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THE Insurance Council of Zimbabwe (ICZ) has joined hands with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to launch a nationwide rural secondary schools short-term insurance awareness essay competition.
Zimbabwe’s economy is largely agro-based and the sector is largely supposed to provide the bulk of downstream manufacturing industry raw materials.
Hence the competition is aimed at educating and raising awareness on the use and benefits of insurance by the rural community, in particular.
Under the initiative, successful students stand to win textbooks worth US$10,000 for their schools and US$4,000 for rural primary schools of their choice, said ICZ.
The competition is set to alleviate the shortage of textbooks in six rural schools as well as provide school fees to 13 students across the country.
“On behalf of the short-term insurance sector, ICZ’s objective is to empower the country’s young population with insurance knowledge and appreciation of benefits,” said ICS in a statement.
“The rural students are part of the approximately 60 percent of the Zimbabwe’s rural population that depends on agriculture activities from subsistence to commercial level.”
ICZ said the young population is the future of the country and should be equipped with insurance and risk management knowledge as they are being encouraged to be entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector. This is why the essay competition is targeting rural schools.
“The students will grow up and contribute to the national economy with the use and benefits of insurance inculcated in them as a security tool that will protect their agriculture activities as well as ensure continuity of activities in the event of an insured disaster occur,” said ICZ.
The competition runs complimentary to ICZ’s agriculture insurance awareness campaign, which it is running on its digital and social media platforms targeting subsistence and small-scale farmers.
The campaign has opened up direct interaction channels with farmers providing necessary information and assistance with insurance challenges that include successfully lodging claims with insurers.
In its quest, ICZ has also identified school children as another valuable channel for information dissemination to their parents who earn a living through farming, hence the competition will raise insurance awareness among the rural communities.
This competition is also part of the ICZ’s strategic corporate social responsibility that seeks to empower communities through initiatives that leave a long-term footprint and contributes to the national development programmes. ICZ said the textbooks that will be given to the schools will impart lifelong knowledge to recipients.
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