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Trust Freddy Herald Correspondent

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the Global Fund last month installed solar systems in over 1 000 clinics, pharmacies, warehouses, cold rooms, laboratories and other health facilities across the country under the ongoing Solar for Health (SH4F) initiative.

The move is meant to ensure reliable energy supply to critical health facilities, with improved lighting and temperature control of vaccines.

Zimbabwe’s UNDP resident representative Dr Ayodele Odusola paid a courtesy call on the Permanent Secretary for Presidential Affairs in the Office of the President and Cabinet Engineer Tafadzwa Muguti yesterday in Harare and spoke on how UNDP was helping Zimbabwe.

Dr Odusola said Zimbabwe was the biggest beneficiary of the solar health programme in Africa. “As we speak for now, Zimbabwe is the largest in Africa in terms of the solar for health Initiative being implemented by UNDP through the Global Fund.

“Last month, we installed solar systems in 1 053 health facilities in Zimbabwe and we have also supported the construction of large medical warehouses. I visited one last week in Masvingo, which is the largest, and another one in Mutare as well as other many other provincial clinics and hospitals. There are so many things we can gladly and confidently say that we have achieved and everything is happening at the local level because we believe every development must be done at grassroots level,” he said.

He pledged more financial support towards the devolution and decentralisation programmes.

“We are going to give more attention on devolution and decentralisation in order to promote prosperity at the community level.

“In the area of devolution, we are currently working on it and that is one of the reason why I am here to today to discuss with the Permanent Secretary developments.

“We really need to promote the Government approach to devolution and decentralisation. We are thinking of taking a particular study that will give us evidence about what is going on in the decentralisation and devolution programmes,” he added.

Engineer Muguti reiterated President Mnangagwa’s commitment to promoting grassroots economic development projects.

“As you have heard from the United Nations Development Programme, His Excellency President Mnangagwa is very keen for us as a country to embrace the issue of provincial economic development. In this case, that’s the trajectory we are now taking.