Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) in partnership with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has mobilised US$450 000 for different community engagement programmes aimed at promoting awareness and empowerment to break the cycle of poverty-induced poaching by communities close to animal sanctuaries.
The money has been channelled towards different community engagement projects while 10 schools from Hwange and Tsholotsho districts were gifted with 100 bicycles and 500 textbooks on Thursday. The bicycles and textbooks donation is aimed at meeting the needs of children who are future conservation champions.
About 1 600 pupils will benefit, which will also improve the textbook-to-pupil ratio, which currently stands at one book for five pupils. This is part of the Environmental Stewardship Programme (ESP) which supports 21 primary schools located in the buffer communities of Hwange, Lupane, and Tsholotsho districts which seeks to develop and instil conservation and sustainable practices, values, and principles in children aged between eight and 15 years.
Speaking during the hand-over ceremony at Mabale Primary School in Hwange, Matabeleland North Province, Zimparks director-general Dr Fulton Mangwanya said their efforts were in line with NDS1 and Vision 2030 and their overall goal was to create a well-educated generation.
“Since 2020, we have been consistent in supporting local communities, and thus far, we have invested approximately US$450 000 in junior ranger programmes and various community engagement projects. The junior ranger programme was launched in 22 schools, and through this initiative, we have identified some challenges and worked together to come up with solutions. Safety and mobility for children to school, as well as the student-to-book ratios, were identified as key areas that needed improvement.
“Today we are implementing the bicycle and textbook support programme, which is aimed at meeting the needs of our children who are the future conservation champions. A total of seven schools from Hwange Rural District Council, including Mabale, Dopota, Lupote, Chezhou Mambanje, Dingani, Breakfast, Matetsi and schools from Tsholotsho, namely Tembile and Pelandaba will each receive 10 bicycles today. It is worth noting that Chezhou Primary School has already benefited from this programme,” said Dr Mangwanya.
He said they have taken note of several areas that require intervention, such as the shortage of computers for e-learning, reading materials, teaching aids, unpaid school fees and lack of water in some schools and hope to collaborate with more organisations in future to address the challenges faced by schoolchildren and improve their quality of life.
The recipients of the bicycles and stationery were chosen based on the vulnerability criteria developed by the Zimparks/IFAW team and the School Development Associations. That includes the distance travelled to and from schools and an assessment of the available teaching aids.
Dr Mangwanya said they were supporting less privileged pupils with tuition fees and 250 school children in Tsholotsho (100) and Hwange (150) have already benefited from the initiative. Local villagers said the community engagement projects were empowering them and were helping them appreciate the need to conserve wildlife and live in harmony with it.
“The bicycles have got both short-term and long-term benefits. In the short-term, you will realise that it improves access to education, learners will now get to school on time and they will love going to school. In the long-term, they will grow up appreciating the importance of wildlife conservation as they will understand the value of wildlife,” said Mr Vulindlela Gasela Mhlanga.
Chief Nelukoba expressed his gratitude to the work done by Zimparks, encouraging the beneficiaries to safeguard the property that was given to them.
“We want to appreciate this gesture by Zimparks. With the various community engagements projects, our people are now appreciating the role they need to play in conserving wildlife. What I want to urge the beneficiaries is to ensure that the resources that we have been given serve their purpose,” said Chief Nelukoba.
