ZIMBABWE PROGRAMME PLAN 2013

Transcription

1 BABWE PROGRAMME PLAN 2013

2 BABWE PROGRAMME PLAN Introduction Zimbabwe has continued to stabilise with the economy showing growth of 8% in 2011 although indications are that growth is slowing in Inflation has remained stable at around 5%. The food security situation declined in 2012 with a rise in those in need of food assistance. Education, health and social services continue to improve with increased funding being made available through the multi-donor Education Transition Fund, Health Transition Fund and the Child Protection Fund. Foreign investment has increased, though investors are still reluctant to commit funding due to the looming elections, the political uncertainty in the country and uncertain legislation on indigenisation of business companies. The political transition process remains uncertain, and the health of the ageing President continues to deteriorate. The constitution process has been undertaken and the draft at the final stages with a referendum expected at the end of 2012 or early Harmonised elections are expected in ZANU PF seems to become increasingly fractious and MDC appear to be losing some of their popular support as they are not able to deliver on their promises. There have been continued media improvements with more privately owned newspapers and radio stations. Commissions set up under the General Political Agreement human rights and electoral are functioning, though have not yet been effective. The impact of the changing context on Concern programmes is significant. The shift from emergency to development programming continues with less funding available and more focus on programming through building the capacity of local government services and of communities, as well as linking to the private sector. This has led to a smaller country team with a different skill set working over larger geographical areas. Country Strategic plan Country Strategic Plan Time line The country Strategic plan is not yet approved but the draft plan is being used to guide programming in the meantime. Overall programme plans Concern Zimbabwe s Strategic Plan sets out 3 objective pillars to fulfil its goal. These are Income, Wellbeing and Equality. To this end Concern is implementing 2 programmes at present, a Food, Income & Markets (FIM) programme and a Family Clubs programme. It is hoped to scale up the FIM programme in 2013 through additional funding and to begin a programme which focuses on women and girls which specifically addresses the third pillar of the Strategic Plan. Cross cutting issues such as gender, disability, HIV and AIDS are being mainstreamed in all programme interventions. The M&E system will be upgraded with new accountability technologies (such as SMS and Scorecards) that measure the quality of and delivery of services by local government and other stakeholders.

3 Programme FIM (see note below) Health Closure/opening new locations (if applicable) e.g. closing the Nyanga office and continuing support indirectly through local government extension services; closing Gokwe North office and continuing operating from Gokwe South office. For new project (dependent on funding) the plan is to support indirectly in Gokwe North and South, and in four new districts in Midlands and Matebeleland North Provinces In 2013 the programme is continuing in 10 districts through seconding staff to support local government Note: Concern Zimbabwe has changed to a much broader geographical focus, rather than working in a small number of districts. The Family Clubs programme that started in 2012 already operates in this way, focusing on 10 districts. With the formation of the Government of National Unity and funding coming to rebuild the capacity of government to deliver services, Concern s role has changed from that of service provider, to one of building the capacity of local government. Our approach to capacity building will focus on financially and technically supporting local government departments, training and monitoring their service delivery to the communities and holding them accountable. Therefore, we will not have a physical presence in the 10 new districts, but instead second staff to local government as part of this approach and requires fewer staff on the ground. In addition, specific funding for direct implementation in Gokwe North, Gokwe South and Nyanga will finish in June 2013 with the end of the EC contract for FIM. However, it is desirable that Concern sustains the gains of our current FIM programme in the three districts and keeps a minimum physical presence in the area which will allow us to maintain close connections with communities we have been working with, and to programme some innovative new ideas. One of these is Frontline SMS (which is the use of text messaging as part of the Complaints Response Mechanism); and another is the MP3 groups which use audio material produced by the private sector. The slimmed down physical presence will take place as follows: a) Nyanga The Nyanga office will close in June We will continue to support the District Development Fund and Agritex local government services for water and agriculture in We do not plan to keep any day-to-day physical presence in the district. Nyanga is easily accessible from Harare and will be visited regularly. b) Gokwe North and South The Gokwe North office will close in June 2013 and the Gokwe South office will be maintained. Concern will continue to operate in the current wards in Gokwe North but will coordinate this from the office in Gokwe town (South). 2. Programmes Food Income and Markets (FIM) The programme targets 16,100 households and is being implemented in three districts of Gokwe North, Gokwe South and Nyanga funded by the EC until June 2013 and by GDs thereafter. The main purpose of activities in 2013 is to strengthen programme sustainability. The new developmental approach adopted by Concern Zimbabwe last year, in line with the prevailing context, entails more time to ascertain programme sustainability following the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) graduation model.

