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Business Reporter

AUSTRALIA has promised to provide further funding support to Southern Africa in response to the acute food shortages caused by severe El Niño conditions in the region. Some of the most affected countries in Southern African region will directly benefit from the Australian government’s provision of additional funding to the WFP.Countries set to benefit include Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Swaziland.

Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop announced last week that Australia will provide AU$10 million to the World Food Programme to deliver food and nutritional support to 11,9 million drought-affected people in countries in southern Africa.

This additional funding brings Australia’s total contribution to AUD46 million for countries affected by El Niño.

“The current El Niño event has produced the driest growing season in southern Africa in over 35 years, compounding the effects of drought during the previous growing season. This has left 32 million people in the region without access to adequate food supplies including 2,7 million children who are severely malnourished,” the statement released by the Australian Embassy in Zimbabwe yesterday said.

Australia has been active in the global response to the impact of El Niño, which has also had a devastating impact in the Indo-Pacific. Australia’s response has focused on funding lifesaving food, nutritional and livelihoods assistance for countries most affected in the Pacific and South East Asia as well as the horn of Africa.

Through its aid programme, the Australian government is also investing in improving preparedness and resilience to climate variability in helping communities prepare for future periods of drought.

The Australian government has maintained a large and highly effective development assistance programme in Zimbabwe which has had positive and tangible impacts on substantial numbers of people.

Through a range of partners, including multilateral agencies, other donors and NGOs, the programme has delivered almost AUD280 million of assistance between 2008 and 2014, carefully targeted to address some of the key social and economic challenges facing the country:

In partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund, Germany’s GIZ and non-governmental organisations, Australia has supported water, sanitation and hygiene activities in 20 small and medium-sized towns, through rehabilitation of infrastructure, improved billing and revenue collection services, and increased efficiency of local council operations in Zimbabwe.

Australia has invested in the Zimbabwe Multi-Dollar Trust Fund, a pooled financing mechanism managed by the African Development Bank.

ZimFund focuses on infrastructure investments in water and sanitation, and in the energy sector which are critical to the economic recovery of Zimbabwe.

It has played a central role in the Zimbabwe window of the African Enterprise Challenge Fund, a competitive, private sector focused grants and loans activity.

AECF is designed to help revive the Zimbabwean rural economy, particularly agribusinesses and rural finance sector, through development of innovative enterprises that meet the needs of smallholder farmers and the rural poor.