Lack of funds hampers urban feeding scheme

An international NGO on Tuesday said a shortage of funds was hampering the delivery of assistance to Zimbabwe's urban poor. Help Germany coordinator Hans Sittig told IRIN: "With the limited funds we are just managing to provide help to those who fall under our programme. But that is just scratching the surface. There are many other vulnerable groups who are desperately in need of assistance." The development agency is currently running a feeding programme for malnourished children aged under six in Harare and Bulawayo, in conjunction with the local health department and the World Food Programme (WFP). Sittig said: "The situation in Bulawayo is a lot more serious than in Harare, where we see a high incidence of children who are suffering from growth faltering. This can be directly attributed to the critical food shortages in the city." Previously, relief operations were directed at people living in rural areas, but aid workers have started turning their attention to the urban poor, who do not have the cash to buy food and no crops to look forward to in lean times. Sittig said it was still too soon to assess whether the pilot feeding programme, started in March in Bulawayo, was successful. "These are early days but, so far, we have seen some progress. However, there have been cases where there has been no improvement in children." He added that the situation in the country's two major cities had worsened as many people face hyperinflation (300 percent) and unemployment.