Zimbabwe Report 2020
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ZIMBABWE LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND Invest in the early years Child at an ECD centre being assisted by the teacher ECDANEarly Childhood Development Action Network Contents Introduction 3 Zimbabwe’s national early childhood development policy context 5 Donor support for early childhood development 9 Conclusion and recommendations 12 References 15 COVID-19 is jeopardising the healthy development of Zimbabwean children Seven million Zimbabweans are in urgent need of this is expected to have far-reaching implications humanitarian assistance, according to the 2020 for the future demand and supply of education Zimbabwe Humanitarian Response Plan. Drought, services in the country. School closures have crop failure, inflation and austerity measures disrupted the education of more than 4.6 million were already making daily survival difficult for children, impacting not only learning and school Zimbabweans when the COVID-19 pandemic readiness, but also access to feeding programmes struck. This situation has only been made worse and a protective environment. by the spread of COVID-19 and the measures put in place to contain it. Millions of Zimbabweans are Globally, the lockdown has seen an increase in struggling to access vital services as the pandemic gender-based violence (GBV). Being exposed to stymies the delivery of healthcare, clean water, physical, sexual or psychological abuse – as the sanitation and education. victim or as a witness – has an enduring negative impact on the psychological well-being of children. To reach their full potential, children need Since January 2020, 78,208 children in Zimbabwe, access to healthcare, immunisations, nutrition, including 10,194 children with disabilities, have opportunities for early learning, and a safe and accessed child protection and psychological nurturing environment. This being the case, access support services. to basic essential services is crucial for early childhood development. Four million vulnerable Adding to the pressures experienced by parents Zimbabweans have difficulty accessing basic and caregivers, the severe socioeconomic healthcare and, with the decreasing availability consequences of the COVID-19 containment of safe water, sanitation and hygiene, 3.7 million measures are expected to spark a sharp increase people are at heightened risk of being exposed in food insecurity across Zimbabwe. The 2020 to outbreaks of communicable diseases. Since Zimbabwe Humanitarian Response Plan indicates the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has that 6 million people in the country are in urgent also been a significant decrease in the delivery of need of food assistance. The July 2020 Zimbabwe immunisations in the country. Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVac) found that only 2.1% of young Zimbabwean children In response to the pandemic, the Zimbabwean have access to the minimum acceptable diet (down government closed schools in March 2020, and from 6.9% in 2019). 2 ZIMBABWE | LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND Introduction Globally, 43% of children under the age of five (250 million individuals) are at high risk of not achieving their full developmental potential.1 In Zimbabwe, this percentage stands at 46%.A Reversing this requires urgent and continuous multi-stakeholder action. Multiple factors influence a child’s development resources for high-quality, equitable and inclusive ECD trajectory, including their access to healthcare, services forms part of this. Providing equitable access nutrition, responsive caregiving, early learning to proper ECD services can help mitigate the impacts opportunities, and clean water and basic sanitation, of the multitude of risks Zimbabwean children are of which the latter helps prevent avoidable and fatal facing, smoothing their path to accessing their rights illnesses.2 In Zimbabwe, 60% of young children are and paving the way for more equal societies. considered “multi-dimensionally poor”, which means they are facing multiple deprivations, including This matters most for children from disadvantaged malnutrition, inadequate education and poor access to and rural households, particularly children with healthcare, clean drinking water, basic sanitation and/ disabilities. This group faces multiple barriers and or housing. layers of discrimination, resulting in these children being excluded from inclusive ECD services.2 The situation is worse in rural areas, where poverty levels are much higher than in urban areas: experts According to experts, Zimbabwe is home to about estimate that two-thirds of Zimbabwean children who 600,000 disabled children (11% of the country’s total are multi-dimensionally poor live outside cities.B This child population). This group needs ECD policies and makes them more prone to developmental delays.C,D services that take their healthcare, nutrition, early learning and stimulation, responsive caregiving, Take the issue of malnutrition. As a result, 30% of and emotional and physical security needs into Zimbabwe’s rural children under the age of five have consideration, and this requires more investment. stunted growthE, which thwarts their long-term development.2 This also applies to Zimbabwe’s 1.3 million orphans and the millions of children who do not live with Responding to deprivations as early as possible their biological parents (a quarter of all children in is necessary and requires a comprehensive the country).3 This group is at an increased risk of cross-sectoral multi-stakeholder early childhood being neglected and abused. Supporting them by development (ECD) approach rooted in the Nurturing identifying their ECD needs early on helps to respond Care Framework. to their challenges, enabling them to fully participate in and belong to their communities. Helping vulnerable children thrive, now and later in life, requires more investment in improving their These findings are backed up by evidence4 suggesting access to healthcare, nutrition, early learning and that investing in children’s early years is one of the stimulation interventions, responsive caregiving, and smartest investments governments and donors can emotional and physical security. Earmarking funds and make to break the cycle of poverty, address inequality, A. Taken from Zimbabwe Nurturing Care Framework. The “Risk of D. This (two-thirds) refers to 72% or 5.4 million. UNICEF, 2017. poor development” uses a composite indicator of stunted growth Zimbabwe 2017 Budget Brief Health and Child Care. See: in children under the age of five and child poverty. See: https:// https://uni.cf/2HmTXoh bit.ly/2RC7v40 E. According to the WHO children are defined as stunted if their B. Taken from the 2016 Multiple Overlapping Deprivations Analysis height-for-age is more than two standard deviations below the (MODA): precise figures are 59.6%. “Children” in this context WHO Child Growth Standards median. See: https://www.who.int/ refers to under 18s. news/item/19-11-2015-stunting-in-a-nutshell C. Op. cit. 3 and boost children’s overall productivity later in life.F government in this quest, particularly because ECD- In Zimbabwe, a country where 42% of the population related donor financing remains very low. is between the ages of 0 and 14G, many of whom live in poverty, tackling childhood deprivations goes hand This study analyses Zimbabwe’s ECD context, what in hand with improving ECD services. donors are doing to support the government with overseas development assistance (ODA)2, and what Despite pockets of impressive progress, Zimbabwe’s else they could and should do. Our starting point is that principal problem in boosting universal access to donors have a specific supportive role to play in scaling ECD services is a lack of funding due to an array of up equitable and inclusive ECD services in recipient fiscal problems. Donors and development partners, countries such as Zimbabwe (see Box 3). therefore, have a key role to play in supporting the Children at First Step ECD centre in Bulawayo The five components of nurturing care To reach their full potential, children need the five interrelated and indivisible components of nurturing care: good health, adequate nutrition, safety and security, responsive caregiving and opportunities for early learning. F. A wealth of detail can be found on the research underlying this G. World Bank population data: https://data.worldbank.org/ finding at https://heckmanequation.org/resources/the-heckman- indicator/SP.POP.0014.TO.ZS curve/ 4 ZIMBABWE | LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND Children at Jairos Jiri Waterfalls ECD centre in Harare Zimbabwe’s national early childhood development policy context Early education Currently, the Zimbabwean government refers to to the World Bank, 34% of Zimbabweans lived in improving children’s access to ECD services as the extreme poverty last year, which is 6% more than scale-up of early childhood participation at formal in 2018. That equates to 5.7 million people. This pre-primary education level, with ECD being almost means many parents cannot afford ECD classes. The unilaterally understood as infant schooling. As such, inconsistent quality of services is another concern. much of this report focuses on these efforts at the same time as touching on other relevant services. The following are key deterrents to ECD access in Zimbabwe: Following the recommendations of the Nziramasanga Commission on Education in 1999, the authorities • Lack of materials and teachers: Most primary committed to providing early childhood education/ schools with early education classes have a development (ECE/DH) services for all children shortage