Most of the organisations that change lives in Zimbabwe do their work quietly, far from the headlines. So does much of the money behind them. One of the largest of those funders is the Oak Foundation, a philanthropic group based in Geneva, Switzerland, that has been making grants to Zimbabwean causes since it was formally established in 1983.

According to the foundation's 2025 annual report, Oak made grants totalling USD 383 million that year, to 336 organisations across 33 countries. Its dedicated Zimbabwe programme accounted for USD 7.9 million of that, with further grants flowing to Zimbabwean groups through the foundation's environment and special interest programmes. The country has been part of the story from the beginning: some of Oak's earliest grants, in the 1980s, went to Zimbabwean groups supporting vulnerable children and families at community level.

What follows is a look at where some of that money goes, and what it builds.

Dignity at the end of life

In a leafy suburb of Harare, Island Hospice and Healthcare has been doing work that few others will. Established in 1979, it was the first hospice centre in Africa, and it has pioneered palliative care and bereavement services in Zimbabwe ever since.

Its approach reaches beyond pain relief. Through its Tuma services, the hospice helps families with groceries, hygiene items and the collection of medicines, and it offers counselling and respite to caregivers, recognising that a serious illness affects an entire household. The organisation has designed its model so that no family is turned away for lack of money, subsidising care through social enterprises such as a nursing agency and a medical equipment hire service.

"Island Hospice gave me dignity when I thought all hope was lost," one patient said in the report. "The nurses treated me like family."

Oak's Zimbabwe programme has given Island Hospice USD 450,000 over three years in core support, to scale up its services.

Clearing the ground, literally

Few legacies are as stubborn as a landmine. In the Mount Darwin district of Mashonaland Central, on the border with Mozambique, children once had to cross a minefield to reach school. In 2021, the village of Chisecha became the first place on that border to be declared mine-free, and the land was handed back to the community in an emotional ceremony.

The clearance is the work of The HALO Trust, the humanitarian demining charity whose teams have destroyed more than 235,000 mines in Zimbabwe since 2013. Oak supports HALO with a USD 3.5 million grant, through its special interest programme, toward the goal of a mine-free Zimbabwe and wider clearance in the region.

Crucially, HALO's work does not end when the land is declared safe. The charity trains the local men and women it employs in literacy, numeracy, accounting and other transferable skills, and runs small farms beside its remote minefield camps.

"Small farms built alongside remote minefield camps provide ongoing training in sustainable and regenerative farming practices," said James Cowan, HALO's chief executive. "This approach allows soil, water, nutrients and other natural resources to recover naturally."

For families living alongside the cleared land, the difference is immediate. "We will be able to expand our plot by another hectare or two so we can grow a cash crop," said Sarudzai Kamoyo, a mother of three who lives next to recently demined land. "With one more hectare we can make around 200 dollars per harvest, which would allow us to buy domestic products and pay for school fees much more easily."

Bringing tired land back to life

Once the mines are gone, the question becomes how to farm the land well. Two Zimbabwean organisations, both backed by Oak, are answering it.

The Agricultural Partnerships Trust, formed in 2010, has trained more than 150 smallholders in Mount Darwin in regenerative methods, giving farmers access to equipment such as two-wheel tractors that reduce the need to till the soil.

"We're helping to improve farming methods, reduce labour and improve cattle health, which all increases earnings," said its director, Michael Dawes, noting that the trust has also helped start a community-owned dairy scheme and a wild-fruits processing venture. Oak's Zimbabwe programme supports the trust with USD 225,000 over two years.

In neighbouring Mashonaland East, the Zimbabwe Women's Bureau supports a cooperative of 36 women farming five hectares once abandoned to drought. With two boreholes and a solar-powered water pump, the women have learned crop rotation, composting, mulching and drip irrigation, and have begun earning an income from selling vegetables, paying school fees and securing a contract to grow chillis.

"The women are working hand-in-hand with nature to create a food production system that's sustainable for future generations," said Ronika Mumbire, the bureau's executive director. The work is funded through a USD 350,000 grant from Oak's environment programme.

It takes a village

When a parent dies, a community decides what happens next. The Farm Orphan Support Trust, founded in 1995, builds on that instinct. It strengthens "kinship care", the care provided by grandparents, relatives or close family friends, so that children who have lost one or both parents stay connected to their siblings and communities rather than being uprooted.

The need is large. The report cites World Bank data estimating that roughly 510,000 children in Zimbabwe have lost their mother or both parents to AIDS before the age of 15. Since 2003, the trust says, it has helped more than 15,700 such children attend school and supported 15,000 women to start small businesses through self-help groups.

"We are looking at how we can support these households to support themselves, and to build their own household security," said Lynn Walker, a trustee of the organisation. Oak funds the trust with USD 450,000 over three years.

A pattern, not a list

Read together, these grants share a logic. The foundation says it aligns its Zimbabwe grant-making to government and international development goals, and concentrates on three things: helping families and communities thrive, building skills and entrepreneurship, and supporting children and others with special needs.

The common thread is patience. Demined fields, trained farmers, a hospice that will not turn anyone away, a child kept within their family: none of these are quick wins, and none make much noise. But for the Zimbabweans on the receiving end, they are the difference between getting by and building something that lasts.