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CSOs in Matabeleland call for inclusion in PRSP development
14 Sep 2017 at 19:04hrs | Views
Civil Society Organisations in the Western region have urged the government to promote inclusive participation in the development of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (IPRSP) as the current one expires next year. Speaking during the Multi-Sector meeting organised by Western Region recently, members expressed the need for government to promote bottom-up participation starting at district level.They argued that although the current IPRSP was formed to address poverty, the leaving standards and poverty have continued to deepen, questioning government's commitment to the programme.
Zimbabwe identified seven pillars which the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper of 2016-2018 seeks to address and these are; Agriculture Productivity, Growth and Rural food security, Social factors, Private sectors, Infrastructure and Climate Change, Gender, women and Youth Empowerment and Strengthening Governance and Institutional Capacity. The PRSP framework initially came about as precondition for countries to benefit from Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative.
Other topical issues during the meeting were lack of awareness raising by government on Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) and the 2018 elections which were already building. On SDGs, civil society argued that government should develop awareness campaigns especially in rural in line with the #LeaveNoOneBehind spirit.
Sharing experiences from rural communities regarding the election mood, members raised that politicisation of food aid was a worrying factor as it was a potential threat to community conflicts which may be further fuelled by political tensions leading to political motivated violence. They also highlighted that traditional leaders were diving communities based on the political affiliations creating challenges in implementing development programmes. It was reported that in some communities, development structures such as WADCOs and ViDCOs were politicised. As a result, development agendas were not inclusive but guided by political party ideologies.
The meeting was attended by various organisations representing different sectors and operating in the three provinces in the region. Although coordinated by NANGO, the programmes runs under the Non State Actors Alliance (NSAA) banner.
Zimbabwe identified seven pillars which the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper of 2016-2018 seeks to address and these are; Agriculture Productivity, Growth and Rural food security, Social factors, Private sectors, Infrastructure and Climate Change, Gender, women and Youth Empowerment and Strengthening Governance and Institutional Capacity. The PRSP framework initially came about as precondition for countries to benefit from Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative.
Sharing experiences from rural communities regarding the election mood, members raised that politicisation of food aid was a worrying factor as it was a potential threat to community conflicts which may be further fuelled by political tensions leading to political motivated violence. They also highlighted that traditional leaders were diving communities based on the political affiliations creating challenges in implementing development programmes. It was reported that in some communities, development structures such as WADCOs and ViDCOs were politicised. As a result, development agendas were not inclusive but guided by political party ideologies.
The meeting was attended by various organisations representing different sectors and operating in the three provinces in the region. Although coordinated by NANGO, the programmes runs under the Non State Actors Alliance (NSAA) banner.
Source - Agencies
