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Remember Deketeke, Herald Correspondent
AS Zimbabwe faces the El Nino induced drought, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) together with the Government have called on everyone to prioritise investment in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to build resilience at the community level.
WASH specialist Ms Tariro Mavi stressed the need for the priority in a UNICEF media briefing on access to water in the El Nino response.
In her remarks, UNICEF representative to Zimbabwe Ms Etona Ekole said access to safe water was still an essential human right.
“As Zimbabwe experiences a difficult drought induced by El Nino, which has led to water scarcity, we are reminded once again that providing access to safe water.
“Clean and safe water is a crucial human right and must be prioritised in all our interventions as we respond to the drought,” she said.
“Increased funding will enable the implementation of innovative approaches that build community resilience.
“This is done to effectively mitigate the consequences of climate-related shocks, preserve development gains and protect the well-being of children,” Ms Ekole said.
Ms Mavi said to deal completely with the El Nino drought, such initiatives had to be funded.
“We are also requesting increased funding of US$32 million.
“We want to enable the implementation of innovative approaches within the WASH sector so that we can also build the community resilience mechanism.
“I think we have seen the data that Zimbabwe is going to continue to be prone to climate-related impacts.
“By 2030 they are going to increase, meaning the impacts of this drought will only increase with time.
“So, we need to prioritise water security if we’re going to ensure our communities are very resilient to the impacts of the drought.”
When WASH services are hampered, there are malnutrition challenges and high rates of child marriages.
“So, the issue of water really cannot be underestimated.
“When we look at education, in previous years we’ve seen that we’ve had high school dropouts when there’s no water, and again, girl children are forced into early marriages as families try to look for coping mechanisms to mitigate the issues that come about due to drought.
“We’ve also seen abuse cases also rising when we do have water scarcity because children are forced to walk for longer distances to actually access water,” added Ms Mavi.
Online Reporter