Global News Post: Zimbabwe

ZIMBABWE: Dying Rivers Dry Up Livelihoods

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYX5g5WSmIB1Hcou9j_z04KlDf91kqq1m-ipefCheRsJ8RPzrSNwol8Iw93HykJh38kIRB7twAF7w9owJhFlurDr6-wDbneq_jIIVhqzxZW2bmfx8YBtjxfjnFyDCrcKKcZdgL5bkzeCA/s1600/200705022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYX5g5WSmIB1Hcou9j_z04KlDf91kqq1m-ipefCheRsJ8RPzrSNwol8Iw93HykJh38kIRB7twAF7w9owJhFlurDr6-wDbneq_jIIVhqzxZW2bmfx8YBtjxfjnFyDCrcKKcZdgL5bkzeCA/s1600/200705022.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Photo: David Morton/IRIN<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Poverty has pushed many Zimbabweans into illegal gold panning<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">MUREWA (IRIN) - Thousands of poor Zimbabweans have turned to illegal panning for precious minerals, but environmental and water experts say their activities are contributing to the drying up of rivers which many communities rely on for their livelihoods. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Siltation of rivers is becoming endemic in the country, particularly in regions where there is acute illegal panning of minerals, especially gold. Rivers have been reduced to rivulets,” said the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) in a November 2011 statement aimed at drawing attention to the country's "dying rivers and water bodies" and their impact on downstream communities. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Illegal gold mining is common along rivers that run close to the Great Dyke, a hilly mineral-rich belt which cuts across most of the country, and is concentrated in Mashonaland Central, West, East and Midlands provinces. Diamond panning is associated with the Chiadzwa District of Manicaland. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">According to John Robertson, a Harare-based economic consultant, people began turning to gold panning in large numbers in the early 1990s when the country was hit by poor harvests due to droughts and job layoffs resulting from the government's economic structural adjustment programme. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The damage caused by illegal mining is enormous. It is a vicious cycle as people are taking to panning in order to earn a living, but in the end their activities are causing untold degradation,” Robertson told IRIN. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Monica Mapeka, a 24-year-old single mother of two from rural Murewa District, about 100km northeast of Harare, the capital, regularly visits the banks of Mazowe river, a tributary of the River Zambezi which passes through the area, in search of alluvial gold. Armed with a pick, shovel and container, and clad in muddy overalls, she joins hundreds of other illegal gold panners popularly known as `makorokoza’ in digging up the riverbed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">From dusk until dawn, she and two other women work together to mix the earth they have dug up with water and move it in circular motions in containers until they are left with small quantities of mud containing shiny yellow particles of alluvial gold. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“On a lucky day, we get something like two ounces that we sell for US$40 and share the money. If you work hard enough, it’s easy to get rich,” said Mapeka. “We are single mothers and have to do something to fend for our children and other members of the extended family; otherwise we will starve and walk in rags." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Mercury pollution <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In an effort to concentrate their yield, the `makorokoza’ often mix the residual ore with mercury, a practice that Steady Kangata, the education and publicity manager for the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), said created a health hazard for people and animals downstream. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Mercury has the tendency to accumulate in the bodies of animals and humans who consume it, and in the case of people, if it gathers to a certain level, it can cause hair loss and the breakdown of the nervous system,” he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In recent decades, Mairosi Mangwende, 60, also from Murewa, has witnessed Mazowe river degenerate from a fast-flowing waterway which was too deep to cross during the raining season, to a muddy trickle. The activities of the illegal miners have marked the river bed with deep holes and gullies where the water collects in small rivulets that quickly dry up. The large amount of soil they dig up is eventually washed away by rain, silting up the river downstream. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Almost throughout the year, we would get fish to eat at home and sell but that is no longer the case,” said Mangwende. “The cattle and goats are suffering because they cannot drink this muddy water.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He added that households used to own as many as 50 cattle, but that it had become rare for a family to have even eight beasts, partly because of the scarcity of drinking water for livestock. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Vegetable gardens that used to dot the river banks had also virtually disappeared, said Mangwende, and households could no longer rely on the income they earned from selling produce from riverside gardens. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Diamond mining <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Zimbabwe's largest river, the River Save, which flows east towards Mozambique and the Indian Ocean, is another victim of illegal mining. Diamond mining at Chiadzwa, where thousands flocked after the discovery of alluvial diamonds in 2005, has contributed to the drying up of the river and the many communal livelihood activities it supported such as gardening, smallholder irrigation projects and bricklaying. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">ZINWA has called for stiffer penalties for illegal mining and urged greater joint action with the mines ministry, EMA and the Wildlife Management Authority, while EMA has carried out joint operations with the police to arrest the illegal panners. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">According to Mapeka, such efforts have had little effect: “There is so much poverty and some of these police officers take bribes to let us continue.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Climate change <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">According to a 2010 report on climate change vulnerability and adaptation preparedness in Southern Africa commissioned by the German organization, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, rising temperatures and droughts are also playing a role in the drying up of Zimbabwe's rivers. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The report predicted that rates of evapo-transpiration from river basins will continue to increase as temperatures rise while runoff was projected to decline, with the Zambezi Basin the worst affected. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“It is often the case that when people’s livelihoods are threatened, as has happened in the case of rivers running dry, they tend to look for alternative survival opportunities that the environment can provide,” said Unganai. “For instance, they invade the forests and cut down trees, leading to deforestation that in turn causes massive runoff that further silts up the rivers.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Robertson said siltation was reducing water volumes in downstream dams and would eventually affect agriculture. “We still have commercial farming activities that are fed by existing dams but siltation will finally affect them, leading to hundreds of families losing their sources of income when breadwinners lose their jobs,” he told IRIN. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Communities that have been heavily dependent on rivers for their livelihoods need to be helped to look for other sources of income away from the river courses, said William Nduku of the Forum for Environmental Education. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Faced by dying rivers, the best option is to relocate livelihood activities from those water bodies to the homesteads through the provision of communal water points such as boreholes which can be effective in communal or smallholder market gardening while also providing water for livestock and other uses," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

