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Funding Boosts Hope for the Education of Zimbabwe’s Vulnerable and Orphaned Children
United Nations Children’s Fund Zimbabwe (UNICEF)
July 05, 2004

Harare -The United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF) today received a contribution of US$465,920 from the New Zealand Agency for International Development to fund a multifaceted primary education, life and livelihood skills project for children out of school and dropouts involving both schools and surrounding communities in 2 districts. The 2-year project will target 20 primary schools in Zimbabwe's southwestern districts of Bulilima and Mangwe, with objectives to improve the quality of HIV/AIDS life skills education, provide educational opportunities and improve psychosocial care for 10,000 orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC). Schools, community members, and especially those families caring for OVC, will co-develop and strengthen their abilities to better respond to the educational, psychosocial and economic challenges related to OVC, both as a group and individually.

The funding is viewed as critical support at this time when family and community coping mechanisms are stretched. Last year alone, enrolment rates dropped 30 per cent to 65 per cent nationally. As school fees rose, many children were forced to drop-out, especially the orphaned, creating an environment for even greater vulnerability. This project now presents as an opportunity to help redress the situation.

"Today's number of orphans in Zimbabwe stands at over 1 million, of which 75% are orphaned as a direct result of the AIDS pandemic. And trends predict a continued rise, with numbers expected to catapult beyond 1.3 million by the year 2005 - a figure that clearly cannot be ignored,"said UNICEF Representative Dr. Festo P. Kavishe, "We welcome this support provided by New Zealand AID. We know that investing in children's education, especially for the country's most vulnerable, is the best way to provide them with the needed care and support and in turn stop the virus spreading further.

The implementation strategy for this initiative is premised on a right's based approach to programming involving technical support from UNICEF and its partners, plus active community participation at all levels. Over the years project experience has demonstrated that involved communities promote ownership and empowerment, which ultimately creates lasting benefits to society as a whole. The success of this project towards integrating these children back into mainstream education could lend itself well as the replicating model for future similar programmes across the nation.

A spokesperson for New Zealand AID, emphasized the importance of addressing the situation now. "We are pleased to contribute funding to this important initiative on behalf of Zimbabwe's orphaned children. The crucial work UNICEF and others are doing in the area of child education will offer Zimbabwe's orphans and other disadvantaged, an opportunity for a better future."

UNICEF Zimbabwe works both at national level and in 18 target districts in the country in areas of health, nutrition, water and sanitation, HIV/AIDS, education and life skills in efforts to ensure the basic rights of all children are realized.

For more information, please contact:
Shantha Bloemen, Communications Officer, UNICEF Zimbabwe,
Tel: +263 4 703941/2 Ext. 222 Mobile: +263 (0)91 276120
E-mail: sbloemen@unicef.org

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