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Zimbabwe: Government, UNICEF Set Up Us$85m Fund for Orphans
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 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
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The Herald (Harare)
16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008
Harare
Government and the United Nations Children's Fund, in partnership with non-governmental organisations, will assist more than 400 000 orphans under a US$85 million programme that seeks to empower communities look after vulnerable children.
The Programme of Support to the National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children is currently assisting 165 980 children.
In an interview yesterday, Unicef programme co-ordinator Mr Roeland Monasch said funds from donors are pooled in a fund managed by Unicef and co-ordinated by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.
"The funds are used to finance hundreds of civil society interventions aimed at supporting the country's most vulnerable children.
"We have pooled in funds from six donor agencies where the money would be administered under a single body and the non-governmental organisations undertaking the programmes would concentrate on their core businesses," he said.
"The partnership reduces transaction costs, improves co-ordination, streamlines reporting, increases transparency, and critically, allows for straightforward and dramatic scaling-up of programmes for the country's orphans and vulnerable children."
Mr Monasch said a considerable number of children had lost a single or both parents and the programme would reduce cases of children being committed to institutions.
"The programme would assist communities look after the disadvantaged children. The Government and Unicef are working with 26 intermediary NGOs from across the country assisting families that are caring for orphans and vulnerable children in the communities."
Mr Monasch said the programmes had been well received in the communities where they have been working with Government officials at district levels.
"The need for assistance in the country is huge and we hope that in the next four years many orphans and vulnerable children in the country would have benefited from the programme," he said. One in four Zimbabwean children has lost a parent or both through death and there are more than 1,3 million orphans.
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The programme also assists children with disabilities, affected by and/or infected with HIV and Aids, destitute children, those living on the street, married children, neglected children, abused children, children with chronically ill parents and other vulnerable children as defined by their communities.
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