Your donation to this project will help cover costs for
Transportation of a monthly food basket to vulnerable families including a contribution to fuel costs, vehicles, repairs and maintenance.
This Footprints funded project is a small part of Plan Australia’s comprehensive Vulnerable Group Feeding program in Zimbabwe (see full details below)
Why is the project needed?
For a second consecutive year the combined impact of adverse weather, lack of timely availability of inputs and severe economic constraints in Zimbabwe have induced hardship and food insecurity for communities and children.
It is estimated that 2.04 million people in rural and urban areas were facing food insecurity between July and September 2008, rising to 3.8 million people in October and peaking to about 5.1 million at the height of the hungry season between January and March 2009.
Primary factors responsible for the decline, in addition to adverse weather, were
- untimely delivery of seeds
- shortages of fertilizer
- deteriorating infrastructure
- most importantly, unprofitable prices for most of the Grain Marketing Board controlled crops.
A decline in national agricultural production over the last 7-8 years is also due to the structural change. The newly settled farmers cultivate only about half of the prime land allocated to them owing to shortages of tractor/draught power, fuel, and investment in infrastructure/ improvements, and absenteeism on the part of some new settler beneficiaries.
Part of a larger program
The transportation of a monthly food basket to vulnerable families including a contribution to fuel costs, vehicles, repairs and maintenance is one of the necessary aspects to Vulnerable Group Feeding Program which aims to save lives by feeding 73,000 vulnerable people in Chiredzi District
The food is sourced within the Southern Africa Region and abroad by the World Food Program (WFP) who are project partners.
Aims/Outputs
A community-based approach at village level will register the most vulnerable households in the community according to World Food Program registration criteria, formats and guidelines. These guidelines will assist to identify, the following vulnerable groups:
- Orphans and vulnerable children including child headed households;
- Female headed households;
- Elderly headed households;
- Disabled headed households;
- Families caring for orphans;
- People living with HIV and AIDS; and
- Household with chronically ill parents, guardians and other members.
Each beneficiary will receive a monthly food basket (depending upon availability) consisting of cereal, vegetable oil and corn soya blend.
Plan is hiring transporters who will be responsible for delivering the food to village sites within the district on a monthly basis.
Project Partners
Plan has been operating in partnership with the World Food Program since 2002 and has distributed over 50,000 Mega Tonnes of food to vulnerable populations over the past 4 years. Last year food was provided to a total of 131,877 people in 14 food insecure wards in Chiredzi district. 60% of beneficiaries were children.
