Stanbic builds 62-year-old Agness a house after living in a tent

Agness Sakala and some of her gradchildren at their new house built by Stanbic bank and habitat for Humanity.

Private sector contributions to sustainable development in Zambia hold the key to driving Zambia’s growth, according to Stanbic Bank Zambia.
To prove precisely this point, the bank promised in 2016 to provide housing to vulnerable families in Zambia, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Zambia that is overseeing the construction of ten houses valued at K400,000 over five years.
One such example is that of 62-year-old Agness Sakala, one of the beneficiaries who together with her 79-old-year-old husband Lackson, has been living in a tent with their ten grandchildren in Lusaka’s Ngombe area for the past six years.
“The long wait is finally over for us to have a proper roof over our heads and a place that deserves to be called home,” said an elated Agness, after she toured the completed four room house that Stanbic and Habitat have built for her and her family.
“The commitment that Stanbic and Habitat have shown in providing decent housing for the vulnerable people in our society is a very significant and humbling achievement that has left us lost for words to express how grateful we are for this gesture,” she said.
Agness and her husband are not in formal employment but grow some of their own food as well as sell their produce to generate money to buy other groceries and clothes. The family primarily grows maize for mealie meal.
Decent housing plays a vital role in eradicating barriers to opportunity, success and health that might have been part of a family’s life for years, if not generations, explained Stanbic Bank Zambia chief executive Charles Mudiwa.
“We have been in Zambia for close to 60 years and we will continue to support the growth of the country,” he said. “To this end, Stanbic Bank has, over the years, worked to improve education and health facilities and services across Zambia. Under our corporate social responsibility programme, the bank has changed the lives of many Zambians across the country.”
Agness has since called on other organisation to emulate Stanbic and Habitat by searching for alternative solutions to the housing crisis in the country that would provide the poor with access to serviced land and affordable housing.
Studies have revealed that a lack of adequate housing not only compromises development, but can also generate a threat from the many social ills that arise from homelessness. Inadequate housing is therefore generally considered a barrier to the prospects for sustainable livelihoods.
Zambia is currently facing a shortage of 1.3 million houses, and that number is projected to reach more than 3.3 million by 2030. Statistics show that the country produces a mere 73,000 housing units annually with only 40 per cent meeting the minimum health and sanitation requirements in accordance with the Zambian Public Health Act.