WFP Zimbabwe is using a small grain pilot project to fight hunger and reduce future shocks by transforming communities from vulnerable to resilient.

The silence in Maranda village and the cries of hungry woodpeckers are clear evidence that the season did not go as planned for the farmers. This should be the time for storing the harvest and for woodpeckers to enjoy the spilled grain. But the rains did not deliver as hoped and the maize crop was a write-off across much of the country, particularly in the south.

The news, however, is somewhat better at the Masuku homestead, where close to 100 farmers are gathered to share the small grain seeds they harvested despite the scorching sun throughout the season.

For a while, Sipepisiwe Masuku (43) thought her fate was hopeless, but her life was mercifully transformed when she started planting small grains. Having been selected as one of the lead farmers in WFP’s small grains pilot project, Sipepisiwe says she really benefited from the training she received. She has harvested enough to see her through the next season and produced enough surplus to give seed to other farmers.

Under the project implemented in seven rural districts thanks to funding from China, farmers were able to plant a plot of land the size of a football pitch with sorghum, millet and rapoko grass.

The farmers were trained on the climatic and soil requirements for small grains production as well as on small grain varieties and expected yields. They learned about so many things - setting up demonstration plots, land preparation, planting, fertilizer, weed management and herbicides, pests and disease control, harvesting and storage, the keeping of records...

After they harvested, the lead farmers shared seeds with 10 beneficiary farmers.

“The small grains we have shared are the seeds of hope and a better future,” says Sipepisiwe, showing off her surplus. “Now I have enough to feed my family and to share with 10 other farmers. Because of the surplus I sold, I was able to pay for our children’s school fees. This is something I never thought would happen in my lifetime.”

To date, 348 farmers have been trained and supported with demo packs containing seeds, fertilizer and pesticide. Each lead farmer is responsible for training at least 10 additional farmers, bringing the beneficiary total for this project to nearly 3,500 farmers who have been directly or indirectly trained through farmer-to-farmer workshops.

by Ruzvidzo Mandizha

More and more HIV positive youths are sexually active and are causing the spread of the virus, reports RUZVIDZO MANDIZHA.

Yemurayi, 19, who is HIV positive, admitted to having had unprotected sex with her best friend. She now lives in fear and prays that she has not infected him with the virus.

She confessed that she was aware of her status and knows that she should not have allowed this to happen, but that she was afraid to reveal her HIV status to him. The couple had unprotected sex because they did not have access to condoms.

“I was under pressure. He kept pestering me to have sex. I knew my HIV status, but feared disclosing it because I thought he would turn against me and hate me. He is my best friend at school,” said Yemurayi.

Unfortunately a few minutes of pleasure may well haunt this young woman for the rest of her life and ruin a young man’s life for ever.

Peer pressure

Precious, another teenager who was born with the virus, admitted to having unprotected sex with some members of her school drama group and of not revealing her HIV status to any of them.

“When the drama group goes away on trips, we somehow pair up and often have sex back stage or in the toilets. Because of peer pressure teens often find themselves with no option but to have sex,” said Precious, although she admits that she has sexual desires.

Precious and Yemurayi are just two of the many HIV-positive teenagers who were born with the virus and who are now, as adolescents, exploring their own sexuality and unfortunately spreading the virus in the process.

Public record indicates that the Ministries of Health and Education cannot agree on whether school going children should be provided with condoms to prevent the further spread of the virus.

After school

Dr Chiura who runs a surgery in Mufakose says school-going children need to control their sexual desires until they leave school. “There is sex education in schools particularly in upper classes to prepare children for the time when they should become sexually active and that time is most certainly after school when they get married,” said Chiura.

However, Ruth Ngorima of Grarimba Youth Affirmative, a youth-based organisation, says the department of education’s approach can be likened to a bomb waiting to explode.

“We need to combine ethics and responsibility. It’s true that children should delay having sex, but we all know that children are becoming sexually active earlier. We need to help prevent them from getting HIV from those who are already infected – and if providing condoms is the solution to this then so be it,” said Ngorima.

Condoms at school

Ngorima, who has herself been living with HIV for many years, says government has a responsibility to provide condoms even to school-children so that they grow up understanding that it is normal to use them.

According to Dr. Jane Mutemi, a paediatrician at Harare Hospital who also counsels adolescents, most teenagers want to live responsible lives, but they expereince problems controlling their urges and desires and condoms are not freely accessible.

“They are going through puberty, the time of life when sexual desire is awakened. This is the reality whether they are HIV positive or not. The problem is that these teenagers do not have access to condoms at school and cannot afford to purchase them,” said Mutemi.

According to a study conducted among HIV positive adolescents and young adults between the ages of 11 to 21, the majority would naturally prefer partners who are HIV negative for fear of infection. This study, conducted by the Paediatric Infectious Diseases Clinic (PIDC), found that HIV positive young adults are a potential source of infection to others as they often hide their status.

