During this period, Zimbabwe faced numerous challenges, including two droughts, a tropical cyclone, a global pandemic, reduced energy production, and rising youth unemployment, all amid an economy undergoing tough measures to re-build.
This report, Side by Side, highlights key moments over the past six years and demonstrates how UNDP remained by Zimbabwe’s side through both prosperous and difficult times.
In addition, we learned valuable lessons such as:
We express our gratitude to the people and Government of Zimbabwe, donor countries, multilateral funds, the private sector and civil society, and sister UN agencies for their collaboration.
We are pleased to present this abbreviated report, Side by Side, for the 2016-2021 UNDP Country Programme.
Madelena Monoja
Deputy Resident Representative - Programmes
UNDP partners three development partners (European Union, United Kingdom & Sweden) and pool together a fund of $104 million* to help build the resilience of communities to cope with climate change and other unforeseen shocks. The Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF) seeks to improve ability of 180,000 households to withstand shocks and bounce back after crisis.
ZRBF adopts a unique approach in:
This approach to resilience building is tested and proven when drought re-occurs in 2020 and only 14.5% are food insecure, compared to the national average of 50%.
In addition to resilience programming, ZRBF develops a resilience knowledge platform as an investment into learning and collaboration.
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Our climate change response portfolio is an important area of our support to Zimbabwe. It spans from high level support at national level, to working with households and individuals.
Throughout the last six years (2016 - 2021), UNDP provided strategic guidance and expertise for the drafting of the initial and updated NDCs. Through an inclusive process of consultation with youth and all sectors, As a result, the country's NDCs have 40% commitment.
Following this, we worked with the Government to develop the Low Emissions Development Strategy which sets charts the course to net zero carbon emissions in the country.
We worked with the new Government on the establishment of a Transition Policy Think Tank to help the Government think through the most pressing development challenges and to design policy options.
UNDP was part of the United Nations team that joined the World Bank and African Development Bank to carry out a needs assessment to examine priority needs and costing for key policy reforms. Following the assessment, UNDP continued to support the new Government to implement the Transitional Stabilization Programme which outlined the economic and democratic reforms to help the country achieve the SDGs and its Vision 2030 of a Middle-Income Country.
Zimbabwe was heavily burdened by HIV, with 1.3 million people living with the virus by the end of 2016. The Government's strong commitment to ending the epidemic yielded considerable results. Our partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care and Global Fund increased investment in the supply chain of the antiretroviral treatment to increase access to the life-saving medication.
Prospects of accessing the single largest market are exciting but many do not understand what the agreement entails.
UNDP brought together trade experts to unpack the trade agreement to private sectors companies, the informal sector, cross-border traders, Government ministries and departments, and non-Governmental organisations.
We also partnered with UNWOMEN to consult on critical issues to be included in the Women in Trade protocol. The Protocol ensures that women fully participate in, and benefit from, opportunities arising out of the trade agreement.
Leading to the 2018 elections, UNDP assisted the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to augment their capacity for administering this important democratic process.
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We provided key electoral advisory, which amongst others, led to the adoption of biometric voter registration (BVR) as the preferred option to develop a new voter’s roll.
A key highlight of the Biometric Voter Registration rollout is creation of a new voters roll which was made available for analysis. This is a first in Zimbabwe’s history and was commended by election observer missions.
Zimbabwe’s constitution mandates the Parliament of Zimbabwe to consult citizens when making laws. Our work with the Parliament was directed towards increasing citizens participation in key democratic processes through:
There is a growing realisation that urban areas are also exposed to acute shocks and stresses.
In response, we partnered with WASH experts UNICEF to initiate the project Partnership for Urban Resilience, targeting suburban areas that were hard hit by the cholera outbreak.
Working with Urban Local Authorities, the programme focuses on a holistic approach:
Two years later when COVID-19 begins and impact disproportionately affects urban areas more, the programme is well positioned to respond to the pandemic.
Following the humanitarian response, UNDP immediately moved in to help the affected with early recovery initiatives to help people begin to bounce back, and with roofing repairs to restore their dignity.
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UNDP worked with CARE Zimbabwe to rehabilitate small scale infrastructure and restore livelihoods of nearly 28,000 people, about over 10% of those affected.
We worked together with 180 volunteers from the affected communities to restore damaged roofing over homes, clinics and schools.
It is gratifying to note that, in additional to repairing homes, the volunteers also learnt or upgraded their skills. 17 have been recommended by the Government to receive trade certification.
Among other things, the youth highlighted the need to access to capital, markets, skills development, apprenticeships and jobs; and the need to reach rural youth with youth-centred interventions.
When the second drought in five years occurred, the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund was strategically positioned to quickly launch a crisis modifier - an innovative and flexible financing mechanism that enables quick response to shocks and prevent communities from slipping back into extreme poverty. Watch video below for more.