ZIMBABWE: Dying Rivers Dry Up Livelihoods

Photo: David Morton/IRIN Poverty has pushed many Zimbabweans into illegal gold panning MUREWA (IRIN) - Thousands of poor Zimbabweans ha...

UN Hails Zimbabwe’s Efforts in Fighting HIV and AIDS

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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">HARARE (NNN-NEW ZIANA) -- The United Nations has hailed Zimbabwe for its policies and approach in fighting the HIV and AIDS pandemic.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">At 13.7 per cent, Zimbabwe has the lowest prevalence rate in the Southern African Development community (SADC) region and up to 420,000 people are accessing anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Speaking at the launch of the Zimbabwe Parliamentarians against HIV (ZIPAH) movement here last Thursday, UNAIDS country co-ordinator Tatiana Shoumulina said despite southern Africa being the epicenter of the pandemic, Zimbabwe had made significant strides in curbing HIV and AIDS.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span>“Zimbabwe is considered the best in mobilizing internal resources to fight HIV/AIDS. You might all agree with me that the AIDS Levy has gone a long way in this regard," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">She added that the UN was "committed to support and stand by you in your efforts". <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span>"We are confident that Zimbabwe will achieve its objectives,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">SADC Parliamentary Forum Secretary-General Essau Chiviya stressed the need for an all-encompassing regional approach in the fight against the epidemic. "If we managed to achieve liberation in the region as a result of combined regional efforts the same approach will surely not fail against HIV and AIDS," he said. -- NNN-NEW ZIANA<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

UN Hails Zimbabwe’s Efforts in Fighting HIV and AIDS

HARARE (NNN-NEW ZIANA) -- The United Nations has hailed Zimbabwe for its policies and approach in fighting the HIV and AIDS pandemic. At ...