The study concludes that even those who have chosen to abstain from sex after receiving counselling are beginning to ask the question, abstain until when?

Looking ahead to the next elections, Edward Chinhanhu discusses the prospects for peace and violence in Zimbabwe.

Observers of Zimbabwe have noted three main factors that could lead to violent conflict breaking out in the future. The first of these is the country’s and ruling party’s constitution, which some see as unclear on key issues. The second is on political succession, and the third on the recent split in the ruling party, coupled with an ever-increasing number of opposition parties.

The situation in Zimbabwe

The relatively peaceful period Zimbabwe has enjoyed belies the reality of life for manyFor a country ranked 125 out of 162 on the Global Peace Index, it may be surprising to some that Zimbabwe has not suffered from violent conflict in recent years. But recent events, coupled with simmering political tensions in the run-up to the 2018 national elections, are cause for concern. Addressing these issues now could be vital in preventing violence in the future.

The relatively peaceful period Zimbabwe has enjoyed belies the reality of life for many of its citizens. Millions of ordinary Zimbabweans are unemployed or do not have access to basic resources like food, health, electricity and transport. Currently, there is a critical shortage of clean water in Harare, sewers are not efficient, rubbish is strewn all over densely populated areas and people jostle for position to sell anything that can bring them a little money for the day.

The depressed socio-economic and political environment has seen calls for public marches and demonstrations from opposition political parties and some sections of civil society, but these have largely been ignored by the bulk of the population.

Similarly, pre-independence tribal tensions between the Shona and Ndebele, aggravated by the Gukurahundi killings in 1983, have not been resolved. Attempts have been made at the highest political level to address the animosity that exists between tribes, but with little or no consideration given to grassroots projects focused on reconciling differences and promoting cooperation and dialogue. The highly centralised government and one-party system – constituted since independence in 1980 – has been accused of marginalising minority ethnic groups in Zimbabwe. Calls to devolve power to rural areas and increase political participation for marginalised tribes have been resisted, and voting is therefore predominately along tribal lines.

The run-up to the 2018 national elections

There is rising tension among the political elite in ZimbabweThere is rising tension among the political elite in Zimbabwe, which it is feared will increase as the national elections draw nearer. President Mugabe – in power since independence in 1980 – has confirmed his intention to stand as a candidate for the ruling Zanu PF party, however, dissent and rifts in the party ranks threaten to disrupt what Mugabe would have hoped to be a routine run-up to polling day. The expulsion of the Vice President, Joice Mujuru, along with 140 of her supporters, in December 2014 caused a huge split in Zanu PF. Those expelled, mostly long-serving liberation war comrades, cabinet ministers and senior party officials, lost no time in forming their own political party. This puts the erstwhile Zanu PF comrades at loggerheads and could lead to a potential showdown in the coming 2018 elections.

Over the years there have been election-related complaints from political parties and private individuals but these have been ignored. Many crimes have also been committed during election times. Cases of abduction, unlawful arrests, murder, rape, arson, and disappearances have been reported but without state investigation or legal redress. Victims have largely remained uncompensated.

Furthermore, the events of the 2008 presidential election still linger in the collective conscious of the electorate. Results provisionally confirming that Mugabe had lost to rival and MDC party leader Morgan Tsvangirai were followed by a campaign of violence and a string of arrests of high profile opposition politicians and foreign journalists. The overturned election result which restored Mugabe as President was widely denounced by foreign governments and institutions amid claims of intimidation, violence, and electoral fraud. It is feared that the fracturing of Zimbabwe’s political elite coupled with the electorate’s propensity for voting along ethnic lines and alleged history of electoral malpractice and conflict, that violence is likely to erupt.

What violence would mean to the region and world

Violent conflict in Zimbabwe would affect not just Zimbabweans, but its neighbours and the entire region. In Zimbabwe itself, it would mean an absence of a functioning government, compromising the police’s ability to protect citizens and property. The running of schools, hospitals, and other public amenities would likely also be affected. If this were to happen in Zimbabwe, with its unresolved tensions, the potential chaos and violence would be substantial. As we have witnessed in other sub-Saharan countries, large swathes of the population could be forced to flee to neighbouring countries, resulting in a humanitarian crisis.

