Zimbabwe, 15 November 2012: Members of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) have benefited from an intensive, week-long training programme, a month after the country’s premier national human rights institution was given a new lease of life, following the enactment of the ZHRC Act in October 2012.

Harare, 14 November 2012: The implementation of the MTP provides a great opportunity to revamp the national aid and development results mechanism, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Mr. Alain Noudehou, has said.

Harare, 12 November 2012: Key personalities in Zimbabwe’s human rights community have benefitted from three-day training as the country prepares to implement recommendations that it has endorsed under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the UN Human Rights Council.

2 October 2012

26 September, 2012: With its proud “made in Zimbabwe” trademark increasingly gaining in popularity, the Zimbabwe Market Fair came to Zimbabwe’s second biggest city of Bulawayo.

Harare, 25 September, 2012: Building on the publication of the Family Law Handbook in 2009, UNDP is working with the Ministry of Women Affairs Gender and Community Development (MoWAGCD), to develop a Family Laws training manual for paralegals, in a move meant to improve access to justice for all in Zimbabwe.

Nyanga, 20 September, 2012: In June 2010, the Government of Zimbabwe made a commitment to fast-track the process of achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Zimbabwe by embarking on the important task of formulating a workable Acceleration Action Plan (AAP) for MDG 2.

The Government of Zimbabwe selected MDG 2, “Achieve Universal Primary Education,” and focused on accelerating progress towards a primary school completion rate of 100%. While Zimbabwe continues to record high levels of enrolment rates in primary school, more and more children are dropping out of school before they reach grade seven.

In a retreat held from 17-20 September 2012 in the serene town of Nyanga, the Technical Expert Working Group (TEWG) came up with a comprehensive first draft of the AAP, outlining key challenges and the way forward in improving primary school completion rates in the country. 

“The Government has shown great leadership in driving this participatory process forward and in ensuring that we left this workshop with a very concrete product” said MDG  Programs Specialist Lisa Orrenius, adding: “The acceleration action plan is now almost in place and after this phase, implementation of the plan will be in focus.”

The workshop was supported by the UNDP Zimbabwe Country Office team, led by James Wakiaga, Economics Advisor, and Lisa Orrenius, MDG Programs Specialist, and a facilitator from the UNDP Regional Service Centre, MDG Specialist Eunice Kamwendo. The four-day workshop culminated in the development of an AAP that is clear and specific, identifying main activities, timelines, responsible partners and additional resource needs.

In order to develop a feasible and high impact plan, the TEWG was formed, gathering together experts in the education sector under the leadership of the Ministry of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture. The TEWG is comprised of a wide range of education experts in both the private and public sector, from organizations as diverse as the Ministry of Labour and Social Services, UNICEF, UNESCO, the Parent’s Association of Zimbabwe, the University of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Open University, Plan International, and Save the Children.   

Subsequently, the AAP will be finalized through validation workshops and consultation with stakeholders in the education sector. While concluding the workshop, the Chairman of the group, Mr.  L.C. Borowa, Principal Director in the Ministry of Education, Sports, Arts, and Culture thanked the participants and reiterated the Ministry’s commitment to the process of developing and implementing the AAP.

(See related story here: http://www.undp.org.zw/news/264-accelerating-mdgs-in-zimbabwe-?3a1ed061a28f8a5e62fd4865066ea7fa=4b0ed51fee23a402a664cd3b2818ae46)

Harare, 12 September 2012: Consensus building on the establishment of  a National Women’s Council moved a notch higher following a key meeting by Members of Parliament (MPs) organized by UNDP and the Ministry of Women Affairs Gender and Community Development (MWAGCD).

The breakfast meeting held in Harare on 12 September 2012 was aimed at forging a common ground on the National Women’s Council and Elimination of Discrimination against Women Bill. Despite the current adjournment of Parliament, twenty seven MPs attended the event, demonstrating their commitment.

In addition, the breakfast meeting was attended by representatives of the three main political parties, the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, the Portfolio Thematic Committee on Women’s Affairs, Youth Gender and Community Development (10 MPs), and the Portfolio Thematic Committee on Gender and Development (9 MPs).

The Minister of WAGCD, Dr. Olivia. N. Muchena—an active member of the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus—stressed the importance of this meeting saying that organizations aiming at promoting the status of women are numerous in Zimbabwe, “but what is lacking is a clear coordination framework.” Duplication of efforts and stiff competition for the scarce resources are currently hampering any progress towards women’s social, economic and political empowerment, observed the minister.