India Steps Up Drive to Invest In Zimbabwe

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<div style="border-bottom: double windowtext 2.25pt; border: none; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;">  <div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">HARARE (NNN-NEW ZIANA) -– A high-level business and government delegation from India, led by Industry, Commerce and Textiles Minister Anand Sharma, is expected in Zimbabwe early next week to explore various areas of co-operation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The visit of the delegation, comprising at least 24 companies representing various sectors including agriculture, information technology (IT), mining, finance, manufacturing and energy, is a follow up to an earlier one in September last year led by Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia, who brought a delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Zimbabwe</span></st1:country-region><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">'s Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Secretary, Dr Desire Sibanda, said here Wednesday ratification of the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) between <st1:country-region w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> late last year had helped provide impetus to the investment relations between the two countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"<st1:country-region w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> have strong business ties as personified by the ratification of the BIPPA between the two countries late in 2011," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">As part of the visit, an investment conference would be held in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Harare</st1:place></st1:city> under the theme, “Partnership for Growth”.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Dr Sibanda said some of the objectives of the delegation's visit included providing a platform for decision makers both in the private and public sectors from both countries to discuss specific opportunities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Indian companies would also be provided with the opportunity to participate in projects in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:place></st1:country-region> through partnerships as well as get more information on identified priority sectors as outlined in the country's Medium Term Plan (MTP).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">They would also be appraised on the investment and business environment prevailing in the country. The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:country-region></st1:place> government is committed to raising foreign direct investment (FDI) levels from 4.0 per cent of GDP registered in 2009 to at least 25 per cent by 2015, said Dr Sibanda.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"In this regard, the Ministry of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion is intensifying its international investment promotional tours and conferences to showcase <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zimbabwe</st1:place></st1:country-region> as a viable investment destination in order to meet this target," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Indian delegation will meet government officials and the private sector to explore areas of co-operation and investments.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Approximately 9.2 billion USD in investments are required to finance the MTP in order to meet the growth and development targets set for the plan period with FDI expected to provide a significant chunk of the inflows. -- NNN-NEW ZIANA</span></div>

India Steps Up Drive to Invest In Zimbabwe

HARARE (NNN-NEW ZIANA) -– A high-level business and government delegation from India, led by Industry, Commerce and Textiles Minister Ana...

Zimbabwe’s orphans to benefit from UN-backed cash grant programme

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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Tens of thousands of Zimbabwean orphans and otherwise vulnerable children will benefit from cash transfers, educational aid and protection services under a new Government programme launched in partnership with the United Nations and international donors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Donors have mobilized $45 million of the $75 million needed for the Child Protection Fund for the next three years, but the gap needs to be filled to ensure full national coverage of the programme, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a news release.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Protecting children from poverty, harm and abuse begins with reducing their vulnerabilities; cash transfers are one of the critical components that will contribute to the realization of children’s rights,” UNICEF’s representative Peter Salama said of the initiative, which was launched yesterday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The national action plan, led by the Zimbabwean ministry of labour and social services, combines action to help families cope with risks and shocks through three main interventions: cash transfers to the poorest families; basic educational aid; and protection services for child survivors of abuse, violence and exploitation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It aims to reach more than 80,000 households. With the support from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), at least 25,000 children will benefit from access to quality child protection services.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Child-headed and grandparent-headed households, and those with large numbers of dependents and with chronically ill people or persons living with disabilities, will be cushioned with social cash transfers of up to $25 per month to enable families to meet immediate needs for food and health care. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">HIV is a significant contributor to household poverty and child vulnerability in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Zimbabwe</place></country-region>, resulting in youngsters lacking access to adequate basic social services and being increasingly exposed to violence, abuse and exploitation, UNICEF noted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">There are over a million orphans in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Zimbabwe</place></country-region> and only 527,000 of these currently have access to external support. Traditional family and community mechanisms to support orphans have been under considerable financial strain resulting in more children facing difficulties accessing health care, education and other basic amenities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The international donor community involved comprises the <country-region w:st="on">Netherlands</country-region>, <country-region w:st="on">Sweden</country-region>, the <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">United Kingdom</place></country-region> and the European Commission. --- UN News</span></div>
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Zimbabwe’s orphans to benefit from UN-backed cash grant programme

Tens of thousands of Zimbabwean orphans and otherwise vulnerable children will benefit from cash transfers, educational aid and protecti...