What civil society can do to avoid violent conflict in Zimbabwe

It is vital that Zimbabwean civil society preaches nonviolenceIt is vital that Zimbabwean civil society preaches nonviolence. Violence creates chaos, and advantage could be taken to cause atrocities. We should learn from our war of liberation, where very little of what we destroyed was repaired after independence. We need to keep uppermost in our minds what the international community has continuously repeated: that Zimbabweans should solve their own problems. It is important that civil society groups stick to their role, that of complementing government efforts, not opposing it publicly. That would exacerbate violence. Every organisation should have emergency kits in place to respond to the first signs of violence. Shelter, food, and water must be provided for people in the event of a crisis. Communication networks must be established to aid rapid responses to outbreaks of violence. Violent conflict in Zimbabwe is a real possibility. It may seem unlikely because of the surface calm. While history has taught us that revolutions rarely take place without blood loss, we should remember that this is the 21st Century, and more civilised methods should be used. The USSR fell without a single bullet fired, and Germany reunited without violence. Nonviolence is more powerful than violence. The only good thing that has come out of violence is negotiation. One wonders why people don’t go straight to the negotiation table.

You can help broadcast the work, experiences and opinions of local peacebuilders through the social media tabs on your left. As a forum for peacebuilders we actively encourage debate, and so if the above piece provoked any thoughts or opinions please share them in the comment box below. This article is published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA License. You are free to republish this article on your website, subject to some conditions. More information on republishing this article.

Poor Record in Several Member States

(Johannesburg, August 17, 2015) – The Southern African Development Community (SADC) should take concrete steps to improve respect for human rights among member states and strengthen regional human rights institutions, Human Rights Watch said today. Heads of state of the SADC’s 15 members will meet on August 17 and 18, 2015, in Gaborone, Botswana, for their 35th summit.

In recent years, SADC governments have taken retrogressive steps on rights, weakening and undermining the SADC tribunal and its mandate for human rights protection. In May 2011, SADC leaders dissolved the tribunal as it was then formed and in August 2014 adopted a new protocol for a tribunal that would be stripped of the authority to receive complains from individuals or organizations in the region. The proposed new tribunal will rule only on disputes between member states.

“Action to strengthen the SADC human rights tribunal is a litmus test for its commitment to human rights,” said Dewa Mavhinga, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “SADC leaders should change course and restore the tribunal’s power to receive and rule on human rights cases from individuals in member states.”

There are also concerns about human rights and rule of law issues in Angola, Swaziland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch said. SADC member states have taken little action to ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law in all southern African countries despite identifying peace, security, and the promotion of human rights as key concerns within the region.

In Angola, the government limits the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests, and intimidation prevent peaceful anti-government protests, strikes, and other gatherings. Limited independent media, self-censorship, and government repression have curtailed free speech. The government has sometimes pursued criminal defamation lawsuits against outspoken journalists and activists, such as the profoundly flawed prosecution of a leading Angolan journalist, Rafael Marques de Morais, for publishing a book that exposed killings and torture in the country’s diamond fields. He was convicted and given a suspended prison sentence in May 2015.

In Zimbabwe, the government of President Robert Mugabe has ignored the rights provisions in the country’s new constitution, neither enacting laws to put the new constitution into effect nor amending existing laws to bring them in line with the constitution and Zimbabwe’s obligations under regional and international human rights agreements. The police use outdated and abusive laws to violate basic rights such as freedom of expression and assembly and to harass activists, human rights defenders, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. There has been no progress toward justice for human rights violations and past political violence.

Zimbabwe’s leadership has also failed to address fundamental economic and social rights concerns. For instance, the government has turned its back on 20,000 people who fled their homes because of massive flooding at Zimbabwe’s Tokwe-Mukorsi dam in February 2014. The government has coerced the flood victims to resettle onto one-hectare plots at a farm with close links to his ruling ZANU-PF party where they lack adequate shelter, safe drinking water, and access to sanitation and health services.

In Swaziland, human rights conditions and respect for the rule of law have deteriorated significantly. Restrictions on political activism and trade unions, such as under the draconian Suppression of Terrorism Act, violate international law, and activists and union members risk arbitrary detention and unfair trials. The independence of the judiciary has been severely compromised, as exemplified by the grossly unfair trial of Bhekithemba Makhubu, the prominent editor of the country’s monthly news magazine The Nation, and Thulani Maseko, a human rights lawyer. Both were sentenced on July 25, 2014, to two years in prison on contempt of court charges, then released on June 30, 2015.

On June 17, King Mswati III fired Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi for “serious misbehavior” following allegations of abuse of office and corruption. While that step won’t end corruption or ensure respect for the rule of law, it presents an opportunity for change and for Swaziland’s authorities – and its African neighbors – to demand an independent judiciary.

In South Africa, confidence in the government’s willingness to tackle human rights violations, corruption, and respect for the rule of law is being eroded. In April, xenophobic attacks on the businesses and homes of refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrants left several people dead and displaced thousands in Durban and Johannesburg. Yet the authorities deny that such violence against foreign nationals is motivated by xenophobia or other forms of intolerance.

