The ManicaPost
Post Reporter
MUTARE City Council has won the Multi-City Challenge Africa 2020 competition, beating four other African cities.
Mutare City Council won in the Urban Resilience and Informal Sector categories.
The local authority also received special recognition in the same categories and the announcement was made last week.
Among the cities Mutare City Council was competing with are Kampala in Uganda, Accra in Ghana, Kuno in Nigeria and Bahir Dar in Ethiopia.
The council’s spokesperson, Mr Spren Mutiwi, confirmed the development.
“City of Mutare was the only city representing Zimbabwe and Southern Africa in the Multi-City Challenge Africa 2020 competition. We want to express our gratitude to all local authorities, residents, institutions of higher learning and all media stakeholders that helped in marketing the Multi-City Challenge Africa competition. As stakeholders, we should continue working together and come up with sound solutions and innovations in order for the city to prosper.”He said winning the award has put Mutare on the continental map.
“We are happy that our winning ideas and solutions were among the top ideas.
Our thrust now is to meet all the respective winners and formulate an implementation plan to implement the solutions in addressing the common problems in local authorities.
“Our thrust is that by the same time next year, we want to evaluate the progress of implementation. Winning has raised our brand as a city and it is also an endorsement of Brand Zimbabwe,” said Mr Mutiwi.
He added: “What makes the programme more exciting is that residents and stakeholders were involved in formulating solutions to the day-to-day challenges which they face in local authorities. The crowd sourcing of ideas from every concerned stakeholders is part of the broader engagement programme which City of Mutare is pursuing. We want to appreciate every resident and key stakeholders who participated in the programme.
