The Musangu Foundation held its official launch event on Friday 2^nd December at the Lilayi Lodge just outside of Lusaka. The event was attended by special guests Hon. Emerine Kabanshi, Community Development Minister, and Jenny Chirwa the Mazabuka District Commissioner as well as other local dignitaries and corporate supporters.

The evening opened with traditional dancers and live demonstrations of the many projects that the Musangu Foundation currently have running. There was a demonstration of a multi-fuel cook stove, using maize husks and bamboo as the fuel source, a project looking to reduce illegal logging for firewood and charcoal production. There were also presentations by Grass Roots an organisation committed to natural and low input farming techniques to improve soil quality, crop health and increase yields, particularly within subsistence farming settings.   

The Musangu Foundation is a fresh approach Social Investment organsiation that looks to harness and collaborate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) money into high impact, sustainable rural livelihood projects and initiatives throughout Zambia. The Foundation recognises the importance of long lasting, self-sustaining project which will continue to grow and develop long after the initial seed capital for the project has expired.

During the celebration a large donation of £30,000 was made to the Musangu Foundation from Mabiza Resources, the operators of the Munali Nickel Mine.  Speaking at the event, Mr Purkiss, Managing Director of Maziba Resources said ‘with the announcement that Munali Nickel Mine will be back into production in 2017, we are delighted that we can support the Musangu Foundation and the valuable work they do. We are always looking for forward thinking initiatives that will address the problem of employer dependency, mines like lots of businesses have a finite shelf-life, and we will not always be available to fund and support the local communities. If we can capitalise our Social Investment money into a business principled approach, with money generation and livelihood creation as its focus, we hope to leave a lasting legacy thriving long after we have gone’.

‘We are very grateful for all of the support Mabiza Resouces have given to the Foundation over the past year, we have been working with them on a number of exciting projects which will now continue into 2017 with this wonderful donation’ said Victoria Partridge, Fundraising Director at the Musangu Foundation.

‘We want to position ourselves as the CSR specialist, many companies want to deliver meaningful and impactful CSR but they just don’t have the time, skill set or the on ground capacity to carry it out successfully.  As with most CSR, it isn’t an integral part of everyday business, it’s an add-on element, but if done correctly it really can raise your companies public image and profile, increase employer job satisfaction and even increase profitability and open up new markets – it’s important to get it right if you are investing money and time into it’ she said.

 If you would like to find out more about the Munsagu Foundation and the work they are carrying out in Zambia please visit www.musangufoundation.org

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