Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 7, 2021

The Chronicle

Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent

PARTNERSHIPS between diasporans and members of the community members have yielded positive results in Bulilima District where 20 clinics and eight schools are under construction with five of the schools set to be operational by next year.

The projects are part of efforts by the stakeholders to improve access to health and care and reduce distances walked by learners to schools.

In an interview, Bulilima Rural District Council Chief Executive Officer Mr John Brown Ncube said community members had taken the lead in ensuring development in their areas while the local authority came in to provide technical advice.

He said some of the ongoing projects had received cash injections from donors and political leaders among other partners.

Development within communities is key but the major challenge are finances for various projects. As a local authority, we have encouraged communities to take up the initiative of spearheading development in their areas. The district has recorded good response because at the moment there are 20 clinics and eight schools under construction. The projects are at various stages. Five of the schools are expected to open at the beginning of the coming year.

For most of the projects the communities mobilised resources working with local business people and diasporans that hail from the community. In other projects we have Non-Governmental Organisations funding the projects, political leadership, hunters among other partners. As a local authority we offer technical advice to the communities. In all these projects the community is the one which approached us stating the kind of project they wanted to pursue, he said.

Mr Ncube invited other stakeholders and partners to assist communities with funding for their projects. He said communities have also been urged to embark on projects to rehabilitate old and dilapidated infrastructure such as schools and clinic as they are a threat to human life.

Mr Ncube said efforts were underway to rehabilitate Mabhongwane Dam.

He said once the dam was rehabilitated then Mabhongwane Irrigation will be rehabilitated.

We are awaiting funding for this project then it will start. We also want to incorporate a number of partners including diasporans. We have seen the power of private public partnerships in development, he said.

Headman Mahunu (Sikhumbuzo Ngwenya) from Bulilima said since Government did not have adequate funds to finance projects throughout the nation people had to be proactive.

This development that we are advocating for mainly benefits us as communities. Its our children who are dropping out of schools because there are no schools nearby. Its our families and relatives that are suffering because of long distances walked to clinics.

These projects will not only benefit us in the present moment but they are also a lifetime treasure for our grandchildren and great grandchildren. We need as many investors as possible to help us, he said.

@DubeMatutu

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JUST IN: Communities and diaspora combine for projects - Chronicle

Category: Diaspora
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