Michelle Masanga
GWERU: The Children of Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans Association says they have started working on empowering targeted beneficiaries in a way that ensures transparency and accountability so as to benefit everyone especially the grassroots.
The revolving empowerment fund which was launched in Gweru last week is now ready for distribution with the association saying they are putting some modalities to ensure the funding does not end up in wrong hands.
“We are currently carrying on with the registration of war veterans children. Our thrust is to make the distribution exercise a bottom-up approach.
“We are saying every child of the war veterans is eligible. We will then do the actual vetting of proposals. We are starting with people who have viable project proposals so that they can return the seed money for others to benefit,” said the association’s chairperson, Phenius Makombe while addressing journalists in Gweru today.
Makombe also added that the launch of the Presidential empowerment scheme for children of liberation war veterans has opened floodgates of opportunities for the children of liberation fighters.
“What you witnessed was the launch of the funding. That has opened a lot of interests in supporting the initiative. The President has also pledged more support.
“We have tractors to be availed soon. There are also other empowerment packages. However, for us to enjoy this as children of the veterans of the struggle, everything is hinged on accountability. How we are going to utilise this first batch is very critical going forward,” Makombe added.
Government launched the Presidential empowerment scheme for children of Veterans of the liberation struggle last week where a total of USD500k was availed for the association to kick start its empowerment projects.
