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By Joyce Mukucha
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF) programme has donated information and communication technology (ICT) equipment valued at USD154, 637 to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development.
The equipment which is aimed at supporting the capacity building of the Ministry to rollout the Agricultural Information Management System and High Frequency Monitoring of Agricultural Programmes include 250 x Tablets, 22 x Laptops and 70 x Desktops.
Handing over the equipment to the ministry, acting UNDP resident representative, Ms Madelena Monoja said the use of ICT in agriculture and resilience-building enables the monitoring and prediction of trends which in turn allows communities to plan for risks and disasters, thus increasing their capacities to cope with challenges in the wake of the climate crisis.
“It is hopeful that the equipment will be used to improve evidence generation and utilisation within the relevant Ministries for informed resilience-related policy decisions. For the past 6 years, ZRBF has deliberately supported data management activities in the Ministry and we hope the equipment will further improve these capacities.”
“These equipment are building on previous data management support which resulted in a server at the MoLAFWRR Head Office, Desktops for AGRITEX’s national, provincial and 18 district offices, GPS machines and laptops among others,” said Ms Monoja.
She highlighted that UNDP was anticipating additional equipment valued at USD420,000.00 which are in the process of being procured for these two ministries at the national and district levels.
“The generation of data by Agricultural Information Management Systems will improve both agricultural productivity and profitability. The benefits include knowledge and access to appropriate inputs, extension advice, weather warnings and market prices,” added Ms Monoja.
UNDP has also supported other key ministries such as the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works and the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Tourism and Hospitality with various equipment aimed at supporting evidence generation and utilisation which is a vital arm of resilience building.
Speaking during the handover ceremony, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Dr John Basera said the ZRBF programme has made positive impact on the lives of vulnerable rural communities.
The programme is commemorating 6 years in existence this year, and 5 years of implementing resilience-building activities in the 18 districts in Zimbabwe.
He pointed out that ZRBF seeks to improve the communities’ adaptive, absorptive and transformation capacity while improving early warning mechanisms and capacitating government in evidence generation to inform policy decisions.
“The Government of Zimbabwe, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the European Union (EU), the Embassy of Sweden and the Embassy of Denmark partnered on improving communities’ resilience under the programme Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund.
“The programme is the largest resilience programme in Zimbabwe and the region, operating in 18 districts out of 57 districts identified using robust multi-level hazard mapping to support their geographic focus and district-specific interventions,” Dr Bhasera said.
Dr Bhasera indicated that Zimbabwe Resilience Framework remains a guiding document throughout this implementation period.
“The framework has several guiding principles which were identified to be key in implementing resilience-building.”
Stakeholder engagement, he added, is identified as being key in resilience building in Zimbabwe.
“Community inputs contribute to a sense of community ownership and increase the likelihood of success and long-term sustainability of the programme. Working with and enhancing existing local institutions help ensure programme continuity and facilitate exit strategy later in the programme cycle.
Dr Bhasera said to date, there has been emerging good practices for building resilience observed while implementing the ZRBF funded projects and the programme has managed to achieve notable results in a complex multi shock environment.
“The programme has reached over 1 million vulnerable people in an arid and semi-arid region with immense resilience-building program activities which include: Disaster Risk Reduction initiatives, community Infrastructure development, to name a few.
“The provision of boreholes that can guarantee all-year running water, rehabilitation and solarization of water points and promotion of multi water use, water harvesting including the construction of weir dams, processing centers for value addition, livestock infrastructure, cattle sales pens, dip tanks, and Resilient Sustainable Agriculture.”
The project also focused on livestock interventions (Artificial insemination, introduction of improved breeds, Acaricide model, fodder and bush meal production), village savings and lending for community safety nets and financial inclusion, markets linkages and formation of commodity associations, value chain development
To date, over 90% of ZRBF participants practice Climate-Smart Agriculture; and more than 800 000 people have improved resilience as a result of ZRBF.