Today’s frontier challenges are complex, multi-dimensional and cannot be solved by a single approach. The UNDP Accelerator Lab initiative is the world’s largest learning network, built to learn what works and what doesn't in sustainable development. UNDP Zimbabwe’s Lab brought this collective intelligence to search for and incubate solutions to some of the country’s development challenges worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the challenges of inadequate power affecting the country and region, the Solar4Health initiative enables some rural & urban health facilities to continue providing critical health services such as:
The solar system at Chimanimani Hospital enabled staff to attend to the injured during & after Cyclone Idai. It also provided critical power to first responders for communication before power was restored.
The investment has been key in the COVID-19 response programme to provide refrigeration for temperature-sensitive vaccines.
UNDP joined five other UN agencies in a partnership initiated by the European Union Delegation and the Government of Zimbabwe to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. The launch of the Spotlight Initiative complemented our in-house efforts to keep checking the pulse on gender equality and women empowerment in our programming.
UNDP’s contribution to the Spotlight Initiative partnership, included:
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Our other programmes take a gender responsive angle to target, design, implement and assess interventions. Initiatives included:
Our approach to constantly check the pulse on gender equality enables us to respond with programmes that offset imbalances.
The higher HIV prevalence in women (6.7%) vs. men (2.9%) prompted us to initiate comprehensive prevention activities targeting adolescent girls and young women.
COVID-19 hit Zimbabwe at a fragile moment - after three consecutive years of drought and with an economy attempting to rebuild. Our focus was on providing stability to minimise the pandemic's impact.
As an immediate response, UNDP mobilised or repurposed financial resources towards the national response.
Our experience and global networks in the medical supplies supply chain, through the Global Fund partnership, was key for timely procurement of essential equipment for the response.
To facilitate business continuity and service delivery during the lockdown, we provided ICT infrastructure to core government institutions and implementing partners.
The compensation agreement between the Government and former commercial farmers was a key milestone in the protracted land issue.
Our Governance portfolio availed technical & financial assistance for the operationalisation of three Independent Commissions established in Chapter 12 of Zimbabwe’s Constitution.
We were privileged to be in this strategic position to offer technical recommendations and facilitate the signing of the agreement for joint investigations which enhanced complementarities of the common objectives, especially in cases where multiple human rights are violated.
Our support to the development of strategic plans for various institutions gives us a vantage point to recommend and support cross linkages for common good.
For example, working with the Judicial Services Commission, the Police, and the National Prosecuting Authority was an opportunity to consolidate the handling of sexual gender based violence cases.
Consequently, the new Magistrate Court established in Chinhoyi town houses the high court, magistrate, police,, prosecuting authority, legal aid and other psychosocial support services in one building for holistic service provision.
Throughout the 2016 - 2021 programme cycle, UNDP supported the development of two national development plans under the guidance of the Office of the President and Cabinet.
Supporting the National Development Strategy 1 (2021 - 2025) gave us the opportunity to provide technical expertise towards the development of the first ever national monitoring and evaluation framework aligned achieving national aspirations, Africa’s Agenda 2063, and the global SDGs.
One of the commitments made by the new Government in the Transitional Stabilisation Programme was a transformation of the country's largest workforce, the Public Service.
In response to this agenda, UNDP took up to supported the strengthening of the Public Service sector and create a safer working environment.
We contributed towards setting up the Public Service Academy with the development of the training modules and the technology infrastructure which runs the Learning Management System and facilitates the training.
Key support to the Public Service Commission was the development and awareness of a comprehensive sexual harrassment policy to address gender based violence within the public sector.
Since 2016, UNDP has provided ongoing support to the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to regularise international human rights reporting obligations.
We worked with the Ministry, independent Commissions and the civil society to carry out nationwide consultations of citizens. Where applicable, we also assisted with developing plans and tracking the implementation of recommendations made by member states.
A total of five state party reports under the United Nations human rights system were developed and exceptionally submitted in 2021, bringing Zimbabwe up to date with its reports after reminders for submissions.
Zimbabwe ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2013. UNDP, together with UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women established a joint programme in 2018 to support the domestication of the convention, which included establishment of the Disability policy.
To the partnership, UNDP brought its experience in supporting governance processes to facilitate access to justice for women and girls with disabilities. Other contributions included:
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, the joint programme was key in ensuring the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the national response.
Zimbabwe’s commitment at COP26 reasserts the value and urgency of our joint work in protecting biodiversity, particularly wildlife, in the Zambezi Valley region of Zimbabwe.
We are working together with Government entities, safari operators, Non-Governmental and Community Based Organisations, and the communities themselves to address biodiversity loss in protected areas using various strategies:
As the principal recipient of Global Funds grants since 2009, UNDP's support over the years has contributed to this milestone achievement.
worth of much needed goods and services handled in procurement between 2016 - 2021.
Through our global supply chain network, we
Throughout the six years (2016 - 2021), our workforce staff gender parity mostly oscillated around the 50% mark.
We realise equality is more than just balancing numbers. So we also:
