Global Network Solutions GNS

22/12/2025

Full pictorial Chongwe Music and Food Festival.

Special appreciation went to our amazing partners who made it all possible: Hivos, Urban Futures, CUTS International, Global Network, and the Chongwe Municipal Council. 🙌

🎉 Ba Chongwe, You were with us on 13th of December for the Food& Music Festival, a vibrant celebration of good food, good music, and healthy living! Munatipanga 🍲🎶

Attendees tasted delicious dishes, enjoyed live performances, and discovered fresh, healthy food options under this year’s theme: “Eat Well, Live Well.” 🌿✨
Guests enjoyed a rich variety of foods sold at the festival,including village chicken, fresh vegetables, traditional munkoyo drink, ripe tomatoes, sweet mangoes, and other organic farm products, all brought straight from the farm to the event.

Together, we celebrated community, wellness, and culture forward we grow! 🌱💚
The event was conducted successfully.

Hivos Regional Office Southern Africa
Consumer Unity Trust Society - CUTS Lusaka

📸 Misheck K Kumwenda

17/12/2025

17/12/2025

Food and Music Festival highlights loading ...
😁Kadyonko

05/12/2025

🎉 Ba Chongwe, are you ready?
Join us this 13th December at 08:30AM for the Food & Music Festival, a vibrant celebration of good food, good music, and healthy living! 🍲🎶

Come taste delicious dishes, enjoy live performances, and discover fresh, healthy food options under this year’s theme: “Eat Well, Live Well.” 🌿✨

Special appreciation to our amazing partners who make this possible: Hivos, Urban Futures, CUTS International, Global Network, and the Chongwe Municipal Council. 🙌

Let’s celebrate community, wellness, and culture together, forward we grow 🌱💚
Consumer Unity Trust Society - CUTS Lusaka .
Hivos Regional Office Southern Africa
Global Network Solutions GNS

05/12/2025

Joshua Taulo Mwakashela shares:

The Unseen Skill: Navigating Power Structures with Purpose

Data collection for our Urban Futures research in Chongwe hit a predictable wall: institutional busyness. Despite persistent follow-up calls to schedule an interview, key informants at NATSAVE (deep in FRA payments) and the Municipal Council were understandably unavailable.

The lesson? Respectful persistence must sometimes become a physical presence. I showed up early in the morning at the office of my key informants. Through direct, diplomatic engagement, I assured my target informants that the questionnaire would only take less than 15 minutes, and they agreed. I secured invaluable insights.

The NATSAVE Chongwe Branch Manager outlined their current and future stance on financing for youth in agrifood systems while The Director of Planning at Chongwe Municipal Council detailed the local government's role in enabling youth-led food initiatives. I also took this opportunity to represent youth voices of Chongwe by recommending salient deliberate measures which the two institutions can leverage to support Chongwe youths in Agripreneurship & Agrifood systems initiatives. It was a momentous opportunity of harnessing the power of collaboration.

This wasn't just about collecting data. It was a masterclass in navigating power structures and bureaucratic inertia. It reinforced three non-negotiable skills for anyone driving change:

🔷Diplomacy is Force Multiplier: It turns a "no" over the phone into a "yes" in person. It's about understanding institutional priorities and framing your ask within their context.
🔷Navigating Power is a vital Skill: Systems move at their own pace. Change-agents cannot. Learning to identify gatekeepers, respect processes, and find alternative entry points is critical work.
🔷Purpose Fuels Persistence: When the roadmap is blocked, you don't abandon the destination. You find another path, driven by the conviction that the work matters.

The road to transforming food systems is paved with bureaucracies. We don't change them by waiting. We change them by showing up strategically, respectfully, and unstoppably.


Consumer Unity Trust Society - CUTS Lusaka

18/11/2025

✔️

Our Regional Director Joy Mabenge, Donor Outreach Manager for Africa Stellar Murumba and Malawi Country Manager Tisungane Nanthoka attended a meeting today with Grace Mganga from the European Union in Malawi.

The conversation focused on shared priorities and possibilities for cooperation that can continue to support inclusive development. We look forward to the prospect of building on this engagement together! 🫱🏼‍🫲🏾

Hivos Regional Office Southern Africa

27/10/2025

URBAN FUTURES AGRICONNECT HUB OFFICIAL LAUNCH!

23/10/25 ✅🖇️

The Urban Futures AGRICONNECT HUB was officially launched on October 23rd 2025 by Mr. Joy Mabenge - Regional Director, a Hivos Urban Futures Chongwe city project, Excuted by Customer Consumer Trust Unity International and Global Network Solution Corporation - CUTS.

October 23rd, 2025 marked another interesting day as it marked the official launch of the Urban Futures Project which was accompanied by Global Network Solutions - GNS, CUTS, various stakeholders, community leaders such as the Chongwe community leaders, Non-governmental organizations, community members among other represantion.

In order to promote inclusivity, the launch was represented by differently abled persons who took part and enjoyed the Celebration and hard an interpreter.

Other notable guests that were present were included the Hivos team from Zimbabwe who are shapping food systems in Mutare and Bulawayo. This team included Cooking who is a development practitioner working tirelessly to ensure inclusivity of women, youths and people who are differently abled.

GNS managing Director, Alick Walinda Gondwe welcomed the Guests and highlited some of the activities that are being conducted by the Urban Futures youths. "This cause needs to be emulated in all areas across the southern region not only in Chongwe and Kitwe but in other areas too through the help of Hivos.

Hivos Regional Office Southern Africa
Consumer Unity Trust Society - CUTS Lusaka

📸 Misheck K Kumwenda

16/10/2025