energy costs, while cutting CO₂ emissions and saving wood resources.
Families benefit from faster cooking times, less smoke exposure, and reduced firewood collection, freeing up time for other activities. With its success, the initiative is expanding, bringing cleaner, safer, and more efficient cooking solutions to more communities.
Students and staff from the DAPP Vocational Training School in partnership with Southern Botanica introduced the Mimi Moto stove to 50 rural families with marula trees in the Anamulenge and Ogongo constituencies as a pilot project.
The families participated in a survey, where their normal way of collecting firewood, cooking methods and time used was compared to the method of using the Mimi Moto Stove. Without going into the details here, the results were that the families welcomed the Mimi Moto stove, as it reduced their time to look for firewood as well as the amount of firewood collected, since they could use the kernels that were normally not regarded as a value. The cooking on the stove was faster than using the normal 3 stones and the smoke was much less. A further advantage to the family was that the attached small solar panel that drives a ventilator could also be used to charge their cell phones.
In relation to the environment, the use of the Mimi Moto meant less emission of CO₂ and of course less strain on the already deforested landscape. DAPP Namibia and Southern Botanica Trust are therefore looking forward to expanding our partnership and reach more families with this and other opportunities to use smarter ways of cooking that help the women while also protecting the environment. 50 families took part in the piloting of the Mimi Moto Stoves cooking compared to traditional cooking.
Aligned with Namibia’s national education goals, the POF Movement mobilises rural educators, equipping them with the skills and resources needed to establish village-based kindergartens and improve early learning outcomes.
Backyard gardens were established, equipping families with the means to grow fresh, nutritious food.
Households were supported through the Community Nutrition Garden, enhancing local food security
Food circles were created, offering a water-efficient solution for households growing nutritious vegetables.
Households piloted the Mimi Moto Cookstoves initiative, reducing reliance on firewood.
Early childhood educators trained to establish and manage rural village-based kindergartens.
Hectares of horticultural production supported through upgraded irrigation, benefiting over 600 people.
