UN Agencies Collaborate To Distribute Shelter Packages In Zimbabwe

New York, Aug 16 2005

Two United Nations agencies, along with the International Organization for Migration and the Government of Zimbabwe, have launched a pilot project to distribute shelter packages in the Southern African country where Government eviction programmes have left an estimated 700,000 without homes or businesses.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it was collaborating with the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the non-UN IOM in a pilot project that initially would help 123 families and, if successful, would reach 40,000 households across the country in conjunction with Government allocation of plots of land for housing.

The UN’s planned humanitarian appeal for Zimbabwe was still being finalized, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at UN Headquarters.

While it was being completed, several UN agencies, including UN-HABITAT, the World Food Programme and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) were helping with such programmes as food distribution and providing sanitation, he said.

ENDS

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