Musa Makina
TSHOLOTSHO and Nkayi districts both in Matabeleland North province are among five districts in the country who are set to benefit from the launch of a US$3,2 million fund meant to assist in dealing with disaster preparedness.
The mitigation fund which has been availed by World Vision Zimbabwe, will see the involvement of other partners as Welthungerlhife, Christian Blind Mission and various government departments.
The funding has been sourced from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid operations and aims to improve early response and access to inclusive education in protective environments for over 200 000 children, women and men.
“The two-year project, which began its operations on the 1st of June 2021 is being implemented in five districts namely Chipinge, Chimanimani, Buhera, Tsholotsho and Nkayi.
“These districts are disproportionately affected by a combination of disasters, including droughts, floods, cyclones, and hailstorms that affect access to education services and erode disaster preparedness capacities,” reads the statement.
The project has been named, “Strengthening Community-Led Actions on Education and Disaster Preparedness (SCALE-DP Project).
SCALE-DP Programme manager Tapiwa Muzerengi said the interventions will use existing community structures to ensure the sustainability and participation of vulnerable groups.
“Among others, the programme will enhance disaster preparedness of 250 schools in five districts of operations. This programme is unique because it is inclusive, for example it will incorporate disaster preparedness and response for people with disabilities. This will include the procurement of assistive devices for children with varying disabilities,” he said.
Muzerengi also said the project will fund braille material for the visually impaired, retro-fitting such as building ramps to ensure that those with physical impairments can access classrooms for learning. The programme would also facilitate the refurbishment of the school’s infrastructure to withstand harsh weather conditions.
“The programme will also enable the stock piling of non-food items, revitalizing community disaster preparedness committees as well as enhancing functional early warning systems so that communities can adequately respond in case of an emergency,” he said.
He further noted that during times of disaster vulnerable groups, like children and people with disabilities are the most affected adding that Covid-19 has worsened the disaster preparedness and response.
