SPOTLIGHT
ZIMBABWE “We should be really proud”
W hen OPEC Fund Country Manager Bah Aly Bah visited an irrigation project in rural Zimbabwe last week the joy was mutual. Program beneficiaries welcomed him with singing and dancing. Mr. Aly Bah was impressed by the implementation of the scheme, which serves as just one example of our organization’s successful engagement in the country: “We should be really proud,” he said. The projects’ strong impact in this southern African country was also acknowledged in o ffi cial meetings. Anxious Masuka, Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, expressed the authorities’ gratitude for the OPEC Fund’s support of the government’s transformation agenda. The Mushandike Irrigation Scheme, for instance, supports five villages in the Masvingo province with a total of 242 households. A US$15 million OPEC Fund loan, approved in December 2017, is financing the construction and rehabilitation of night storage dams, as well as the rehabilitation of infield canals and hydraulic structures. Unleashing Zimbabwe’s great agricultural potential is key to the country’s economic development and increasing living standards. The OPEC Fund launched a US$7.6 million Poverty Alleviation Project in June 2016, which created 1,700 new jobs, raised incomes among the supported population and overall benefitted more than 15,000 people. “The program, which was concluded at the end of last year, was very successful, because it was carefully targeted and meticulously implemented,” noted Mr. Aly Bah. The OPEC Fund financed its first project in Zimbabwe in 1981 and to date has approved seven loans for a total of US$79.5 million. The organization is held in high regard for its long-standing commitment as Mr. Aly Bah learned in meetings with Moses Mhike, Permanent Secretary
at the Ministry of Women A ff airs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development; Tumisang Thabela, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education; John Basera, Permanent Secretary at the Minisitry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, Climate and Rural Development, and other senior o ffi cials. “Leaving your desk and seeing projects in real life and receiving such excellent feedback is hugely rewarding,” said the OPEC Fund Country Manager. The key to long-term and sustainable prosperity is education. Among the OPEC Fund projects in Zimbabwe is the Primary School in Chivu, a small town south of the capital Harare, where 279 students are currently receiving first-class training. A US$20 million loan by our organization has financed information and communication technology, supporting the transformation of this rural area. Mr. Aly Bah was impressed by what he saw: “These kids will go on to achieve great things. Some may become economists, engineers, doctors, lawyers or scientists. Others may work for the government or international organizations. And, who knows: One may even become head of state one day?”
The primary school in Chivu (above); Anxious Masuka, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture meets Bah Aly Bah, OPEC Fund Country Manager
These kids will go on to achieve great things...who knows: One may even become head of state one day?
Bah Aly Bah, OPEC Fund Country Manager
The Mushandike Irrigation Scheme
PHOTOS: OPEC Fund/Bah Aly Bah
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