The World Food Programme (WFP) has received a $5.7 million contribution from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support people vulnerable to food insecurity across urban and rural areas in Zimbabwe.
WFP, it is understood, will use the fund to better prepare communities with sustainable livelihood opportunities and improve their capacity to cope with shocks such as Covid-19 and climate change.
Available data shows that 42 percent of the urban population in Zimbabwe is food insecure, with many impacted by the loss of informal jobs.
According to the 2020 Urban Livelihoods Assessment report by the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC), 2.4 million urban dwellers are estimated to be cereal insecure.
The findings showed increasing food insecurity of vulnerable households by 12 percent since 2019. This was due in part to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures that resulted in the widespread loss of urban livelihoods.
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), in its latest Zimbabwe situation report, also said despite improved cereal security in the country, as a result of increased maize yield, food insecurity has persisted in some areas including urban areas.
‘Urban populations will benefit from the contribution through WFP’s Urban Resilience Building Programme which aims to reach up to 180,000 households across 19 urban domains’, the UN outfit said in a statement.
‘Additionally, 14,000 rural households in eight districts will receive support through WFP’s Food Assistance for Assets Programme.
‘This will empower communities with the tools required to grow and sell food to generate income as many urban livelihoods have been devastated by [Covid-19].
‘Complementary skills building will also be provided to communities such as financial literacy, vocational and digital skills, marketing and micro business management training’.
WFP said it would establish innovative projects like hydroponics in and around cities to encourage food production through environmentally sustainable techniques.
‘We have seen that resilience building activities are key to helping people move beyond a cycle of dependence and, as such, both programmes aim to improve livelihood opportunities and provide a regular source of food and nutrition security to people experiencing hardship’, WFP Country Director, Francesca Erdelmann, said.
‘Importantly, the programmes are community-led and focus on the development and maintenance of collective assets in addition to valuable life skills such as savings and financial literacy that yield longer-term benefits’.
Source: WFP
Photo source: WFP
