Ilima/Nhimbe

One of the most common philanthropic expressions found across rural Zimbabwe is called the ilima (Ndebele) or nhimbe (Shona). In the practice of ilima/nhimbe, communities voluntarily come together to pool their productive assets and labor for production on a single family’s farm for a day, or until the task is completed. The tasks that are usually associated with ilima, include preparation of land for farming, planting, cultivation, harvesting and at times joint savings. Community members have devised ways of creating schedules of when to host an ilima at a member’s place and the negotiations around ilima are usually based on existing models of consensus building.

Hosts of the ilima make sure to provide food (and at times beer) for those working the fields. Members in the community voluntarily join an ilima with the understanding that they will soon be inviting the same members of the community to their own lima. Ilimas tend to be informal and are frequently invisible to outsiders. The participating individuals are few and the networks formed are based on geographic proximity or kinship ties. Studies on those who participate in the ilima/nhimbe practices are few. A study by Arnaiz (1998) found that one out of every four households belonged to a local association and some of these were ilima/nhimbe like formations.

The ilima/nhimbe provides a framework for peer to peer giving in kind. Other studies have already made the case that African philanthropy is charactered by horizontal and often reciprocal forms of support within communities. In many instance the ilima/nhimbe is the most immediate expression of this kind of philanthropy.

Varieties of _amalima_ have a longer pre-independence history. For instance, Ranger (1985) study quotes the Makoni District Native Commissioner’s July 1910 report to the Native Affairs Department, explaining how the people of the district were able to increase their hectarage by working together in labour pools:

While on patrol in the Southern part of the Makoni and Chiduku reserve ... many kraals [villages] I visited I found gangs of young men engaged in threshing corn and in breaking up new lands for the coming season (Ranger, 1985, p.65).

The Evolution of Ilima/Nhimbe in Practice

While the practice still continues, the organic and at times ad hoc amalima sometimes morphed into formal associations, leading to the emergence of “asset-sharing associations” (Arnaiz, 1998, p. 65) and “mutual support networks” (Rahmato, 1991, p. 12). In the post-independence period, an NGO known as Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP), working with rural communities, sought to formalize the ilima framework by creating formal structures of these as the basic unit of rolling out projects. This Matabeleland-based rural development organisation was established in 1981 and by the end of 1983 had established 300 local groups known as amalima which in isiNdebele means “meeting together for working and helping ourselves” (Chavhunduka et al., 1984:3) across the Matabeleland provinces and the Midlands. The local amalima groups leveraged pre-existing women’s clubs and were made up of families settled next to each other based on ties of inclusion within lineage groups. The activities of ORAP include the establishment of service projects (water and sanitation), income-generating projects (sewing, carpentry) and training on new farm skills (Chavhunduka et al., 1984:13).

Contributor: Tendai Murisa