Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has suffered a severe political and economic crisis that will take the country decades to recover. Rising market prices and poor harvests have resulted in chronic food shortages, and the worst cholera outbreak in Africa for 15 years struck Zimbabwe in 2008. More than a million children have lost parents to HIV/AIDS and poverty is forcing many children to migrate to neighbouring countries to find work, making them more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

  • We provided emergency aid to 204,309 people, over half of them children.
  • We’re helping 2,154 children get a quality early education.
  • We’ve reached 122,506 children affected by cholera.

Save the Children in Zimbabwe

We’ve been working in Zimbabwe for over 25 years to implement education, HIV/AIDS mitigation and child protection programmes in 12 districts.

We're providing support for victims of political unrest

Civil unrest remains a constant problem. During recent election violence we identified women and children fleeing to safe houses and provided them with psychosocial support.

We're helping communities deal with natural disasters

Zimbabwe suffers recurrent droughts due to failed rains, with floods often following shortly after. In December 2008, Northern and Eastern parts of the country were affected by floods which washed away families' shelters and crops. We swiftly distributed food and non-food items in Muzarabani in Mashonaland Central district.

We're saving children's lives

Cholera remains a constant threat in Zimbabwe. Through our activities in the Zambezi Valley, we provided the Ministry of Health with materials to manage the 2008 epidemic such as fuel and medical supplies. We also supplied treatment clinics with food and other essentials for patients, and trained community health workers.

We're protecting children

Some of Zimbabwe’s most vulnerable children include those living with or caring for parents with HIV/AIDS and children with disabilities. We help community-based child protection committees address these issues by identifying and referring vulnerable children to the appropriate services.

We’re dealing with food shortages

Despite an improved harvest in 2009, food shortages are far too common. Following the 2002 drought, we ran a supplementary feeding programme for children under the age of five, and worked on a school-feeding programme.

Read Hungry for Change: An eight-step, costed plan of action to tackle global child hunger 

We’re helping children get a better education

There are 1.5 million children who need help to access education in Zimbabwe. School fees, provision of materials, school uniforms and other basic equipment, and huge loss of qualified, experienced teachers are all major issues. We are committed to resolving these issues on a daily basis.

We pride ourselves on being ready for an emergency

We want to strengthen our response to future emergencies through the development of emergency preparedness plans. We’re looking at the issues and funding needed for pre-positioning of emergency stocks such as relief items for when a fresh outbreak of cholera occurs.

Find out more

Zimbabwe related news stories

Tuesday 27 January 2009 Children and teachers unlikely to return to school as Zimbabwe term begins
Thousands of teachers could fail to return to school when Zimbabwe’s new term begins today, denying millions of children their education.
Wednesday 14 January 2009 Fears that under-five cholera deaths in Zimbabwe are going unrecorded
The real cholera death toll may be hidden by a lack of awareness and under-reporting of under-five deaths from the disease
Saturday 27 December 2008 Child malnutrition in Zimbabwe increasing as emergency aid pipeline falters
Acute child malnutrition in parts of Zimbabwe has increased by almost two thirds compared with last year, according to Save the Children.
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