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Tawanda Marwizi Mash West Bureau
The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) has been commended for its community-driven programmes that have spurred development in most parts of Kariba. Speaking at an event to mark International Day of Disaster in Kariba last week, acting District Administrator Mr Witness Kufa said Government was happy with ZRCS’s community programmes.

“The Red Cross is effectively playing its auxiliary role as an enacted through the ZRCS Act of Parliament Chapter 17:08, and their ongoing disaster management programmes have brought positive changes in a district largely affected by a number of natural and wild animal related programmes,” he said.

The acting DA highlighted that many positives had been drawn from the project.

“Some of the plans such as construction of latrines to fight the risk of water-borne disease outbreak and rehabilitation of community gardens for drought mitigation were supported through the project. At national level, Government departments from the ministries of Local Government; and Environment, Water (Development) and Climate participate in a project steering committee where they aim to institutionalise some of the best practices being generated from the project,” Kufa said.

ZRCS secretary-general Mr Maxwell Phiri said it was their role to complement Government humanitarian efforts and the Kariba project was one of the many they are implementing nationwide.

“ZRCS is implementing a 30-month Disaster Risk Management project in Kariba. The project is co-financed by the European Union funded AC-EU Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Programme, managed by the World Bank Global Fund for Disaster Risk Reduction,” he said.

The main aim of the Kariba project is to mainstream disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into local development planning. Through the project, district civil protection members and the local community were trained on hazard mapping, risk mapping and community action planning.

As a member of the district civil protection, ZRCS is also supporting various coordination workshops and simulations with the aim of strengthening the district response capacity. Last week, a major simulation was carried out on the lake and this was followed by belated International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDRR) commemorations.