Staff Reporter

Government is reviewing the National Action Plan (NAP) on vulnerable children and orphans in an effort to address the drug and substance abuse saga as well as child exploitation.

Director of Social Development in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Tawanda Zimhunga yesterday highlighted that the NAP would be implemented in a five-year phased approach.

“Here we want to review the NAP we had in 2016 to 2020 and come up with another five-year plan. We want to take into consideration emerging vulnerabilities affecting our children which encompass issues of child labour, online violence and sexual exploitation.

“We have around five thematic areas under NAP, the first one is access to basic services which refers to health, education and access to birth registration for orphans and vulnerable children. The other focus is the reduction of harm on children, this includes bullying, sexual violence and online exploitation of children and the other pillar will focus on child labour,” said Zimhunga.

Zimhunga emphasized on the issue of drug abuse and the strengthening of families as another factor to be involved in the five-year plan.

“The other pillar is drug and substance abuse. There is an increase in the use of drugs and substance abuse. The other pillar is family strengthening; there is a need to strengthen the family when it comes to the protection of children by making sure they have strong household security.

“The last and final pillar will look at the strengthening of the system. The system should be well-oiled to respond to issues of violence against children,” he said.

The NAP on orphans and vulnerable children which is being implemented in a five-year phased approach was first implemented in 2004 in response to the adverse effects of HIV and AIDS. The major notion of NAP is to end child labour by 2025.