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ZIMBABWE:
Network of support set up for OVC
IRIN News
February 17, 2004
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39534
JOHANNESBURG
- A community-based support network is hoping to provide material
and emotional support to more than 40,000 orphans and vulnerable
children (OVC) in Zimbabwe.
The network
was initiated in November last year by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF),
in partnership with the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society, Family AIDS
Caring Trust Mutare (FACT), and the Centre for Total Transformation
(CTT).
The year-long
programme, funded by the European Community Humanitarian Office,
assists OVC in 27 districts spread over eight provinces, said Ron
Pouwels, the project officer in UNICEF's child protection unit.
"Subject
to receiving more funding, we hope to extend the scope of the programme
to include more OVC - 40,000 is a small figure compared to the total
760,000 OVC estimated to be living in Zimbabwe," he said.
The network
currently provides psychosocial support to the community as well
as the children. "We try to strengthen the community, and raise
awareness to prevent the abuse of children," said Pouwels.
In the short
term, the network had been able to assist some of the OVC with their
school fees, which had increased by up to 400 percent in the past
two months.
According to
the latest report from the UN Relief and Recovery Unit (RRU), the
programme considers key humanitarian issues such as water and sanitation,
health, food and nutrition. "Constant monitoring and evaluation
to assess the impact of intervention will enable organsiations to
draw lessons for better implementation of related projects in other
areas," the report noted.
CTT had already
conducted a baseline survey on the wellbeing of the OVC in the Chiweshe
district of Mashonaland Central province. According to the findings,
41 percent of the children interviewed were employed, about 25 percent
were drinking unsafe water and 35 percent did not have access to
proper toilet facilities.
FACT and the
Red Cross Society had completed a similar study in other areas and
were in the process of finalising their report.
The WFP and
its implementing partners were assisting 53,000 school children
at the beginning of September last year. This year, WFP hopes to
reach 400,000 primary school children across 15 districts by the
end of the first term in April, said the RRU report.
UNICEF, in collaboration
with the World Food Programme (WFP), were running a school feeding
programme in some of the districts, targeting the most vulnerable
primary school children at satellite schools in the commercial farming
areas. The programme provided the children in beneficiary schools
with a daily supplementary ration.
"The food
acts as an incentive for children to come to school and also helps
the children overcome short-term hunger, improving their concentration
whilst in the classroom," the RRU report explained.
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