United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and SPAR Zimbabwe sign agreement to collaborate on awareness campaigns in support of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) programmes for children

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UNICEF and SPAR Zimbabwe have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to roll-out joint awareness and communication campaigns on child rights related issues. Through this collaboration UNICEF highlights how much the organization values the engagement with the private sector to deliver results for the children of Zimbabwe. For SPAR Zimbabwe the agreement reaffirms the company's social agenda to contribute to building a better society for all.

The collaboration between UNICEF and SPAR Zimbabwe will focus on sharing messages on health-related issues with the customers of SPAR. A first campaign was launched a few weeks ago on diarrheal diseases including cholera and preventive measures to protect oneself against the infection, highlighting the importance of handwashing, good hygiene and use of safe water.

'The partnership between UNICEF and Spar Zimbabwe speaks to our private sector engagement for the promotion of the rights and wellbeing of children and their families. The campaign rolled-out through SPAR Zimbabwe network will - without doubt -- reach many people and complement the communication campaigns of the Government, UNICEF and partners in Zimbabwe. We look forward to further engagement with SPAR Zimbabwe on several issues that focus on the rights and the well-being of children,' said Dr Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF Representative in Zimbabwe.

As part of the national response, cholera awareness is promoted through SPAR's social media platforms and in all their 35 stores across the country. The communication material developed to support the campaign is based on the health messages developed by the Ministry of Health and Child Care.

'Our collaboration with UNICEF is in line with our Mission Statement "Better Together" which encapsulates our philosophy of being part of the community in which we operate, not just geographically, but also by being involved at grass-roots level in sustainable community development projects. Our initiatives are based on our five key pillars of Responsible Retailing which focus on Women, Children, Active and Healthy Lifestyle, Animal Welfare and Environmental issues. We also work closely with our supplier partners in ensuring that our initiatives are realized to its fullest*,' said Cypren Borerwe, SPAR Zimbabwe General Manager.

While UNICEF and SPAR Zimbabwe have agreed to extend the cholera awareness campaign for a few more weeks, both partners are already engaged in talks about other child rights related campaigns for the months to come.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).