In June, South African authorities violated a court order and permitted President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan to leave the country despite South Africa’s international legal obligations to arrest Bashir on an International Criminal Court warrant. Bashir, who faces charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in connection with the conflict in Darfur, was in South Africa from June 13 to 15 for an African Union Summit.

“Respect for human rights and the rule of law can bring peace and stability and help drive the regional economic development that improves people’s lives,” Mavhinga said. “Botswana, which takes over as SADC chair for the next 12 months, should make promoting human rights in the region its legacy.”

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Africa, please visit: http://www.hrw.org/africa

Summary of WFP assistance:

WFP is helping communities recover from cumulative shocks of previous crises (several years of poor rainy seasons and meagre harvests). Although agricultural production levels for 2014 were relatively fruitful, El Niño weather patterns have negatively affected Zimbabwe in 2015. Food insecurity is high, especially in a stressed year like this one, following erratic rains and drought. Based on results from the 2015 Second Round Crop and Livestock Assessment, there is a 650,000 mt cereal deficit to meet Zimbabwe’s food needs following the 2014/15 harvest season. Maize production has declined by almost 50 percent compared to last year. The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) 2015 Rural livelihoods Assessment— which is led by the Government with support from WFP and various partners— indicates that 1.5 million people (16 percent of the rural population) will have insufficient means to meet their minimum food needs during the peak of the lean season (January to March 2016).

This is 163 percent more food insecure people than last year. The country continues to face economic stress with implications on food security, especially for vulnerable groups in rural areas. Due to deflation, household incomes remained low and liquidity challenges affect aggregate demand for goods and services— especially for poor households.

WFP is currently implementing a Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation to promote transition from emergency assistance to recovery and resilience, while maintaining a strong capacity for disaster response when required. The three main activities are:

• Food assistance/cash for assets (FFA/CFA): In line with WFP’s new strategic direction to shift towards developing communities’ long term resilience to shocks, this project provides food or cash in exchange for labour to build/rehabilitate assets. Projects include creating infrastructure that help communities generate revenue and/or adapt to climate change, such as small irrigation systems, nutrition gardens, dip tanks, weir dams and soil conservation schemes. FFA empowers vulnerable communities to move away from dependency on food assistance, promote self-reliance, reduce disaster risk and support climate change adaption.

• Disaster response and risk reduction: WFP is providing conditional lean season assistance through cash and food distributions to chronically food insecure and other vulnerable households at the height of the lean season (between October/November and March). Additionally, WFP helps develop the government’s capacity to mitigate disasters and manage/respond appropriately to risks. For example, WFP is working with the government to implement a Seasonal Livelihoods Programme, which is a consultative process that brings together communities, government, and partners to design integrated multi-year, multi-sectoral operational plans using seasonal and gender lenses.

• Health and nutrition promotion: WFP assists moderately acute malnourished (MAM) HIV/AIDS and TB clients, as well as moderately acute malnourished pregnant and nursing women and children under five years of age at clinics. A stunting prevention pilot programme is being implemented in Mutasa district to address high rates of undernutrition.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Communities were the first responders to HIV three decades ago, and they remain essential in advocating for a robust response to the epidemic, delivering services that can reach everyone in need and tackling HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Working alongside public health and other systems, community responses are critical to the success and sustainability of the global response to HIV.

There is now wide recognition that community responses must play an increasing role in addressing the epidemic in the years ahead. The Strategic Investment Framework, published in 2011, identifies community responses as a “critical enabler” of service delivery. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has estimated that to achieve bold HIV treatment and prevention targets set in 2014, investments in community mobilization and services must increase more than threefold between 2015 and 2020 (1).

Much of the critically important work in making progress in the response to HIV and implementing a Fast-Track approach that lies ahead—including broadening the reach of services, supporting retention in care, increasing demand, monitoring quality, advancing human rights and combatting stigma and discrimination—can only be achieved with a strong community voice and presence.

This report draws on multiple sources to document the many ways in which communities are advancing the response to AIDS, and the evidence for the effectiveness of these responses. Core areas of community-based activities include advocacy, service provision, communitybased research and financing; each of these areas is illustrated by examples of communitybased actions.

A World Bank study of HIV service delivery from 2010 to 2012 found that community-based efforts are a “cornerstone” of the response to AIDS and represent substantial value relative to financial investment in the sector (2). Studies from countries as diverse as Cambodia, South Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe point to the effectiveness and costefficiency of community-based HIV services. Numerous studies from around the world document the success of community health workers in enhancing the reach, uptake and quality of HIV services.

