A study by World Bank, (2010) reveals that most projects hardly make deliberate efforts to ensure participation and involvement of the community. Most donor funded projects are not sufficiently flexible to apply proven principles of community development, build local ownership and allow adequate time to build counterpart knowledge and skills threatens the ideals of development. […]
Quality and resilient infrastructure places learners on a pathway to inclusive quality education. Children with better infrastructure generally tend to perform better in school than those without. In this light, UNOPS Zimbabwe under Zimbabwe Idai Recovery Project is building back better school infrastructure that was destroyed by Cyclone Idai. Seven schools are currently under construction. […]
The availability of safe drinking water for human consumption and livestock has always been a challenge in Mutare Rural District. The district experienced recurrent droughts in the past decade with annual rainfall averaging only between 450 and 600 mm. The main sources of domestic water have been boreholes, deep wells, sand abstraction and rivers, most […]
Zimbabwe is exposed to multiple weather-related hazards. It periodically experiences cyclones, droughts, floods and related landslides, which in turn spawn health epidemics. To compound matters, climate change is increasing both the frequency and intensity of the tropical storms and cyclones in this region. As part of the Zimbabwe Idai Recovery Project funded through the World […]
“Before ZIRP, the scheme was operating at less than 41%. All the activities that have been implemented here by the different partners have restored productivity of the scheme to what it was in 1997 when the scheme started,” Lovemore Mboko, the chairperson of Maunganidze Irrigation Schemes beams. He outlines the various interventions which the scheme […]
Poor personal hygiene and inadequate sanitation practices among young children leads to communicable diseases. Good health and education are vital components of a child’s early development. Schools, especially in rural areas, can play a pivotal role of improving learners health by implementing sanitation and hygiene management practices and running promotional activities. Through ZIRP funding from […]
The availability of safe drinking water for human consumption and livestock has always been a challenge in Mutare Rural District. The district experienced recurrent droughts in the past decade with annual rainfall averaging only between 450 and 600 mm. The main sources of domestic water have been boreholes, deep wells, sand abstraction and rivers, most […]
“When Cyclone Idai hit in March 2019, and destroyed our irrigation scheme we lost hope for a better future, as our major source of income had been destroyed. In addition my family house was destroyed. Without ZIRP support, we would not have recovered, our lives have changed” narrates 39-year-old widow Lucy Chikarata, with […]
Cyclone Idai contributed to cattle mortalities in the target districts that ZIRP is working. Already the herd of cattle was reducing due to high tick-borne diseases (TBDs) induced by lack of repairs to communally owned dip tanks and erratic supply of acaricide for community dipping services. “FAO under the ZIRP project responded to the […]
Sustainability is an important aspect of ZIRP. Whilst farmers who received chickens for small livestock received 25kg of chicken feed at the project outset, beneficiaries cannot sustain the use of commercial feed. Therefore ZIRP introduced the production of Black Soldier Flies (BSF) as cheap alternative protein source for feeding poultry to enhance production and productivity. […]