On 6 August, the IFRC appealed for almost 28 million Swiss francs to provide urgent assistance to hundreds of thousands of people affected by chronic food shortages in Zimbabwe. According to a June 2008 UN Food and Agricultural Organization/World Food Programme report, by the end of the year more than five million people – almost half of the country’s entire population could be without access to food.
The IFRC’s Matt Cochrane sat down with Emma Kundishora, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society to learn more about this unfolding humanitarian crisis.
“The situation is critical,” explained Ms Kundishora.
Q. Can you describe for us the situation that communities in Zimbabwe are facing?
A. The situation is severe. This is because of a range of circumstances – the flooding, the droughts and the challenge of not having enough agricultural inputs. Our volunteers who are out in these vulnerable communities are telling us that the reality for many people is very bad.
Q. What is the Red Cross doing then to assist these people?
A. We are looking to fill the gap between this year’s failed harvest and the next harvest in March next year. This is why the operation has two components: food distribution and recovery assistance.
The recovery assistance is a continuation of ongoing Red Cross support – through our home based care (HBC) programme, we have been working with communities to develop backyard gardens, for example, and we have been supporting them with water and sanitation as well as training communities in what we might call good farming practices.
We are starting with our existing HBC clients, but we know that the impact of our work will go beyond the targeted 260,100 people – the lessons that are learned are picked up throughout communities.
Q. Why is it important that this appeal is supported quickly?
A. The food security situation is critical at the moment in Zimbabwe. We know that by the end of the year more than five million people will be in need of help. If we are going to be able to buy the food that we need so that we can start distributing by the end of September; and if we are going to be able to buy the seeds and other agricultural inputs in time for the next planting season in October, then we need to start ordering them straight away.
That’s why we need a rapid response from donors. We are very grateful for the support already received from the British Red Cross and the Japanese Red Cross – but we hope that this will continue with other donors and members of the Red Cross family.
Q. Even if the funding arrives on time, this is going to be a massive operation. How will the Zimbabwe Red Cross ensure that assistance is delivered to vulnerable communities?
We have experience in food security programmes. In 2002, we supported more than 100,000 people with food assistance. So we have the capacity. But that said, this is a very big programme. We will recruit additional staff both inside Zimbabwe as well as international delegates from the IFRC so that we deliver what we need to deliver.
Q. Thank you so much for your time today. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
A. Just that we need support from all partners. The economic and social hardships that people are facing makes this kind of situation so much more difficult for already vulnerable communities.
In the past weeks I have been thinking of the impact of this crisis on the many child-headed families across the country – families who have lost their adults to HIV and AIDS. How are they going to be able to cope without the support of the Red Cross.
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"The food security situation is critical at the moment in Zimbabwe," says Emma Kundishora, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society in an exclusive interview with ifrc.org. (p17244)
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"We know that by the end of the year, more than five million people will be in need of help," explains Emma Kundishora. (p18142)
"In the past few weeks, I have been thinking of the impact of this crisis on the many child-headed families across the country - families who have lost their adults to HIV and AIDS. How are they going to be able to cope without the support of the Red Cross?" asks Emma Kundishora. (p18141)
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