PROJECTED FOOD ASSISTANCE NEEDS FOR FEBRUARY 2016

This brief summarizes FEWS NET’s most forward-looking analysis of projected emergency food assistance needs in FEWS NET coverage countries. The projected size of each country’s acutely food insecure population (IPC Phase 3 and higher) is compared to last year and the recent five-year average and categorized as Higher ( S), Similar ( X), or Lower ( T). Countries where external emergency food assistance needs are anticipated are identified. Projected lean season months highlighted in red indicate either an early start or an extension to the typical lean season.
Additional information is provided for countries with large food insecure populations, an expectation of high severity, or where other key issues warrant additional discussion. Analytical confidence is lower in remote monitoring countries, denoted by “RM”. Visit www.fews.net for detailed country reports

Regional Overview

Madagascar:

The preliminary results of the municipal elections were published by the National Election Independent Committee, with the HVM (the ruling party) winning 60% of municipalities hence the the majority. The TIM (former President Ravalomanana’s party) came second with approximately 17% of municipalities. The MAPAR (former High Transitional Authority President Rajoelina's party) won 10% of municipalities while independent candidates got 13% of municipalities.

Low regional cereal supplies and above-average staple prices expected

KEY MESSAGES

• Following below-average 2014/15 production in several southern African countries, regional cereal stocks have fallen approximately 15 percent below average. Among the surplus producing countries, South Africa and Zambia also experienced below-average production, contributing in large part to a regional cereal supply deficit of above 1.3 million tons. Individual countries facing significant cereal deficits this marketing and consumption year include Zimbabwe, Malawi, Madagascar, Lesotho, and Swaziland.

• Poor households in southern parts of Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Madagascar, Lesotho, and Angola finished their own production stocks earlier than normal and will have an earlier lean season this year. Stressed (IPC Phase 2) outcomes are expected in the countries from July to September. As regional cereal supplies decrease and prices increase, the situation will likely deteriorate to Crisis (IPC Phase 3) acute food insecurity from October to December in these areas. Elsewhere in the region, households are expected to experience Minimal (IPC Phase 1) acute food insecurity outcomes between July and December.

• As the 2015-16 agriculture season draws nearer, there is a 90 percent chance that an El Niño will develop during the October to December period. Historically, El Niño conditions are associated with below-average and erratic rainfall in the southeastern parts of the region during this period. These conditions might result in a late start of season in the southern parts of Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, which could limit labor opportunities. If these El Niño conditions were realized during the 2015-16 season, this would be the second consecutive year of poor rainfall for southern parts of the region.

By Elizabeth B. Mupfumira

A motorcycle has just arrived at Chilonga Clinic in Chiredzi District of Masvingo to collect dry blood samples from ten babies who contracted HIV from their mothers, and have been on Anti-retroviral treatment since birth. These dry blood samples are used to determine if these newborns, are still HIV positive.

Chilonga Clinic, like most rural health clinics in Zimbabwe, runs a highly efficient Prevention-of-Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme. Early Infant Diagnosis services ensure that any infant who is exposed to HIV, or infected by their mother at birth, has a better chance of survival.

“When a child has been born to an HIV positive mother, we immediately start them on Anti-retrovirals,” said Sister-in-charge Tapererwa. “At 6 weeks, we then take a dry blood sample which is collected and transported to the lab to test for HIV. We aim to have the baby remain HIV free throughout the breastfeeding period.”

However, this testing process is still long and tedious. It takes up to six weeks from the time the samples are collected by motorcycle, delivered to a courier service, who them transports them to the central testing laboratory, which in this case is 300 kilometres away in Mutare. After the samples are tested, the same chain is used to return the results to the rural clinic. This prolongs the onset of much needed health interventions for the infants.

Soon, Early Infant Diagnosis in Zimbabwe will receive a much needed boost when the new Point of Care machines, which target infants, is introduced. These machines will eliminate the need for dry blood samples because the machines will allow babies to be tested on site with a result available within 30 minutes. This will allow for more efficient service delivery, allowing infants to get appropriate management immediately, which will save the lives of many more babies.

The Point of Care machines for adults have already provided a breakthrough in PMTCT in Zimbabwe by providing on-site CD4 testing at all health facilities. While the new protocol on HIV treatment, Option B+, stipulates that all HIV pregnant mothers should receive Anti-Retroviral treatment, the Point of Care machines at the clinic have helped to monitor the progress of HIV positive mothers.

Zimbabwe has reported impressive strides in its PMTCT programme. In 2014, 78 per cent of HIV positive women had access to PMTCT care, and the rate of mother to child transmission dropped to 9.6 per cent. With these successful interventions, especially at the Primary Health level, it seems that the prospect of an AIDS free generation is fast becoming an attainable goal.

Regional Overview

Lesotho

On 19 August the SADC Double Troika reaffirmed the current terms of reference for the SADC Commission of Inquiry into the death of army chief Mahao, stating that the TORs are broad enough to accommodate the issues raised by the Government and opposition parties.

Also, the Lesotho Defence and National Security Minister has announced the jury to preside over the trial of 23 soldiers alleged to have planned to topple the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) command. The soldiers have been in detention since their arrests between May and June 2015.

