admin
H-Metro Reporter
DELTA Corporation, in partnership with The Boost Fellowship, has launched the “Smart Drinking and Moderation Innovation Challenge” aimed at fighting the drug scourge.
The initiative, which started last month, will run until December 2026 with students tasked to develop innovative projects that will help in fighting drug and substance abuse in local communities. Running under the theme: “Above The Influence”, the challenge was launched through a leadership bootcamp in Harare where, at least 106 student leaders from 13universities, attended.
Delta general manager corporate affairs, Patricia Murambinda, said they are hoping to witness exciting ideas as the students tackle the drug menace. “As a responsible business, we believe in the wellness of our consumers, we believe that when you drive you should not drink and that consumers should understand why and how alcohol should be consumed within the limits.
“It is our collective responsibility as youths to proffer solutions in our respective communities, particularly on the harmful effects of illicit substance and drug abuse. “We are investing in this programme to witness high impact and scalable innovation solutions to address the problem,” said Murambinda. The bootcamp equipped students on different topics that will help them run effective advocacy and awareness campaigns.
“We have learnt a lot about the results of alcohol abuse, which includes gang violence, dropping out of school, suicides, gender-based violence and risky sexual behavior among other things. “We are ready to go on and share the knowledge with our colleagues at school, “said Wisdom Munemo, a student from Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University.
Participants will be expected to run awareness campaigns and roll out innovative models at their tertiary institutions and communities in the next eight months. This year’s winners will be announced in December. According to a report by the World Health Organisation, approximately 12 percent of adolescents in Zimbabwe are engaging in heavy drinking and abuse of different illegal substances, which is detrimental to their health and wellbeing
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter
