Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South)-Government’s drive to reduce stunting which currently affects approximately 27% of children in the country is facing dire challenges in the coordination of the programme which is led by the Food and Nutrition Security Committees.
The apathy in the FNC’s is such that it has failed to have meetings per each quarter as agreed before, lack of traction at the national level, resource constraints and subtle allegations of a discordant national leadership.
Zimbabwe Food and Nutrition Council (ZFNC) director George Kembo alleged that there is a lot of parallel maneuvering by various ministries and NGO’s involved in the set up.
In a meeting for all stakeholders held in Harare on Monday the various members involved displayed the current apathy existant in the programme by voicing various concerns.
George Kembo accused the various members of not working as a cohesive unit with various non-governmental organisations such as UNICEF forging ahead with some plans without notifying other partners.
“We are not complementing each other in practical even though in theory we have set out to work together. We have members selecting to work in their own areas of comfort instead of others. Why is it that UNICEF alone has to determine the cost of how we are moving? How come UNICEF and FNC are planning some things alone?’, he queried.
Ambassador Mary Mubi, a senior principal director in the Office of the President called for a database to determine the list of players on the ground so that the cluster could complement them using the already existing structures to reduce the lack of traction current now.
“We need to have a common plan and also determine who is actually operating what and at what level. Do we know the NGO’s on the ground and what they are doing there so that we can coordinate, after all you can only coordinate what is there?’
“One problem we have is that when we introduce new programmes we do so as if into a vacuum in which nothing has been happening before. We have grounded structures already so we have to see how this is integrated into the existing structures”, she said.
In order, to reduce stunting which currently affects one in three children (27.6%), the government endorsed community based multi-sectoral approach for stunting reduction advocated for by UNICEF.
Currently the model is being implemented in four districts namely Chiredzi and Mwenezi in Masvingo Province and Chipinge and Mutasa in Manicaland and plans are underway to scale up this model throughout the country.
The multi-sectoral community based model is being implemented through food and nutrition security committees (FNSCs) at provincial, district and ward levels targeting households with pregnant women and children under the age of two.
FNSCs draw membership from key Government Ministries including Health, Agriculture, Social Services, Women Affairs, Education and Local Government.
Global evidence recognizes that stunting is not only linked to poor nutrition, but also to lack of other essential services such as water and sanitation, health, and food insecurity among others.
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