Malawi

The complete but still unofficial results of the recent municipal election have been published by the National Election Independent Committee, which showed that of the 1,695 municipal seats available, HVM won 814, TIM 216, MAPAR 108 and independent candidates 270.

Here are ten things to know to understand the food and nutrition situation in Zimbabwe. Please help the World Food Programme (WFP) raise awareness by sharing these facts on Twitter.

1) An estimated 1.5 million people – 16 percent of the population – are projected to be food insecure at the peak of the 2015-16 lean season, the period following harvest when food is especially scarce. This represents a 164 percent increase in food insecurity compared to the previous season.

2) Nearly 28 percent of children under age five in Zimbabwe are stunted, or have heights too low for their age, as a result of chronic malnutrition

3) More than half (56 percent) of all children between the ages of 6 and 59 months suffer from anaemia

4) While the prevalence of HIV infection in Zimbabwe has declined over the past decade, it still affects 15 percent of the adult population, or some 1.3 million people. Zimbabwe also ranks among the 22 highest tuberculosis-burdened countries in the world.

5) Less than a quarter (17.3 percent) of Zimbabwean children between the ages of 6 and 23 months receive the recommended minimum acceptable diet for adequate nutrition.

6) Although Zimbabwe has some 4.3 million hectares of arable land, only 2.8 million hectares of land were cultivated during the 2014/15 cropping season due tohigh fuel costs, and climatic shocks to name a few.

7) In Zimbabwe, where drought is the most common climatic threat to agricultural production, only 7.6 percent of farmers practice conservation agriculture.

8) Zimbabwe is considered a low-income, food-deficit country, ranked 156 out of 187 developing countries on the Global Hunger Index, which measures progress and failure in the global fight against hunger.

9) The prevalence of food insecurity and absolute poverty are closely correlated. Poverty is most prevalent in rural areas, with 76 percent of rural households living on less than US$1.25 per day, compared to 38 percent in urban areas.

10) Zimbabwe has highly volatile food prices, which can increase by more than 30-40 percent in a season. Price instability, especially during the lean season, compromises households’ ability to access adequate food year-round through markets

Sources:

1) 2015 Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee Report
2) 2014 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey
3) Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey 2010-11
4) Nutrition Assessment and Vulnerability Profiling Study, Ministry of Health and Child Care, 2014; WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2014
5) 2014 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey
6) 2015 Zimbabwe Zero Hunger Strategic Review
7) ZimVAC 2014
8) United Nations Development Programme 2014 Human Development Report ‘Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience
9) Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, Poverty, Income, Consumption and Expenditure Survey: 2011/2012 Report (April 2013)
10) 2015 Zimbabwe Zero Hunger Strategic Review; ZimVAC 2014

Learn more about hunger and malnutrition from WFP's comprehensive list ofFacts About Hunger and Malnutrition.

By Tom Clark

LONDON, Aug 25 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Around 1.5 million Zimbabweans are predicted to go hungry this year after a dramatic fall in maize production, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.

Read the full article on AlertNet.

This case study contains a series of mini-reports on the renewable energy access work undertaken by Oxfam and Practical Action in the Ruti and Himalaya communal areas of Zimbabwe. The project, entitled Rural Sustainable Energy Development (RuSED), began in 2011 and will run until January 2016. It is being led and implemented in association with the Ministry of Energy and Power Development and the Rural Electrification Authority of Zimbabwe. The study details how the project has improved health outcomes; broadened access to education; increased production and boosted business; enhanced quality of life; and strengthened livelihoods.

A. Situation analysis

Description of the disaster From December 2014, Zimbabwe experienced continuous heavy rainfall, which led to widespread flooding across the country, with the worst affected provinces including: Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and Midlands. According to preliminary assessments, approximately 6,000 people (1,200 households) were affected, of which 2,500 people (500 households) were identified as in urgent need of assistance.

Many houses collapsed due to flooding, belongings were washed away including food and livelihoods items, and water and sanitation infrastructures contaminated.

In January 2015, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) released CHF 192,292 from the Disaster Relief and Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Zimbabwe Red Cross respond to the immediate needs of the affected population, with emergency food, relief, shelter assistance, water, sanitation and hygiene promotion in Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and Midlands provinces; over a period of three months. 98 per cent of the activities have been completed.

An extension of one month was approved in order to carry out a DREF operational review/lessons learned exercise. This operational review/lessons learnt was originally intended to be carried out the week commencing 22 March 2015,however it had to be postponed until the 20 April 2015. This was due to unavailable resources from ZRCS and ODK equipment that was required to carry out beneficiary satisfaction survey.

