Fungai Lupande — The devolution agenda has made it easier for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to conduct business in Mbire, addressing areas such as human-wildlife conflict, access to clean water, humanitarian aid, teenage pregnancies and child marriages.
To facilitate dialogue and coordination among NGOs, the District Development Coordinators' Office has established an NGO forum.
World Vision is one of the organisations that has been operating in Mbire for the past 15 years, focusing on education and livelihood programmes.
Its programmes manager, Mrs Evy Chinhema, praised Mbire Rural District Council and stakeholders for NGO interventions, for making it easy to do business in the area.
"We thank the local authority and today we have gathered as NGOs to coordinate activities. We are taking stock of where we are and map ways of complementing each other to have greater impact and reach," she said.
"We still have a lot of work on gender issues and sexual reproductive health and today marks the beginning of a great future to come."
World Vision is involved in improving learning environments through the construction of classroom blocks and supporting learning activities in classrooms.
They are also engaged in child protection in schools and climate-smart agriculture projects.
Mr Walter Mupezweni, a conservation planner with the African Wildlife Foundation, said human-wildlife conflict was rife in Mbire, particularly related to predation and crop raiding. Collaboration with the local authority and ZimParks aims to address these issues through data-driven decision-making.
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"We have noticed that people and wildlife meet at water points and some of our interventions include improving access to water for communities. To date, we have implemented four solar-powered piped water schemes."
They also support community scouts with equipment to respond to cases of human-wildlife conflict.
Councillor Christmas Kachasu from Ward 1 in Chapoto reiterated the efforts of NGOs in reducing human-wildlife conflict.
Chapoto Village, which is more than 105km away from the district office, is vulnerable to the problem of animals, especially elephants from neighbouring Zambia and Mozambique.
Cllr Kachasu praised President Mnangagwa for the construction of a school for the Doma tribe and appealed for swift responses to problem animals from ZimParks officials in the district. Mbire
District Development Coordinator Mr Richard Maruta said NGOs in Mbire were complementing Government's drive of attaining Vision 2030 premised on an empowered upper middle income society.
The director of Economic Affairs and Investment, Mr Levi Katambarare, said devolution was an enabler of Vision 2030, bringing governance closer to the people and promoting transparency, accountability and democratic participation in governance by all citizens.
