Donors Withdraw Support For Poor Communities Amid COVID-19

Projects suffer a huge blow as donors withdraw support. Graphic by The Citizen Bulletin

BY BOKANI MUDIMBA | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | FEB 19, 2021

Donor organisations have been pulling out of developmental projects, channelling focus to the immediate need to fight COVID-19—sometimes in their own countries. The change has been a blow for communities served by start-up organisations and those without a sustainability plan in place.

VICTORIA FALLS (The Citizen Bulletin) — The outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown has stalled socio-economic developmental projects in some communities, as donors are pulling out prematurely or have scaled down their involvement.

Mariya Moyo of BH 36 in Chidobe outside Victoria Falls sits under a tree at her homestead expecting to receive a phone call to confirm a local organisation’s scheduled meeting.

She later learns that the meeting had been postponed indefinitely because of the lockdown. What Moyo does not know is that there are no more funds for her community until further notice.

She is one of Chidobe community members trained by Youth Invest, one of 16 Zimbabwean non-governmental organisations funded by the US Embassy through a grant meant to benefit local non-profit-making organisations.

Being the only beneficiary in Matabeleland region, Youth Invest started a project promoting Rural Tourism Entrepreneurship targeting curios and craft vendors in Chidobe, Kachechete, Jambezi Ndlovu wards around Victoria Falls to capacitate them with entrepreneurial skills to contribute and benefit from tourism.

Curio vending contributes to Victoria Fall's tourism economy. Image by Bokani Mudimba | The Citizen Bulletin

The three-year programme started in 2019 and expected to be completed this year after capacitating villagers on digital marketing, financial literacy and storytelling to link with tourists and sell products directly without relying on intermediaries.

About 100 villagers, mostly women and youth formed Siyazenzela Arts, Crafts and Village Tours Hub, but are now sceptical of the project’s future.

“We thought this project would enhance development and livelihoods in our community. Before lockdown, tour operating companies brought scores of tourists to our community for village tours, but we would not benefit from them.”
Mariya Moyo, Siyazenzela committee chair

“Youth Invest opened our minds through training, and we were supposed to start projects before COVID-19 came,” she says.

Youth Invest director Nomqhele Siziba says they had to scale down their programmes because donors had not released some funds.

“COVID-19 negatively affected all our programming. We were supposed to be concluding the Promoting Rural Tourism Entrepreneurship project by now,” Siziba, Youth Invest director.

She says the organisation has been trying innovative advocacy strategies to attract support from implementing partners.

“We have had to resort to virtual meetings, but this has many challenges considering we are working with a rural community. We even started implementing a project called Amplifying Women’s Voices in response to COVID-19 as an alternative. However, we’re still at the baseline study stage because it’s difficult to get implementing partners as physical meetings are restricted,” Siziba adds.

Youth Invest is one of the many projects affected by COVID-19.

Trymore Ndolo, director of Victoria Falls-based Pathways Women Empowerment and Girl Child Support Network Trust, which makes supreme reusable sanitary pads kits for girls and women, says they suspended making the products because of the lockdown.

Access to sanitary wear remains a challenge, particularly in Zimbabwe's rural communities. Image by Supreme Malawi

They formed the Trust in 2018 with funding from Days for Girls International to transform livelihoods by distributing reusable pads to the girl child.

“The project has been a life changer to scores of girls and also women, but the ongoing lockdown has affected us because we can’t import the material from the USA. Our goal for 2021 was to reach out to at least 20 000 women and girls in Victoria Falls, Mvuthu, Jambezi and Hwange town.”
Trymore Ndolo, director of Pathways Women Empowerment and Girl Child Support Network Trust

As an organisation, they are concerned about women and adolescent girls’ menstrual hygiene management during the global pandemic. They say it has trapped communities into poverty with no form of income. Access to funding to buy sanitary wear remains a challenge, particularly in Zimbabwe’s rural communities.

Days for Girls International was supposed to ship some material before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Blessing Nyagumbo, a programme specialist at UNFPA, says simultaneously that the outbreak of COVID-19 could have been a blessing in disguise for some organisations and individuals to innovate, donor engagement and resource mobilisation affected.

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He says many organisations, especially newly formed, have been struggling to get financial aid and support because of shrinking resources as donors have diverted funds towards health and their source country’s needs in the wake of COVID-19.

“The fact that there are no physical appointments and meetings means that small and new organisations are the worst affected, as they can’t start new relationships virtually. As a result, communities suffer a reversal of development gains.

“Donor engagement was affected, and funders are diverting funding to their countries, meaning fewer resources for charity. Some donors have pulled out of projects before communities are ready to sustain themselves, while many have shown they will pull out completely in June,” Nyagumbo adds.   

Nyangumbo has called for the need to develop innovative strategies to attract donors in the new normal.

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