Press centre

Joint press release

Swedish government invest $6million to improve lives of orphans in Zimbabwe

“Almost one in four children in Zimbabwe, 1.6 million, are now orphaned, having lost at least one parent, and this number is growing,” said Dr Festo Kavishe, UNICEF Representative in Zimbabwe. “HIV and AIDS have dramatically increased children’s vulnerability in recent years to the point where Zimbabwe now has the highest percentage of children who are orphans in the world.”

The funding from SIDA is a significant contribution to a multi-donor programme that will help deliver a national action plan for orphans and vulnerable children at the community level. The Nation Action Plan (NAP) is being coordinated by Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.

“Much of Sweden’s bilateral assistance has gone and continues to go to children and adolescents such as those reached by this programme of support,” said the Swedish Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Sten Rylander. “It is Sweden’s responsibility, not only in Zimbabwe, but all over the world, to make children and their rights very visible.”

Ambassador Rylander praised the Government of Zimbabwe for having endorsed the National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children. He said it created mechanisms for strengthened international support and for Sweden and other donors to align with good government policy.

As part of Zimbabwe’s National Action Plan for orphans and vulnerable children, UNICEF is using the funds to support at the community level a massive programme to improve the health, education, protection and nutrition of the country’s orphans and vulnerable children. The NAP has the support of the highest levels of government, as well as the United Nations and civil society in Zimbabwe. Other key donors include the UK’s Department for International Development and the New Zealand Government.

The funds from SIDA will go towards:
• Increasing school enrolment of orphans and vulnerable children
• Family and community support
• School nutrition programmes
• Increasing the number of children with birth certificates
• Increasing access to food, health services, water and sanitation
• Reducing the number of children living outside a family environment.
• Reducing physical abuse of orphans

UNICEF says that data shows that the number of orphans in Zimbabwe will rise even after the number of adults infected with HIV starts to decline. It is now essential to put programmes in place to ensure these children have somewhere to live, enough to eat, healthcare and education. Today’s funding from the Swedish Government will help UNICEF reach these most vulnerable of children

“We are extremely grateful to SIDA for their continued support of UNICEF’s work,” said Dr Kavishe.  “These funds will make possible programmes critical to the education, health and well being of an increasing population of children growing alone in Zimbabwe.”

Despite the country’s much-publicised economic collapse, Zimbabweans continue to lead by example in their care for the country’s orphans and vulnerable children. More than 90 per cent of the country’s orphans have been absorbed by the extended family. Two in five households in the poorest areas of rural Zimbabwe care for orphans and other vulnerable children. And yet until now, less than half of all these rural households received any form of free external support in the past year.

The Nation Action Plan for orphans and vulnerable children now calls upon the private sector and international donors to provide resources; community-based organizations and traditional leaders to support Child Protection Committees at the village, district and provincial level; and parents, teachers, children and church members to work to educate their peers, colleagues and congregations about the Plan, and then push for its success.

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About UNICEF
For 60 years UNICEF has been the world’s leader for children, working on the ground in 156 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence.  The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS.  UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

For further information, please contact:   

James Elder, Head of Media, UNICEF Zimbabwe, 091 276120 jelder@unicef.org

Taka Muparutsa, Communication & Information Officer, SIDA, 091 376640 taka.muparutsa@sida.se