Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe, a landlocked country bordered with Mozambique, has been hard hit by a series of both climatic and non-climate related disasters. These disasters include cyclone-induced floods, droughts, landslides, heatwaves and fire, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and Cholera. The disasters have severely diminished coping capacities of communities and exposed people to different vulnerabilities such as food insecurity. Droughts affect areas which are in agro-ecological zones 3 to 5, while floods and cyclones affected districts which border with Mozambique.

With support from Chimanimani Rural District Council, Ministries of Energy and Small and Medium Enterprises, District Development Coordinator's office, Practical Action has been implementing the Flood Resilience Programme to support vulnerable communities in Zimbabwe. After carrying out a thorough prioritisation process from community to government level, Practical Action came up with an intervention matrix. The interventions supported by the project in Zimbabwe sought to build the resilience of communities where weaknesses were identified, or building on where strengths were identified.

As a result of the project, a footbridge was constructed, which is a vital asset to enable uninterrupted access to facilities in times of flood. Other interventions include training first aid responders, setting up biodigesters to curb deforestation and rehabilitating gully's. Practical Action also influenced Chimanimani RDC to establish a Resilience Fund in their 2023 budget and supported the drafting of Disaster Risk Reduction plans from ward to district level.