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ZIMBABWE: NGOs sign agreement with govt to step up aid
IRIN News
September 25, 2003
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36816
Johannesburg
- An association of European NGOs involved in providing food aid
to Zimbabwe hopes a new agreement with the government will improve
coordination of humanitarian efforts.
The association,
EuronAid, said in a statement that it had signed the agreement with
government "in an effort to step up assistance for the population
of Zimbabwe during the actual shortage of staple food and basic
agricultural inputs".
The agreement
was signed on Tuesday and would "improve the efficiency of
[EuronAid's] programme", which was being implemented together
with Zimbabwean and international NGOs, with funding from the European
Commission (EC).
EuronAid secretary-general
Dr Gerhard Schmalbruch stressed during the signing ceremony with
the Director of the Ministry of Social Welfare, S. Mhishi, that
he was convinced the agreement would improve the coordination of
aid efforts between the government, NGOs and the EC.
"He also
expressed his conviction that the efforts of civil society organisations
working at the grassroots level with the population of Zimbabwe
is of the utmost importance in overcoming the actual shortcomings
of food production and food availability in Zimbabwe," EuronAid
noted.
Schmalbruch
thanked the government of Zimbabwe for their flexibility during
the negotiations leading to the present agreement, and expressed
his appreciation for "the positive direction contained in the
statement of the government regarding the distribution of humanitarian
aid", EuronAid added.
The EC had so
far donated Euro 15 million (about US $17.2 million) to EuronAid
programmes in Zimbabwe. Schmalbruch also "expressed his confidence
that the additional required Euro 10 million [about US $11.5 million]
could be made available for this programme, despite the competition
over funds for food crises and emergencies worldwide".
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