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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
UGANDAN officials are expected to visit the country next week to learn about the country’s successful implementation of the three-pronged, bottom-up approach to development.
The three-pronged approach refers to the integrated context analysis (ICA) done at national level, seasonal livelihood programming (SLP) at the sub-national level and community based participatory planning at local level.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) in Bulawayo are working on SLP community resilience projects with the aim of capacitating communities to withstand shocks.
The SLP programme is meant to address the donor dependency syndrome which had seen most communities heavily relying on donor funds instead of initiating self-resilience projects.
In an interview at Nust, Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping Officer Mr Isaac Tarakidzwa said the successful implementation of SLP programmes in the country has attracted the East African nation.
“The Ugandans are coming here on a study tour mainly to familiarise themselves on how we have been undertaking SLP and utilising the SLPs. They will want to have a discussion with Nust on how we have managed to integrate the three-pronged approach processes into the MPhil degree programme. Basically, this is the essence of their visit. They are coming here to learn; they feel Zimbabwe is quite ahead of the rest of the other countries in the southern region. We will be exchanging some ideas and also discussing on best practices,” said Mr Tarakidzwa.
He said the visit would be held at Nust and part of the Ugandan delegation would include professors from Kampala based Makerere University. Mr Tarakidzwa said Zimbabwe has many life-transforming stories through the adoption of three-pronged approach-based programming.
“We have quite a number of success stories to tell. One of them being that the bottom up approach in planning is working quite well in all the districts that we have been to. And also, the experiences that the local authorities have so far in implementing the three-pronged approach process is quite positive and we even have some activities which we are going to showcase.
“Some of these include dams that have been identified through the processes and are being built, some projects such as aquaculture that are already ongoing,” said Mr Tarakidzwa.
He said WFP and Nust were conducting the urban SLP in trying to understand the livelihoods and the shocks that affect urban communities.
Mr Tarakidzwa said while rural programming is agro-based, the urban one is productive sector based hence they need to understand the economic impact and its effects on urbanites.
“From our engagement this week and elsewhere, most of the challenges faced in urban areas are economic in nature and also have to deal with the provision of basic services, things like water and sanitation. These are issues that we need to deal together with local authorities to say how best can we avail these basic services so that people live a better life,” he said. — @nqotshili
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