ZIMREF gets US$52 mln funding to date
The Zimbabwe Reconstruction Fund’s (ZIMREF) says it has since inception, in 2014, received over US$52 million from development partners and channelled the funds toward strengthening Zimbabwe’s systems for reconstruction and development.
ZIMREF is a World Bank administered Trust Fund that seeks to contribute to the country’s systems for reconstruction and development, supported by seven development partners.
These are the European Union, the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Norwegian Aid Agency, the State and Peacebuilding Fund (SPF), and the Canadian Government.
According to its 2021 annual report, ZIMREF said that the Zimbabwe government will continue to require assistance to safeguard and consolidate the structural reform priorities.
“For instance, Zimbabwe’s governance indicators lag that of its peers, in terms of measures of corruption and regulatory quality.
“While establishing the Information Technology platforms were merely the beginning of the journey toward successful Public Financial Management Systems (PFMS) reforms, there is a need to maintain, sustain and build on the existing systems,” the Fund said.
It added that efforts should also be made to develop PFMS management and coordination structures in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development in consultation with the PFMS unit.
“In addition, public service delivery challenges, particularly considering the COVID-19 pandemic, are critical to ensure gains in human capital are preserved,” said ZIMREF.
ZIMREF said that over the past year, it contributed to the country’s systems for development primarily through technical and analytical work which has improved capacity in several critical areas.
The contribution according to ZIMREF resulted in the accreditation of the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe by the Green Climate Finance paving the way for the development of scaled up projects of up to US$50 million.
In addition to that, ZIMREF said that it supported poverty monitoring which has strengthened Zimbabwe’s welfare monitoring system and enhanced its statistical capacity.
ZIMREF has multi-sectoral projects that support the business environment, gender, education, public financial management, climate change, state owned enterprises and poverty monitoring.
It noted that with additional funding in 2021, ZIMREF began implementing a Social Protection (SP) and Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) pilot to support adolescent girls in Zimbabwe to help keep them in school after COVID-19 related school closures.
It said that the pilot will complement the Government’s Basic Education Assistance Module programme and test the results achieved by providing a comprehensive package of cash transfers, livelihoods support, menstrual hygiene management, WASH and hygiene support and school level sensitization.-ebusinessweekly