The IFRC zone office and southern Africa regional office (SARO) developed a Terms of Reference and team members were identified from Disaster Management and PMER units. A representative from British Red Cross also participated in this exercise. As part of the operational review/lessons learnt, refresher training on the use of ODK technologies for ZRCS volunteers was done in the field a day before the exercise, thus it was used to carry out the beneficiary satisfaction survey. The DREF operation was completed by 12 May 2015.

This DREF was partially replenished by DG ECHO.The major donors and partners of the DREF included the Red Cross Societies and governments of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the USA, as well as DG ECHO, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) the Medtronic, Zurich and Coca Cola Foundations.

The IFRC, on behalf of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society would like to extend many thanks to all partners for their generous contributions.

Jessica Berman

When it comes to a vaccine to prevent cholera, one dose may be as good as two. That is the finding of a new study whose authors say the strategy would make a new vaccine that is in short supply go further.

The World Health Organization is stockpiling 2 million doses of a recently licensed oral cholera vaccine to prevent the severe diarrheal illness.

An estimated 1.4 billion people around the world, according to the WHO, are at risk for contracting the water-borne illness, making the stockpile woefully inadequate to meet the need.

An outbreak of cholera often follows a natural disaster, when drinking water becomes fouled with human waste.

Single-dose effectiveness

In a new study, researchers looked at the cholera epidemic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, following the 2010 earthquake. Roughly 120,000 people contracted the bacterial disease and more than 800 died.

But writing in the journal PLOS Medicine, they say if a single dose of the oral vaccine had been administered to the population within a year of the earthquake and the first reported cases, more than 78,000 cases of cholera might have been prevented and 783 deaths averted.

Justin Lessler, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, led the study looking at the effectiveness of a one-dose strategy. He compares it to the current vaccination protocol, which calls for giving a dose of the drug to those at risk, followed by a second dose, two weeks later.

“Even if a one dose isn’t 50 percent as efficacious as a two dose, it’s still the better strategy because when responding to an outbreak, the important thing is to get as much vaccine into the population as quickly as possible," he said.

Using a mathematical model, the researchers found that a vaccination campaign in Haiti using two doses would have protected five percent fewer people than the single-dose strategy.

Additional factors

Lessler said that outcome would be due to problems with refrigeration, as well as the effort of tracking down those who had received the first dose.

Investigators also analyzed the 2008-2009 cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe, saying almost 71,000 cases and 3,000 deaths might have been prevented.

“By using a one-dose campaign, you can protect the same number of people and protect them earlier, so you ultimately prevent more cases of the disease than if you’d used the two dose protocol,” he said.

Cholera, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, causes severe diarrhea that can lead to dehydration and death without immediate, supportive care. Children under five years of age are most vulnerable.

There is currently an outbreak in Juba, South Sudan, and only 250,000 doses of the oral vaccine are available.

Officials are testing the one-dose strategy in that region to see if they can limit cholera’s toll.

Author: Andrew Mambondiyani

MUTARE, Zimbabwe, Aug 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In the eastern highlands of Manicaland province, crudely built wood, mud, and thatch hovels cling perilously to the mountainsides.

Read the full article

WEDZA, Zimbabwe, 31 August 2015 (IRIN) - Every morning, Josphat Kamwi joins scores of villagers at a muddy dam near Shurugwi in the heart of Zimbabwe’s maize-growing midlands. He drags his converted mosquito nets through the murky water.

Kamwi, 52, is a farmer by trade. But such is the extent of the agricultural crisis in Zimbabwe that he has turned to illegal fishing during the lean season to supplement his meagre food stocks.

“My catch is getting smaller by the day because almost everyone from my village has joined in the fishing,” Kamwi told IRIN.

“Sometimes our village head comes with police officers to arrest us because it is illegal to use nets to fish in the dam, but we won’t stop because that is the only way to avoid starving.”

In Shurugwi, as in most rural districts across Zimbabwe, household income is less than a dollar a day and families still depend largely on their annual maize production to survive.

Most villagers here had their entire harvest written off because the rains came late, flooded the fields and stopped abruptly, leaving the crops to wither.

The World Food Programme reported last week that 1.5 million people, 16 percent of Zimbabwe’s population, are expected to be “food insecure” at the peak of the lean season, which runs from around November to March – a rise of 164 percent compared to the same period last year.

Finding a way to survive

Whenever opportunities arise, farmers find other ways to earn a modest income, whether it is moulding bricks or selling dry long grass used for thatching. Some resort to panning for gold, which is both illegal and often highly dangerous.

Several hundred kilometres east of Shurugwi, in rural Wedza, another maize-producing region perennially affected by drought, villagers have been attending meetings to mobilise for possible food handouts from the government. But there is no hope of that actually happening yet.

“We used to depend on donors for food aid, but none have visited our area this year. We are also told that (the) government doesn’t have any food to give to us, so we are in a fix,” Godfrey Samaita, the head of the village, told IRIN.

