By George Swarei
In a positive development that speaks to the benefits of integrative, collaborative, and symbiotic partnership between the private sector and non-governmental organizations, UNICEF and SPAR Zimbabwe on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to roll-out joint awareness and communication campaigns on child rights related issues.
The collaboration, which undoubtedly come with impressive benefits on targeted communities, will focus on sharing messages on health-related issues with the customers of SPAR.
This is in line with these two partnering organisations’ thrust on programes that promote sustainable socio-economic development in communities.
For UNICEF, this collaboration is a testament to the organization’s commitment towards engagement with the private sector to deliver results for children in Zimbabwe while for SPAR Zimbabwe, the agreement reaffirms the company’s social agenda to contribute to building a better society for all.
The inaugural campaign of the programme was launched a few weeks ago on diarrheal diseases including cholera and preventive measures to protect oneself against the infection, highlighting the importance of handwashing, good hygiene and use of safe water.
In a statement on the signing of the Memorandum, UNICEF Representative in Zimbabwe, Dr Tajudeen Oyewale said the program will benefit communities and complement government and other partners’ efforts towards improved child welfare and health related matters in Zimbabwe.
“The partnership between UNICEF and Spar Zimbabwe speaks to our private sector engagement for the promotion of the rights and wellbeing of children and their families. The campaign rolled-out through SPAR Zimbabwe network will – without doubt – reach many people and complement the communication campaigns of the Government, UNICEF and partners in Zimbabwe,” he said.
“We look forward to further engagement with SPAR Zimbabwe on several issues that focus on the rights and the well-being of children,” added Dr Oyewale.
As part of the national response, cholera awareness is promoted through SPAR’s social media platforms and in all their 35 stores across the country. The communication material developed to support the campaign is based on the health messages developed by the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
Speaking on the same occasion, Mr Cypren Borerwe, SPAR Zimbabwe General Manager hailed UNICEF for the fruitful partnership and underlined Spar’s commitment towards sustainable development.
“Our collaboration with UNICEF is in line with our Mission Statement ‘Better Together’ which encapsulates our philosophy of being part of the community in which we operate, not just geographically, but also by being involved at grass-roots level in sustainable community development projects.
“Our initiatives are based on our five key pillars of Responsible Retailing which focus on Women, Children, Active and Healthy Lifestyle, Animal Welfare and Environmental issues. We also work closely with our supplier partners in ensuring that our initiatives are realized to its fullest,” he said
While UNICEF and SPAR Zimbabwe have agreed to extend the cholera awareness campaign for a few more weeks, both partners are already engaged in talks about other child rights related campaigns for the months to come.
