Who we are
The Centre for Livelihoods & Humanitarian Support (CLHS) is a society of humanitarian and livelihoods practitioners registered with the Government of Zimbabwe, as a trust, Deed no.MA000719/2010. Although it was formally registered in 2010, CLHS had already started fulfilling part of its mission – building capacity among humanitarian actors and other partners to effectively and professionally respond to emergencies – by partnering with the University of Zimbabwe School of Social Work to train over 130 humanitarian professionals in a three-month course leading to a Certificate in Humanitarian Work. In 2010, CLHS worked with Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP – a partnership of Oxfam GB, Save the Children and IFRC) to train 25 humanitarian and livelihoods practitioners in Cash Transfer Programming in Humanitarian Response in Zimbabwe. CLHS has also been involved in training development and humanitarian workers in the Sphere Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response.
CLHS was originally founded as a network of professionals with expertise in various development and humanitarian aspects and coordinated by a very lean secretariat, outsourced from Innov8. Associate members provide capacity building and training to practitioners, government authorities and beginners in their specialist fields and each associate holds at least a relevant Masters degree or LLB (in the case of protection-related associates) plus at least 3 years of progressive experience in the sector. Capacity building is ordinarily provided on a cost-recovery basis. However, where funding is made available, participants are sponsored by the funding partner. The Cash Transfer Training conducted with CaLP in 2010 is one example where all the costs associated with the training of participants was funded by CaLP (through Oxfam GB – UK). The training with University of Zimbabwe was wholly on a cost-recovery basis and managed by the UZ School of Social Work.
Apart from the experience of managing the trainings mentioned above, CLHS’s trustees and associates are accomplished professional project managers associated with various development and humanitarian agencies. They offer their time and expertise to build the capacity of other practitioners and government stakeholders.
