OXFAM IN ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe Programme Update
Reporting Period: March 2017
HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE OVERVIEW
Implementation:
Drought and Flood response
Oxfam is responding to floods
crisis directly in Mberengwa,
drought crisis directly in Masvingo,
Matobo and Gutu Districts. Oxfam
is also working in some cases with
partners WFP and Aquaculture
Zimbabwe in Masvingo District
and ORAP in Matobo District.
CYCLONE DINEO SITUATIONAL INDICATORS
1,985 Homeless people
45 Districts Affected
KEY ACHIEVMENTS AND UPDATES
Oxfam 2016 to 2017 Humanitarian
Response has reached over 248,846
people in Zimbabwe to date with a
funding of over USD 9,2 million.
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Duration of Humanitarian Beneficiaries Reached: Funding Secured:
Response:
April 2016 July 2017 248,846 $ 9,2 million
USD14.5M Funding Raised 246 Fatalities
2,579 Homesteads damaged 72 Dams Breached
Cash transfers to vulnerable households in There has been a general decline in new
Matobo and Masvingo Districts where cases of Typhoid in the country with a national
extended by one month to facilitate for cumulative total of 1071 suspected cases,
enough supply of food and basic needs 58 confirmed and 4 deaths as at 30 March 2017.
during the lean season period under the World
Food Programme.
CONTEXT UPDATE
Due to 2015 to 2016 Drought and recent floods, access to food continues to HARARE
be a challenge for most vulnerable households. The lean season has been CHIMANIMANI
extended by WFP and stakeholders until end of April 2017 based on the recent
Zimbabwe Vulnerability Rapid Assessment, which indicated the need to extend as Matopos gutu
harvest are only expected in May in most areas.
masvingo
As the country draw towards the 2018 Presidential Elections, tension has begun to rise in
most areas including in areas where Oxfam is implementing programs and responding to CHIREDZI

humanitarian disasters. The situation remains stable however high levels of monitoring is
required as political parties begin to mobilise their supporters in different districts across the country.

Due to the ongoing liquidity crisis in Zimbabwe, cash shortages continue to cripple the rural market making it difficult for vulnerable
communities to access basic goods, foodstuff and services.

Typhoid outbreak declared in October 2016 with a spike observed in December continues to be monitored across 13 Districts in
6 Provinces across Zimbabwe. Partners responding to the outbreak are intensifying hygiene promotion to raise awareness on safe
water, hygiene and sanitation practices given the incessant rains which continue to be experienced across the country posing a risk
of diarrheal diseases countrywide.

Zimbabwe has appealed for assistance after declaring floods a national disaster. Almost 250 people have been killed and about 2,000
people have been left homeless, with around 900 people displaced to a camp in Tsholostho in Matabeleland North. Much of the heavy
rains received over the past month can be attributed to Tropical Cyclone DINEO, which crossed southern and western Zimbabwe as a
powerful storm system in mid-February.

A CALL FROM MBERENGWA

CONTEXT UPDATE

Metrine Chuma
Muzondiwa Village
Metrine Chuma is a 30year old mother of three children and lives in a
family of eleven in Muzondiwa Village, Ward 34 in Mberengwa District.
Growing up in Muzondiwa Village, all Metrine and her siblings ever known
was fetching water from a river. She remembers as a child taking pleasure
in assisting her mother with a small bucket every time she would visit the
river. I have always thought fetching drinking water from a river was
normal until I visited other villages and saw that water could come out of
a borehole'', she said.

Here in Muzondiwa village since I was born we have always drank water
from the river. It is not safe, we see worms and often have to boiled before
drinking the water. During the drier months we often struggle when the
river dries but there is nothing we can do Said Metrine.
Picture by Innocent Katsande.
Sometimes when the river dries we have to dig at least one meter down
the river bed so that we can get drinking water, she said.

The same water source Metrine and family uses for drinking and cooking,
is the same river the cattles are taken to drink. They know this exposes
them and their children to sickness and diseases but we have no choice she said. ''Often our Children complain of stomach pains
but there is nothing we can do. We need help we have never accessed clean and safe water. We fetch water three times a day and
sometimes when it is dry it can take us up to 2hrs of digging the riverbed'' she added.
 EMERGENCY FOOD SECURITY AND
VULNERABLE LIVELIHOODS (EFSVL)

Cash Transfers: 82561 food insecure communities in

Masvingo, Matobo and Gutu continue to receive monthly
unconditional cash transfers to allow them to have
food and other basic household needs between now
and the next harvesting season.

Dip Tank Rehabilitation: Rehabilitation of six Dip Tanks i

s currently being done in Gutu District to enhance the
protection of livestock from tick borne diseases, which
are prevalent especially during the rain season.

Beneficiary shows of her purchase after receiving a cash transfer in Matobo

Picture by Innocent Katsande.

WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE (WASH)

Water Point Rehabilitation: Working with the Harare City Council, Oxfam in
Zimbabwe is continuing to support the government of Zimbabwe in
responding to the recent Typhoid outbreak in Mbare as well as
complementing the Council on the disaster preparedness and risk
reduction efforts in other urban areas prone to this kind of an outbreak
such as Hopley and Stoneridge.

The interventions being implemented are designed to address the

immediate health and hygiene needs, in the process ensuring the
provision of safe water and good hygiene practices.

To date Oxfam has rehabilitated 34 water points, with head works having
been constructed on 22 sites. The exercise involved demolishing of old
concrete, replacing it with new concrete aprons, runoff channels and
soakaways which where done to eliminate contamination and improve
on drainage. The intervention will ensure that boreholes as water sources
are protected and can better save the community.

ADVOCACY, MEDIA AND CAMPAIGNS

Press Facility Visit at Nyanyadzi Irrigation Scheme: Oxfam organised

a Press Facility Visit for national media, Government and
Implementing Partners who this week toured the conservation
works being done at Nyanyadzi Irrigation Scheme, water-harvesting
tanks erected at selected schools in Chimanimani and automated
weather station given to the Metrological services department of
Zimbabwe in Chimanimani. The project is focusing on scaling up
climate change adaptation with a focus on rural livelihoods on a
number of sites including the Nyanyadzi irrigation scheme in
Chimanimani Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe.

Content Gathering Exercise: During the first week of April Oxfam in Community members help with the construction of gabions at Nyanyadzi Irrigation Scheme
Zimbabwe will be hosting a content gathering team from Oxfam Picture by Innocent Katsande.
head office and Unilever who will be documenting the impact of
Oxfams work on Women Economic Empowerment and Care phase
one and two projects. The project is largely focusing on Changing Picture by Innocent Katsande.
the norms and perceptions of Care Work in five Districts Masvingo,
Caledonia, Bubi, Seke and Gutu
WOMENS RIGHTS
In recognition of the work Oxfam in Zimbabwe is doing as part of the global
programme on Women Economic Empowerment and Care, the country team
was part of the Oxfam delegation in this years 61st session of the
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61), which was held from
13-24 March 2017 at the United Nations in New York under the theme
Women Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of work.

CSW is a key networking and profiling moment for Oxfams advocacy work
on gender equality, with womens rights organizations from across the
world in attendance in addition to government delegations.

The Oxfam delegation collaborated with partners and had a number of

side and parallel events on various themes seeking to position Oxfam
around the priority theme as well as key topics of focus for our work on
Gender Justice and promote human rights based approach.

In addition The UN High Level Panel on Womens Economic Empowerment,

which Oxfam International Executive Director Winnie Byanyima is a member of, released its second report at CSW61, which while separate to the political
process, was influential in the policy and programme space. This was key for Oxfam in Zimbabwe after having campaigned for inclusion of unpaid care
work in the first report by convening a platform in 2016 in partnership with Oxfam South Africa.

GENDER AND EXTRACTIVES SYMPOSIUM INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY CORNER

In commemoration of International Womens Day Oxfam and
Publish What You Pay partners held a Symposium, which focused
on Gender in Extractives. The Gender and Extractives Platform was
organized by a Coalition of 10 organisations whose common
EQUITY IN MINERALS DRIVEN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
interest is to see Zimbabwean women actively participate and
benefit from the mineral resources in Zimbabwe. The event was
an effort to recognise the diversity of women in the mining sector.
The theme of the day focused on Promoting Gender Equity and
Social Inclusion in Zimbabwes Mining Industry.
The initiative was also aimed at promoting womens economic
empowerment, investment and protection of womens rights at
different levels of the Mining value chain, both In large scale
extractive industries, Small scale mining, artisanal mining and in
decision making processes. The symposium was used as will
work as a multi stakeholder platform which facilitated for learning,
exchange and debate on the political, economic conceptual and
practical dimensions of the challenges and opportunities for
Women in Mining with the aim of improving mining laws, policies
and practices for the creation of sustainable and inclusive
economic development especially for women.
Oxfam In Zimbabwe on International Womens Day joined the rest of the
world in calling for a world that is safer and more empowering for women.
Tweet of the day
Violence against women and girls is a global crisis - Just one of the
reasons we support the #Boldforchange #WomensStrike #SayEnough
New Climate Change Documentary Now live Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic8t2dm87eI&feature=youtu.be
News Links
http://www.ipsnews.net/2017/03/16-hour-days-for-zimbabwes-women/
https://www.dailynews.co.zw/articles/2017/03/24/more-harare-
boreholes-contaminated
https://www.dailynews.co.zw/articles/2017/03/25/council-deploys-
water-bowsers-to-avert-crisis
http://thezimbabwean.co/2017/03/women-farmers-battling-climate-
change-zimbabwe/
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