Valentine Makufa
Masvingo City Council has responded positively to Climate Change Research project conducted by the Zimbabwean Chamber of Informal Economies Association (ZCIEA).
Speaking at the intervention meeting held at Mucheke hall on July 28, 2022, ZCIEA Secretary General Wisborn Malaya acknowledged the role city council played in addressing issues to do with urban agriculture by allocating farmers portion of land in an open space near Masvingo Teachers College at cheaper prices.
“We have seen that the city council has improved urban agriculture as it has allocated land to its residents which enable the practice of agriculture that is a great move in trying to curb the effects of climate change,” said Malaya.
In addressing the effects of climate change, council is inventing a biogas plant which will use waste to generate biogas that will be used by the residents in a move meant to reduce the cutting down of trees for firewood and also reduce air pollution caused by burning tyres as a source of energy.
The Climate Change Research Project started in 2018 and finally ended on June 30, 2022, it aimed at assessing the interaction between the informal sector and environment.
The project was meant to identify the challenges faced by the informal sector and people with disabilities due to the climate change.
It was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in the United Kingdom with Alice Sverdlik as its partner funder from the International Institute for Environment and Development.
“I only facilitated the funding from the NIHR, actually our International Institute for Environment and Development did not fund the research,” said Sverdlik.
City council has managed to provide the residents with clean water unlike before when the taps ran dry and sometimes dirty water would run out of the taps.
Council has also provided boreholes in each ward to ensure the accessibility of water.
In line with the research project’s objectives, city council has again addressed the issue of poor refuse collection with the help of health clubs as it has improves the collection system through collecting refuse on time, allocating bins in schools, streets and even in the CBD.
The city council has also improved its conduct with street vendors since now vendors can now pay a fine and retrieve their goods unlike before where they could not retrieve anything.
ZCIEA recruited champions who carried out the research and got information from EMA, city council, churches and stakeholders.
The champion team had engaged the city council in carrying the research and they worked together in addressing the effects of climate change.
