Story by Theophilus Chuma
ONE million people across the country are targeted for enhanced awareness under a joint initiative between the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which will strengthen focus on early pregnancy, sexual reproduction, drug abuse and food security.
It is a union coming with immense humanitarian benefits with the two United Nations aid arms concurring the Memorandum of Understanding sealed in Harare this Friday, will complement government efforts through linking food security with sexual and reproductive health, nutrition with protection, and dignity with empowerment.
The initiative is expected to directly impact at least one million people across rural communities through enhanced access to family planning services and safe pathways out of violence.
“Let’s take this year’s lean season for example where WFP assisted almost a million people, some of them were women, pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under five. So in the future whether it be lean season or whether it be resilience building, we want to curate the distribution experience where we can target on a particular day a group of vulnerable people,” WFP Country Director, Ms Barbara Clemens said.
According to the aid agencies, the initiative will target the most vulnerable women and girls, including many who are at risk of gender-based violence, contributing to ensuring greater protection and enhancing livelihoods and dignity.
UNFPA Country Representative Ms Miranda Tabifor says the project seeks to curb long-standing social ills such as teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence.
“The projections are very positive. We aim to ensure that there should not be any teenage pregnancy in any community which is something that we will push under this initiative. If women come to collect their food at distribution points, this is the information that they will be able to have access to. So it is a very important initiative which we want to maximise on and ensure that we pass the information across communities,” she said.
The programme will feed into running programmes under the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare as well as the Ministry of Health and Child Care, providing a critical pedestal to addressing current challenges facing adolescents and children under five.
The initiative is also lauded as a pivotal strategy to enhance cost-efficiency considering global challenges affecting donor funding.
