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Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Reporter
THE Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare has expressed gratitude to development partners who avail assistive devices to children with special needs.
In an interview on the sidelines of a hand-over ceremony of assistive devices from FACT Zimbabwe in partnership with Christian Blind Mission (CBM) on Monday, Manicaland Provincial Social Development Officer, Mr Vincent Masukume said the devices which include wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids and spectacles will enhance the participation of the children in school.
Mr Masukume said development partners operating in the country are complimenting Government’s thrust of leaving no one and no place behind.
“This is a manifestation of the partnership that exists between Government and development partners in availing comprehensive social protection services as well as access to basic social services, especially for vulnerable children with disabilities,” he said.
Mr Masukume also said Government and its partners can achieve more by working together.
“As Government, we have embraced programmes that contribute towards achieving Vision 2030. What is happening here today contributes significantly towards the achievement of an upper middle income economy where our children will have access to basic social services,” he said.
The donation, which saw 17 children from Manicaland getting assistive devices that will help them in their day-to-day lives, was done under the Space for OVC Project.
In Manicaland, the project is being implemented in Makoni, Mutare, Chipinge and Buhera.
The project’s chief of party, Mr Tinashe Chimbidzikai said the 17 recipients of the donations are part of 83 children drawn from across the country that are benefiting from the programme.
“We are distributing the assistive technology to children with disabilities, thereby removing barriers to speech, hearing, vision and mobility that hinder their full participation in day-to-day activities.
“Most of these vulnerable children were enrolled under the programme for continued support after having been active in our just-ended Children Tariro Project,” he said.
Mr Chimbidzikai said the project compliments the work of various Government ministries and departments which include the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the Department of Social Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Sustainable Livelihoods, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Ministry of Youth and Community Development.
Ms Nomatter Dziike, a mother of a 12-year-old girl who attends Nyika Primary School in Marange, expressed gratitude for the wheelchair donation.
Her daughter, Tafadzwa Muzanechita, is in Grade Two and has mobility challenges.
She said the wheelchair will make a huge difference in her daughter’s life.
“My daughter was out of school for a long time because no school could accommodate her. Thanks to such projects that support us, we found a place for her at Nyika Primary School.
“I used to carry her every day on my back, but now I can just push her wheelchair. Tafadzwa is very smart and she was unhappy about missing school, so I really appreciate this gesture,” she said.
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