BY TAPFUMANEYI MUCHABAIWA GOVERNMENTS within the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) region have been urged to allocate more resources to early childhood development (ECD) if they are to develop their countries.
The call was made by Education ministry officials from Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho, Mozambique and eSwatini after visiting Nhaka Foundation in Seke, Mashonaland East province as part of the regional conference on ECD.
Lesotho’s Education and Training ministry principal secretary Dira Khama called for more funding for development of learners at an early stage.
“I want to applaud Nhaka Foundation for supporting this community with the facilities they are providing, from classroom blocks and incoming generating projects of having nutritious gardens and fish farming. This is the concept of being self-reliant derived from the ideology of Julius Nyerere,” Khama said.
As part of their comprehensive ECD model, Nhaka Foundation is working with the community to develop sustainable nutrition gardens meant to benefit the ECD feeding programme.
Harvested produce would directly go into the school feeding programme, with surplus being preserved through solar drying, making use of the solar driers supplied by Nhaka Foundation as part of the project.
A fishpond with 2 000 fish was also constructed to sustain the feeding program.
The project director Garikai Makokoro lauded the resilience of the community as they work hard each day on the project for great community outcomes.