It is against this background therefore that the National Women’s Council Bill was crafted to ensure a coordinated and harmonized legal framework to advance women’s issues. Part of the crafting process that was supported by UNDP, involved study visits by members of the women’s caucus and the Gender and Development Portfolio to other countries where similar bodies already exist (e.g. Uganda, Rwanda and South Africa). Furthermore, an all stakeholder meeting held in August this year served to substantially improve and create awareness about the draft.  

According to the Deputy Minister of WAGCD, Jessie Majome the Bill has two main objectives, mainly setting up a National Women’s Council as a forum for women to participate in matters of policy and domesticating three international human rights instruments for women.  These are the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The deputy minister stressed that the effectiveness of the Council will be measured through the reduction or removal of systematic barriers prejudicial to women’s equality.  Therefore, its investigative function as well the formation of the Women’s Forum will be critical.

During the meeting, participants were invited to share their thoughts and inputs on the Bill. A suggestion on adding another function to the Council relating to advising and informing the general public regarding on what the Government will be doing to advance women’s rights, gained considerable traction. The need to spread and entrench the Council down to the provincial and district levels was also raised as a significant matter. One male Member of Parliament asked if there will only be women representation on the Council. However, the consensus was that this is an affirmative mechanism tool to solely advance women’s rights and therefore, should be restricted to women. But it should be benchmarked so that after some time a review is conducted to establish the necessity of maintaining the Women’s Council.

As the Bill would require additional time to be analyzed, it was suggested that the three Portfolio Committees will each dedicate time to the matter.

In her closing remarks, Dr. Muchena urged the Parliamentarians to pass the Bill during the next and last session of this Parliament. She added that the National Women’s Council would be a useful tool to make crucial progress in advancing women’s rights in Zimbabwe.

Harare, 6 September 2012: Zimbabwe’s energy sector is set for major changes, following the unveiling of the National Energy Policy (NEP).  The new policy identifies the key challenges in the exploitation, distribution and utilization of different energy resources, providing a detailed roadmap on how to address them.

Harare, 2 August 2012: UNDP has raised the red flag over the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with Zimbabwe like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa unlikely to meet their targets, three years to the crucial 2015 deadline for achieving the eight MDGs.

“While progress has been achieved, disparities in the rates of progress are evident across countries, sub-national regions and  MDGs,” said James Wakiaga, UNDP Economic Advisor. Calling for more urgent action in the face of the global economic slowdown, Mr. Wakiaga  explained that many countries risk missing one or more of the targets by the deadline “ unless they take immediate, focused action.”

The  UNDP Economics Advisor attached to the Zimbabwe Country Office made the remarks during a  stakeholders forum held in Harare on 26 July 2012 to review the progress the country has so far made towards achieving the MDGs, and produce a clear plan of action on accelerating them.

At the inception of the MDGs, Zimbabwe prioritised Goals 1 (ending poverty and hunger);  3 (gender equality);  and 6 (combating HIV/AIDS).  Subsequently, the National MDGs Taskforce and the Ministerial Social Services  Committee prioritized the following: MDG 1 on ending poverty and hunger; MDG 2 on achieving universal education; MDG 4 on child health; and MDG 5 on maternal health.

“To assist in the process of developing an accelerated action plan on the prioritised goals, an MDGs Acceleration Framework (MAF) tool has been designed,” said Laxton Chinhengo , Deputy Director, Ministry of Labour and Social Services.  This effort will lead to an Action Plan, which “will build upon existing country knowledge and experiences, as well as be fully consistent with policy and planning processes. This tool will be used by the National Taskforce to come up with acceleration plans which will be reviewed by ministers and  the Cabinet, stated Mr. Chingengo.

 The MDGs Acceleration Framework  is a methodological mechanism offering governments and their partners a systematic way to identify and prioritize bottlenecks to progress on MDG targets that are off track, as well as ‘acceleration’ solutions. The MAF starts by identifying off-track MDGs —those for which one or more targets are likely to be missed at the current rate of progress.

In Zimbabwe, the MAF process in March 2011 with the convening of the National MDGs Taskforce ministerial meeting in March 2011 to explore the potential application of the MAF in the country.

The Taskforce agreed that   MDG 2 would be the first focus of a national accelerated action plan. Consequently, a workshop was held with the task force at technical level at the end of May to lay the foundation for the process and review the MAF methodology in detail. This culminated in the involvement of the United Nations through a formal written request  for support to the process. The letter was submitted by the Taskforce.

It’s against this background therefore, that relevant representatives of the public and private sector, as well as civil society organisations convened the recent workshop.  During the meeting a  Technical Expert Working Group (TEWG) was formed  to coordinate the “acceleration” mainly of the critical  MDG 2 on achieving universal primary education.

The group, spearheaded by the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture and the Ministry of Labour and Social Services in collaboration with UNDP, comprises UN agencies, non-governmental organisations and national institutions working in the education sector.