Cottco, Local Farmers Team to Build School in Zimbabwe
July 22, 2010 
Cotton growers and The Cotton Company of Zimbabwe Ltd. (Cottco) are combining forces to help schoolchildren in one of the country’s poorest and neediest regions: the CC Moline resettlement area near Kadoma. Currently, local children are forced to walk many kilometers to attend classes in other areas—if they are able to attend them at all.
Because CC Moline is one of Cottco Kadoma’s high-input areas, local cotton farmers approached the company with their idea to give back to their community by building a new school. Cottco is funding the project, while local farmers are providing the labor by transporting sand and water from a nearby river to the construction site, where they then mold the bricks used for the schools’ walls and foundation (see picture). Until it is completed, various sheds and farmhouses will continue to be used as classrooms.
“It has been named Magamba Primary School,” Maria Pangidzwa, corporate communications executive with Cottco, tells Cotton International magazine. “Zimbabwe went through a war of liberation, and ‘Magamba’ is a reference to those fallen heroes.”
When the project is completed, the eight-classroom school will provide an easily accessible education for as many as 200 children, including some from the nearby Berkley Chase resettlement area.
Cottco has made social responsibility one of its core business strategies, particularly by supporting education. In addition to building the school in CC Moline, the company has awarded scholarships to 10 students pursuing agricultural studies at Chibero College, Gwebi College and the University of Zimbabwe, and is considering expanding its scholarship program to post-graduate levels.
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