Africa - Southern
Zimbabwe ranks 150 out of 189 on the Human Development Index (HDI). CARE International’s work in Zimbabwe focuses on empowering women and girls, increasing food security and resilience and responding to emergencies.
CARE International began working in Zimbabwe in 1992, initially focusing on emergency relief in response to the severe regional drought of the early 1990s. Later, we expanded programming to address longer-term development issues with a focus on economic development.
Today, CARE International’s work in Zimbabwe focuses on:
Piloting Social Protection and WASH Interventions to Keep Adolescent Girls in School in Zimbabwe is one of the main ongoing projects in CARE Zimbabwe. It aims to test an innovative pilot activity, layering Social Protection and WASH interventions targeting adolescent girls who have been disproportionately affected by coping mechanisms adopted during lockdown, to support their return to school after the several waves of school closure in Zimbabwe. Read the project's plan here.
CARE International launches its report, "The Most Under-Reported Humanitarian Crises of 2021," highlighting, for the sixth year in a row, the 10 crises that received little media attention in the year before. According to the United Nations, around 235 million people worldwide needed humanitarian aid last year – this number is predicted to rise to 274 million people in 2022.
The funding will provide program participants with transformational opportunities to improve economic opportunities, reduce hunger, and give voice to marginalized populations, including women and girls.
One year after Cyclone Idai left a trail of destruction across parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, nearly 100,000 people continue to live in makeshift shelters and are alarmingly vulnerable to future climate shocks.
First developed in 1999, the Strengthening Opportunities for Adolescent Resilience (SOAR) is a multi-country initiative working with Ministries of Education to provide accelerated education for out-of-school adolescents, particularly girls, enabling them to acquire key academic and life skills.
CARE International in Zimbabwe, through the Global Affairs Canada (GAC)-funded Supporting Transition, Retention and Training for Girls (START4Girls) project, is working with local stakeholders to challenge community perceptions and build awareness around the barriers that young women face in accessing education and the role that key community members and stakeholders can play in encouraging and supporting young women to access education in the Buhera and Mutare rural districts of Zimbabwe.
Persistent absence from school is the major cause of lower achievement and poor progress in secondary education for most girls in Buhera District, Zimbabwe. Statistics show that boys have a higher full-attendance rate than girls. Some girls in Buhera miss school regularly, particularly during their menstruation cycle.
The project aims to test an innovative pilot activity, layering Social Protection and WASH interventions targeting adolescent girls who have been disproportionately affected by coping mechanisms adopted during lockdown, to support their return to school after the several waves of school closure in Zimbabwe.
Southern Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 35 years. In a region in which more than 70% of the population depend on agriculture, this has caused the worst food security crisis since 1991/92.
In FY2023, CARE worked around the world, contributing to saving lives, fighting poverty, and increasing social justice.