4 The programme goal is to protect and promote improved livelihoods and prevent destitution for people from poor and vulnerable households. The specific objective of the programme is to improve income levels, food security and access to WASH by poor households. The main interventions to achieve the programme goal are centred on four outputs: i) Household income earning capacity enhanced, ii) Improved access by households to input and output markets (private sector engagement) iii) Safe health and hygiene practices promoted and households' access to safe water enhanced, iv) Local structures (community facilitators, Agritex, development committees, district development fund, department of veterinary services and livestock production department) have improved capacity to support projects which benefit the poor. In Zimbabwe, the main livelihood source is agriculture especially for the rural poor who consider farming as a way of life. Farming as a business is one of the ongoing programme activities implemented by Concern and our local partner Basilwizi. Farmers, through the Ministry of Agriculture, are trained on proper planning, record keeping and diversification of crops, including livestock farming. Internal savings and lending groups form another activity where communities are taught how to save and borrow within the group to help farmers to save for inputs and other key investments in the agricultural calendar. In response to disasters in Zimbabwe, a drought mitigation manual was adopted from the Swedish Cooperative Centre as one of disaster risk reduction strategies. The manual focuses on familiar disasters and how to mitigate against negative effects of drought which is the main risk in the agricultural sector in the country. Safe health and hygiene practices will also continue to be promoted through participatory health and hygiene education, and through support to local community structures. In 2013 the new interventions by Concern and Basilwizi to build the capacity of communities are centred on supporting Community Based Facilitators through a tailor-made support system to ensure they have appropriate and high quality skills to support community groups. A private sector model for financial support to them will be tested and scaled-up. Local community structures like village/ward committees and government departments at district level will be capacitated through development training e.g. training for transformation. Basilwizi, our local partner, will continue to implement this part of the programme in their 5 wards of operation in Gokwe North. To ensure sustainability of the programme relevant government ministries such as the Ministry of Agriculture and the District Development Fund are building their capacity through provision of motorbikes, fuel, computers, internet facilities and training to enhance service delivery to communities. Similar interventions will be extended to the departments for veterinary services and for livestock production in It is hoped that this approach of supporting local government departments can be scaled up in the Gokwes and other districts in order to improve extension service delivery to poor farmers. This and other alternative extension methods are part of a proposal that Concern has submitted to the EU for funding. Market linkages will be promoted to ensure that crops, vegetables and livestock are well marketed and beneficiaries realize reasonable incomes. Family Clubs (Health) Concern in partnership with the Government of Zimbabwe, Department of Social Services is facilitating implementation of a Family Clubs programme funded by UNICEF. It is being funded under the Child Protection Fund within National Action Plan for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children II. The programme seeks to mobilize families, communities and service providers to contribute to improved outcomes for children s well-being through family clubs which will provide practical information, support and space for reflection for parents, caregivers and community

5 members. The most critical intervention of this programme is to strengthen child care practices and support for parents, care givers and community based structures through family clubs. The Family Club programme is being implemented in 10 districts of Zimbabwe and these are Epworth in Harare Urban, Makoni, Chivi, Mangwe, Umuguza, Zvishavane, Kariba, Rushinga, Bulawayo urban and Goromonzi. The programme is targeting 9,000 caregivers (including 1,000 male caregivers), and 200 family clubs will be established. Furthermore, the Family Club programme will strengthen the capacity of the Department of Social Services, and the community based child protection systems, to help improve child care practices. In addition, the Family Club programme mainstreams HIV and AIDS, social protection and disaster risk reduction in its programming. For example the programme works hand in glove with the national cash transfer programme, a social protection programme driven by the Department of Social Services under the Child Protection Fund. Children and families that are part of the cash transfer programme will have access to information and knowledge about child care practices. To mainstream HIV and AIDS, the Family Club programme directly provides information on child care practices to caregivers including those who are looking after HIV and AIDS orphans. Concern has begun to look at stunting in Zimbabwe, realising that there is more nutrition insecurity in the country than food insecurity. We will apply to the USAID Development Food Assistance Programme in 2013 for funding to address stunting in a holistic way which looks at feeding practices, health and WASH. This will be aligned to the new national policy on food and nutrition and is likely to be across several districts. Concern also hopes to expand its other WASH work in 2013 and has applied to the new UNICEF held Rural WASH fund to continue to improve hygiene, sanitation, as well as water provision in Kariba (with Basilwizi), Gokwe North and Gokwe South. Following from the success in Kenya, where Concern has been instrumental in setting up a social protection platform, Concern in Zimbabwe was invited to participate in the formation of Zimbabwe Platform for Social Protection (ZPSP). This is a network of civil society organizations which includes local and international organizations that seek to hold the government accountable on social protection issues. As secretary of the interim committee, Concern has hosted ZPSP meetings and helped to write a concept note which will be sent to donors for funding. The concept note includes a number of interventions, including a registration process of the Zimbabwe Platform for Social Protection, identification of key stakeholders, conducting a contextual analysis of social protection programmes in the country, fundraising and resource mobilization for the platform.

6 3. Monitoring and Evaluation: HAP: A review of the CRM is planned for March And a review of Frontline SMS (which is part of the CRM) is planned for January. Programme Contextual Analysis Survey (e.g. baseline/ mid line/ endline) M T Review / Evaluation Internal / External Donor (if Applicable) FIM Gender end line: April Evaluation: Internal April HEA: May Evaluation: External EC May Endline: June Evaluation: External EC June LIME: April, October Internal EC PHHE Index: Feb, Nov Internal EC Lessons learnt and Most Significant Change stories: 4 times in year Internal EC GMI: Feb, Nov Internal EC AGRITEX score cards: 4 times in year Family Clubs Midline: Feb MT Review: Feb Internal Internal EC UNICEF MT Evaluation: June External UNICEF