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Ashton Mutyavaviri

THE battle to climate-proof agriculture and build resilience against climate change are continuing with the Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Ministry organising a stakeholders’ conference to be held in Victoria Falls in September.

Running under the banner – Zimbabwe Economic Development Conference (ZEDCON) 2024, the event will take place from 14 to 18 September. The Ministry of Finance has since called for the submission of abstracts for the event with May 15 set as the deadline, May 30 for notification of acceptance and submission of full papers by July 31.

In a press statement, Ministry of Finance yesterday said the objective of ZEDCON 2024 was to bring together researchers, academics, development partners, corporates, economic think tanks and representative organisations to share knowledge, experiences and best practices on how to build resilience and drive economic transformation in the face of climate change.

In terms of eligibility, researchers, academics, development partners, corporates, economic think tanks and representative organisations are eligible to submit abstracts for the conference, read the statement.

“Junior or early career researchers or scholars and female scholars and researchers are particularly encouraged to apply,” cited the post.

Interested experts are invited to submit abstracts for the proposed by email to [email protected]. Abstracts should have a minimum of 400 words and a maximum of 600. Final papers should have a minimum of 600 and a maximum of 1 000 words.

All papers will undergo a professional, blind peer review by the organisers. Abstracts will be evaluated based on their relevance, originality and impact on the conference theme.

Authors of accepted abstracts will be requested to fully develop papers for presentation at the conference.

They (authors) should provide their full names, affiliation, email address, location and phone numbers in their submission.

Acting deputy director and communications advocacy in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Mrs Blessing Tinarwo said participants were required to pay a fee of US$500 per person with the rest covered by the Finance Ministry.

“At the ZEDCON of 2022, people were paying for their transport, accommodation, breakfast and dinner while the Ministry of Finance covered things like lunch and conference fees but the need for more resources might see all these changing,” she observed.

The conference will seek to enhance solutions and discuss way forward on climate-proofing agricultural production and growth, said Mrs Tinarwo.

The conference is open for everyone who feels that their content will benefit the country, she explained.