Taking stock of ZUNDAF:  So far so good

Sirak Gebrehiwot & Anderson Chiraya Correspondents—

Yesterday the Government and the United Nations together with development partners convened a high level review meeting to validate and take stock of development results delivered, midway through the programme cycle, under the 2016-2020 Zimbabwe UN Development Assistance Framework (ZUNDAF) contributing to national development priorities.

The high-level meeting, co-chaired by the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda, and UN Resident Coordinator, Mr Bishow Parajuli, brought together over 140 delegates including senior Government officials and UN heads of agencies, diplomatic corps, heads of development agencies, civil society organisations, private sector and the media.

In addition to messages from the Chief Secretary to President and Cabinet, and the UN Resident Coordinator, two panel discussions took place as part of the stocktaking and planning for 2018 and beyond. Panellists included ZUNDAF co-chairs – UN and Government senior officials, as well as the head of UK’s Department for International Development Ms Annabel Gerry and members of civil society, the private sector and media.

Underscoring the ZUNDAF as a strategic framework fully aligned to Zimbabwe’s national development priorities brings collective action of UN agencies.

At the heart of this contribution is support to the country’s drive towards the achievement of the 17 SDGs by 2030, with an emphasis on principles of equity, impartiality, neutrality and independence.

Through the 2016-2020 ZUNDAF, the United Nations’ focus has been on six result areas co-chaired by UN heads of agencies and permanent secretaries of line ministries: social services and protection, food and nutrition security, HIV and AIDS, poverty reduction and value addition; gender equality; and public administration and governance. Some concrete results achieved under the 2016-2020 ZUNDAF, thus far:

Social Services and Protection: Rolled out a multimillion-dollar Health Development Fund to strengthen health systems and address child and maternal health. Increased enrolment of children with disabilities in primary and secondary education by 24 percent (from 40 226 to 49 692) and build the capacity of 51 000 school teachers, delivering 104 of 148 syllabuses to all schools nationwide.

Expanding harmonised social cash transfer programme, reaching approximately 300 000 people in 23 districts. Some 57 596 children have benefited from the UN-developed national minimum standards in child protection national case management. Enhanced hygiene and sanitation of approximately 300 000 people in rural and semi-urban areas. This results area is co-chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and UNICEF Representative.

Food and Nutrition Security: Targeted food assistance and nutrition was provided to over 2,2 million people and efforts were made in building resilience to climate change with an increase of 23 percent in 2017 compared with 2016 of the number of households benefiting from climate adaptation activities. Achieved an increase of 26 percent of women applicants registering land jointly with their husbands, thereby reducing gender inequality in access to land. Through a multi-donor, multi-year resilience building fund some 830 000 people in 18 districts are targeted with on- and off-farm self-initiated projects, of which over 130 000 have so far been supported. This result area is co-chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement and FAO representative.

HIV and AIDS: Strategic focus of ZUNDAF has been mainly combating new HIV infections and renewed efforts at eradicating TB, malaria and malnutrition, through a continued emphasis on education and prevention efforts, while providing treatment, care and support to over one million living with the virus.

About 70 percent coverage of infants in need of anti-retroviral treatment, as a contribution towards eliminating mother to child transmission. Some 356 health facilities in 20 districts received orientation on provision of adolescent and youth friendly health services. And some 405 health centres received solar power under the Solar4Health initiative to boost services. This result group is led by Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Child Care and the UNAIDS Country Director.

Gender Equality: Our efforts have been on addressing the fundamental problems that underlie women’s limited representation in national decision-making bodies, low levels of education attainment, secondary school dropout rates, early pregnancy, child marriage and concerns around gender- based violence, and unacceptably high maternal mortality.For instance, 200 community dialogues were conducted to raise awareness on child marriage and other issues.

Joint programme to end gender-based violence was launched, and a multi-year multimillion-dollar new country programme is being designed to end violence against women and girls with support from the global EU-UN Secretary-General Spotlight initiative. The Gender Equality results group is co-chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development and the UN Women Representative.

Poverty Reduction and Value Addition: Focus has been on decent work and creating green jobs, especially for young people is a must for Zimbabwe to nurture a more productive, skilled and competitive labour force as the foundations of a prosperous and stable society. The National Social Protection Policy was adopted following assistance from the UN, and leading to the allocation of US$1,2 million for a pilot Harmonised Cash Transfers (HACT) initiative using a bio-metric system.

The Human Development Report with focus on climate change has been launched to inform policy and advocacy to address the impact of climate change on health, education, environment and poverty reduction efforts. The Poverty Reduction and Value Addition results area is co-chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and the ILO Director.

Democratic Governance and Public Administration: Technical support provided to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on voter registration and to implement continuous registration of voters; enhance civic and voter education, and create a dynamic space for inter-party and stakeholders dialogue.

Similarly, the UN continues to support the capacity building of the key Chapter 12 institutions, including the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, and the Zimbabwe Gender Commission to promote peace, reconciliation, deepen democracy and human rights in the country. The Governance and Public Administration results group is co-chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and UNDP Country Director.

 

 

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