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'Political
crisis causing donor fatigue'
Bertha
Shoko,The Standard (Zimbabwe)
May 27, 2007
The
United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) last week urged Western
donors to ignore political problems in Zimbabwe and support the
health, nutrition and education programmes in the country. Standardhealth
understands that after Unicef's appeal for US$13.8 million six months
ago, only US$2,6 million had been received.
This donor fatigue,
according to Unicef, had left many of its program-mes grossly underfunded;
which the organisation believes could be political. Zimbabwe is
presently going through its worst economic and political crisis
since independence in 1980.
This economic
meltdown has been largely blamed on the maladministration of the
government of President Robert Mugabe.
As the economic
and political situation worsens, statistics from the child rights
organisation show that nearly one in three children has stunted
growth as a result of malnutrition.
This situation,
according to Unicef is the "worst since 1988".
Speaking at
a news briefing after meeting officials from donor countries, Unicef
deputy representative in Zimbabwe, Roeland Monasch, urged donors
not to punish children because of the political crisis in the country.
Monasch was quoted by international media organisations as saying:
"The message we are trying to convey is that, yes, there is
a standoff between the government of Zimbabwe and several parties
inside and outside, but the children should not suffer.
"If you
are concerned, for whatever reason, about channelling money through
the government, as Unicef we are able to reach the children."
James Elder,
Unicef spokesperson in Zimbabwe reiterated Monasch's statements.
"Zimbabwean people don't understand why they're living in a
very difficult political and economic situation and yet through
no fault of their own they're being punished by the rest of the
world who seem to be abandoning them," he said.
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