adminBoiketho Murima Correspondent
Looking back at all disaster sites I have visited, it is hard to forget the looks of shock, of fear, apprehension and even anxiety in the eyes of a mother, father or even a child whose home has been destroyed or where a loved one has been lost to disease. Zimbabwe is traditionally a medium to low disaster-risk country, and communities have to deal with shocks from slow-onset disasters triggered by weather-related hazards such as droughts and floods, to epidemics including cholera and malaria.
Global evidence from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that the frequency and magnitude of extreme events such as droughts and floods will increase in future the world over, a consequence of global warming.
A study by the University of Zimbabwe’s Institute of Environmental Studies (IES) on climate change and what children think and say echoes this trend. In the study, one 17-year old boy from Mabvuku-Tafara commented that, “Seasons have changed; we now receive less rains which are unpredictable”.
Pelling (2009)’s analysis of disaster cases in urban Africa shows that urban areas are increasingly becoming hotspots for disasters.
In Harare and other cities in Zimbabwe, for instance, the geography of a major cholera outbreak in 2008-2009 indicates that a majority of both cholera cases and fatal impacts were concentrated in deprived high-density suburbs.
Frequent reports are made in the media on urban development control leading to shocks for families affected by eviction. Children’s resilience to such shocks begins with each child and extends to the concentric circles of support on which children rely — their families and households, communities, the towns and cities and the government services and systems.
A frequent method of coping with stress and shocks in Zimbabwe, like in other developing countries, is to move or to migrate. The 2012 census shows that a total of 629 953 persons are out of their provinces of birth and have taken residence in other provinces.
Harare and Bulawayo, our major urban centres, are the highest migrant-receiving provinces.
An International Conference themed “Towards Urban Resilient Communities” was held in Harare last week and organised by IES in collaboration with UNICEF. The Conference reiterated a growing trend of urbanisation with estimates that by 2050, 70 percent of all people will live in urban areas.
While national statistics suggest an urban advantage and show that on average urban women, men and children are better off as compared with their rural peers, this masks inequities and severe deprivations.
At the conference, results from an urban poverty survey produced with technical and financial support from UNICEF, showed alarmingly high levels of poverty with consumption below the recommended levels.
Multidimensional aspects of poverty and child deprivations, especially regarding access to safe drinking water and child nutrition were found in Highfield and Epworths surburbs of Harare, with the deprivations most severe in Epworth.
Various speakers pointed out a number of drivers of this vulnerability — rural to urban migration, limited sustainable and adaptive urban livelihood responses, limited opportunities for a younger urban population, constrained social protection mechanisms for poor urban households and even children living on and off the streets.
UNICEF promotes the building of child friendly cities through participation of children and all young people at all stages of planning and implementation. Good practice suggests an assessment of policy and programme impact on children to inform action.
It cannot be overstated that child-friendly legislation as well as a child rights strategy within urban areas supported by a co-ordinating
mechanism or agency for children will contribute to protecting gains in this increasing urban future.
Adequate budget and resources allocation will contribute to a reduction of deprivations for urban poor children.
Awareness-raising exercises and the spotlighting of the state of children in the city or town tend to flag areas for improvement.
When these vulnerabilities are adequately addressed, the recurrent shocks and stresses will not result in permanent dysfunction within communities but in a bouncing back or even better, bouncing forward.
The pivotal role of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-ASSET) to provide an anchor for public policies supporting household and community resilience, cannot be over-emphasised.
The mere fact that activities designed to promote resilience find expression within the national development and policy frameworks, and the need for us to continually strengthen the interventions, systems, community-based planning and participation, places the onus on all to foster partnerships that build resilient and child-friendly cities and towns.
The author is the Emergency Specialist at UNICEF Zimbabwe. For comments and contributions, email [email protected].
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