Plan resumes Zimbabwe operations and injects $18 million

Leading international children’s development agency, Plan International, welcomes Zimbabwe's decision to lift its three-month suspension of NGO field operations and pledged to inject as much as $18 million into the country in the coming year to bolster its poverty alleviation programs in the Southern African nation. The Zimbabwean authorities suspended NGO field operations in June, ahead of presidential elections.

Plan's regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Deepali Khanna, said the move would ensure that thousands of children in Zimbabwe’s rural communities would once again have regular access to food, health delivery services, clean-water and education.

"We are pleased that the Zimbabwean authorities have decided to reopen the humanitarian space," said Khanna. "The move reflects a positive step forward in the spirit of the close relationship that Plan and other NGOs are seeking to enhance with all our key stakeholders in Zimbabwe, particularly children and women."

Plan Australia Chief Executive Ian Wishart, said the unfreezing of field operations would ensure that aid agencies were once again able to operate freely and effectively, and bring relief to thousands of suffering children in the country.

Ian Wishart said Plan, which has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1987, had invested "nearly $10 million each year  in programs focused on HIV and AIDS vulnerability reduction, health, education, water and sanitation, and household food security."

"We are relieved at the lifting of the ban and are very much looking forward to beginning our programs again as soon as possible. We do wish however to remind our supporters, who do sponsor children and communities in Zimbabwe, that there will still be delays in communications into and out of Zimbabwe as we cope with a backlog of work. We will be working very hard to open up those lines of communication again as soon as possible."

Zimbabwe is currently in the midst of an economic decline, which has resulted in country-wide food shortages, a sharp decline in health services, inadequate access to clean water and falling standards of education.

Plan's work in Zimbabwe

Plan assists nearly 50 000 households in the country, with a population of just over 12 million. It indirectly works with 250 000 people annually, particularly children, ensuring they have access to food aid, health, education and clean water.

Wishart said Plan was committed to playing its part in assisting the Zimbabwean communities to engage in economically sustainable program and help the country rebuild its shattered economy.