“The teachers at our schools tell me that more and more children are collapsing at school due to hunger and some are dropping out. I also hear that there is an increase in young girls turning to commercial sex.”

There is growing anger at the mismanagement of the agriculture industry, especially at the country’s Grain Marketing Board (GMB), which is supposed to ensure food security by promoting crop production but whose failure to pay farmers for grain in recent years has only made the crisis worse.

Zimbabwe is facing a 1.1 million tonne cereal deficit this year, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), a USAID-funded analysis service.

The GMB holds only 24 percent of the required minimum of 500,000 tonnes in its strategic reserves. The government has said it will need to import 700,000 tonnes of corn to feed those facing hunger in the coming months. But experts like Harare-based economic consultant John Robertson estimate it will need a lot more than that and doubt it will be able to raise the funds to pay for such large imports anyway.

Mismanagement

This crisis didn’t just happen overnight. Zimbabwe has experienced recurrent cycles of crop failures, with 2012-2013 among the most severe. FEWS NET’s latest grain and livestock forecast paints a gloomy picture going forward, particularly for the drought-prone south.

“Households in most southern provinces are currently facing ‘Stressed’... outcomes, which are expected to deteriorate to ‘Crisis’ from October to December,” it observed.

“Crisis” indicates at least 20 percent of households have significant food consumption gaps and that levels of acute malnutrition are abnormally high.

Farmers have lost faith in the grain board’s ability to pay because it is in serious financial difficulty and has been defaulting on payments for years. It hasn’t paid its own workers for more than eight months and offered them its little available grain as a bonus last Christmas.

“Grain deliveries to the GMB are very low this year, with only 29 percent (11,500 metric tonnnes) received as of early July, compared to 40,000 MT by the same time last year,” the latest FEWS NET update said.

“These low delivery levels to the GMB are due to the loss of trust by farmers with surplus grain because of non-payment for past deliveries. These farmers are opting to sell to private traders offering cash.”

Farmers are prepared to sell privately for less than half the price the GMB is offering just to make certain they are paid. Some are holding on to their grain, hoping for higher prices as the situation becomes more desperate in the coming months.

Vicious cycle

Without being paid for their grain, the farmers can’t feed their families in the short-term, but they are also unable to look after their land and plan for the future.

Kamwi said the GMB had still not paid the $780 due to him for the two tonnes of maize he sold it last year. “I would have used that money to buy basic foodstuffs and inputs for the next farming season,” he told IRIN.

In areas where crops failed due to the drought, households that planted their crops early last year managed to get some grain, but this is running out fast, while the majority got nothing.

Villagers are forced to buy grain from traders who come from as far away as Harare, but at a steep price (a 20-kg bucket has risen from $3 last year to up to $10). Some have already sold off most their livestock to buy food, send children to school and meet medical expenses.

Most people in Wedza now only have one meal a day, comprising of the starch-rich maize porridge called sadza and modest amounts of vegetables.

Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa recently announced a $77 million supplementary budget for drought relief, but as Zimbabwe even struggles to pay its civil servants in Harare on time, those living in the country’s remote farming communities aren’t exactly holding their breath.

In Shurugwi, Emma Mhene, a 40-year-old widow looks after three children of her own and two others from her late sister. She doesn’t know what she is going to do now that her brother, who used to send her money to buy food whenever he could, has been laid off.

“It is a painful struggle now, and if things continue like this, the children will starve,” she told IRIN.

tm/ag/ha

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) monitors trends in staple food prices in countries vulnerable to food insecurity. For each FEWS NET country and region, the Price Bulletin provides a set of charts showing monthly prices in the current marketing year in selected urban centers and allowing users to compare current trends with both five-year average prices, indicative of seasonal trends, and prices in the previous year.

Most households in Southern Africa depend on maize as their main source of food and energy, given the high volumes and ease with which it is produced. Alternative food crops that are consumed as substitutes include rice, wheat, sorghum, millet, and tubers such as cassava and potatoes. Consumption of these substitutes occurs mainly when maize is not available or among those households in areas where such substitutes are more easily available (for example, cassava in northern Mozambique). The majority of rural households do grow the other cereals — especially sorghum and millet, which are more drought resilient — in relatively small quantities as a buffer in bad production years for maize. Furthermore, Wealthier households (especially in urban areas) with access to a variety of costlier cereals (such as rice and wheat) do consume them to diversify their diets.

While wheat is widely consumed in the form of bread, it is produced in relatively small quantities in the region. South Africa is the only country that produces substantial amounts, but still in quantities insufficient to meet domestic requirements. South Africa is also the region’s major producer of maize and acts as a major supplier and exporter. In years of relative maize surplus, sizable amounts of both formal and informal cross border trade occurs between neighboring countries.