The ManicaPost
Luthando Mapepa Chipinge Correspondent
SIX schools that were destroyed by the furious Clyclone Idai have received essential supplies valued at USD$100 000 from the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and its implementing partner Save the Children.
The beneficiary schools include Denemi primary, Mutsvangwa secondary and primary schools in Chimanimani as well as Paidamoyo primary, Ngaone primary and secondary schools in Chipinge.
Each school received supplies and funding for the construction and rehabilitation of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, furniture, blankets, learning materials and food relief items.
Speaking during the handover ceremony at Paidamoyo Primary School in Chipinge last Friday, Save the Children head of operations Dr Gift Mashango said their organisation was working with partners to ensure that children survive and are protected.
He said the organisation entered into a partnership with TDB to rehabilitate damaged infrastructure at the selected schools in Chipinge and Chimanimani.
“Save the Children’s mandate is to ensure that every child receives quality education and protection. In Zimbabwe we have five thematic areas that complementing each other towards empowering children.
“Education is one of the key capacity building measures toward attainment of sustainable development for the next generation. We have an effective partnership with TDB to that effect and we are very grateful. We endeavour to see that all children are treated equally, and therefore denounce vices such as early child marriages.
“We have assisted six schools through this funding, mainly targeting sanitation infrastructure. We drill solar powered boreholes because the springs they were using were washed away during Cyclone Idai,” he said.
TDB executive member Mrs Gloria Mamba said the gesture was part of their corporate social responsibility.
“This programme is part of our corporate social responsibility rather than traditional lending opportunities. After Cyclone Idai, we felt that we needed to participate in reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure, hence our decision to support schools. This is how we ended up working with Save the Children. We are looking to venture into self-sustainable programme at the schools to avoid the dependency syndrome,” she said.
