Youth involvement and inclusion in decision making process at local authority level, has proven to be an imperative approach, that has brought a wide range of innovative ideas and perspectives, which has not only improved social service delivery, but positioned young people as assets in the local governance agenda. After having to battle perennial water woes that greatly affected livelihoods and saw citizens having to walk long distances to access water, youths from Datata spearhead an advocacy initiative to build Dombo Dam, as a way of addressing water woes and ensuring more reliable water supply in ward 2.
The advocacy initiative was formulated in January 2021, following the capacity building trainings on local governance, Advocacy, Community Mobilization and leadership which were conducted by CYDT, through its project of Strengthening Youth Engagement in Local Governance to Further Grassroots Development. Gwanda North is one of the districts in Mat South province, that has been affected by the worsening climate change-induced water challenges. With the availability of groundwater as a source for the precious liquid, which largely depends on surface geology and climate, the existence of granite stone in the Gwanda North and low rainfalls, had resulted in perennial water challenges in the district.
The advocacy initiative spearheaded by the youth, saw the community leaders, duty bearers coming together to promote collective service delivery problem solving, by starting to construct Dombo Dam. This saw the councillor getting a plan for the Dam from Gwanda Rural District Council, and engaging the Gwanda North Constituency Member of Parliament Madodana Sibanda, who also donated 140 cement bags for the construction of the dam and food supplies for the youths and community working in the dam site.
The Councillor for the ward 2, Zwelibanzi Mpofu shared that the Dam was key in creating livelihoods, for most of the youths in the ward. “ When the dam is complete, we look forward that, youths and community members will do their gardening and fishing projects in the dam. Apart from creating livelihoods, the dam is key in addressing water challenges in the ward”, said Zwelibanzi Mpofu.
The District Development Fund (DDF) a government agency within the Ministry of Rural Resources and Water Development that is charged with the responsibility of construction and maintenance of rural water and sanitation infrastructure; small dams, irrigation schemes, piped water, deep wells and boreholes, last year had shared that it had come up with strategies to address the worsening climate change-induced water challenges in Mat South, but one year later the strategies are still yet to be implemented.
The Dombo Youth Dam , which the community leaders envisage that it should be complete by the year end, if they get enough resources in the form cement, would go long way in ensuring reliable water supply reliable water supply in ward 2, especially taking into consideration of recent reports by metrological services, which communicated that Zimbabwe would receive normal to above normal rains by the year end. As such there is need for support the Dombo Youth Dam initiative, from the government and its partners to urgently intervene and fund the project and ensure its completion before year end.
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