Attachments
Foreword by UNDP Resident Representative Bishow Parajuli
It is my pleasure to present to you a summary of UNDP’s contribution to development results in Zimbabwe during the first year of implementing our 2016-2020 Country Programme.
The overall goal of this programme is to contribute towards the reduction of poverty and exclusion by strengthening national capacities for democratic governance; empowering communities to access sustainable livelihoods and enhancing their resilience to climate risks, shocks and stresses. This Programme responds to the 2016-2020 UN-Government of Zimbabwe Development Assistance Framework [ZUNDAF].
Given the national development priorities and the prevailing socioeconomic challenges, UNDP’s support is built around the need to reinforce policy setting for driving the 2030 agenda which has become a cornerstone of development assistance. In this regard, UNDP Zimbabwe has taken a proactive stand to comprehensively raise awareness on SDGs, working closely with Parliament, civil society organisations, academic institutions among others.
In 2016, Zimbabwe took strides to further consolidate democratic governance dividends provided by the Constitution. The priority was to scale up the alignment of existing legislation to the Constitution as well as fully operationalise independent commissions mandated to support democracy and human rights. In this regard, UNDP provided support to the Parliament of Zimbabwe to engage with citizens in the process of legislation alignment through high quality and inclusive public hearings. In addition, the Country Office provided technical and financial support to key independent commissions such as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, the Gender Commission, and the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission for them to effectively deliver on their mandates. Linked closely to human rights, the Government through the UN support developed its Universal Periodic Report which was reviewed at the UN Human Rights Council in November 2016 in Geneva. This review resulted in 260 recommendations, 142 of which were adopted, 18 noted and 100 deferred.
During this period, UNDP also scaled its support towards enhancing the resilience of vulnerable populations to climate and health- related risks. The Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund was rolled out in 2016 with evidence-based pilot interventions initiated in three risk prone districts. In addition, a humanitarian platform to coordinate drought response was established, and co-chaired by the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) and the UN Resident Coordinator. Through this platform, the UN has facilitated a humanitarian response with close to $212 million mobilized against a target of $352 Millionmillion.
Although Zimbabwe remains one of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa worst affected by HIV/AIDS, the country with support from UNDP/ Global Fund Partnership, has made significant progress in tackling HIV/ AIDS. HIV prevalence among people aged 15-49 years dropped from 18% to 14% in 2016 according to the Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS, 2005-6).
Therefore, I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all our staff who contributed to this good effort. I also thank the Government of Zimbabwe for its leadership, and development partners for their excellent partnership with the UNDP and the UN system in Zimbabwe towards these results.