Farm workers, urban vulnerable need to be assisted, report

NGOs and humanitarian actors have highlighted the need to include displaced farm workers in emergency relief programmes in Zimbabwe. They also pointed out the need to include urban areas in nutrition assessments - as urbanites struggle to cope amid food shortages and a failing economy. Aid agencies estimate that 7.2 million Zimbabweans are in need of food aid to survive, due to food shortages brought on mainly by drought and the government's fast-track land reform programme. In its latest Humanitarian Situation Report, the UN Relief and Recovery Unit (RRU) based in the capital Harare, said that the role of NGOs in responding to the current humanitarian crisis was also highlighted during UN Special Envoy James T. Morris' mission to the country (23-25 January). Morris informed a donors meeting that around one million people in urban areas are in dire need of food and that "more humanitarian support is required by the former commercial farm workers". The report said NGO registration had been improved, allowing for World Food Programme (WFP) implementing partners to increase from four to 12. However, more partners were still needed. The addition of three Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) NGOs (Spain, Holland and Belgium), which were expected to be registered soon, would assist with non-food humanitarian responses to the crisis. The report said "some NGOs noted that despite the vulnerability assessments, farm workers have not been included in the main assistance programming". "Indications are that farm workers are more vulnerable than the communal population, which is now receiving WFP assistance. There was a suggestion that vulnerability assessments need to cover the commercial farming areas (for both the ex-farm workers and the newly resettled) and identify the most affected [and] in need of humanitarian food assistance," the RRU noted. The Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe (FCTZ) reported that they have completed a national survey on farm workers, the results of which would be shared shortly. The FCTZ indicated that it was providing general feeding to 100,000 beneficiaries in four provinces. "NGOs stressed the need for information, particularly on nutritional levels. More information on urban vulnerability and nutrition should be collected. There are increased HIV/AIDS related deaths that have been observed particularly in the farm worker households. It was suggested that there is need to inter-relate nutrition and HIV/AIDS in programme design and implementation," the RRU added. During his visit, Morris was briefed by the UN country team (UNCT) on the level of vulnerability to food insecurity, which was "increasing at an astonishing rate", in urban areas of Zimbabwe. "Market distortions, growing unemployment, a thriving parallel market for basic commodities and the skyrocketing inflation rate have aggravated [the] vulnerability of urban populations. As coping strategies, vulnerable groups have become highly mobile moving from high-density housing to backyard shacks and peri-urban settlements," the UNCT told Morris. The RRU reported that in response, WFP had initiated a round table discussion with representatives of government, Harare City Council, donors and stakeholders. The intention being to prioritise the most vulnerable groups in Harare. A pilot intervention project is to begin in five high-density areas in Harare.