Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a founder member and joined the Alliance in 1994.

 

• Zimbabwe hosted the first PPD Board Meeting in 1995 to draft the By-Laws ,and the PPD Programme of Work and decisions on the host and to select the site of the Partners Secretariat. Zimbabwe continues to forge strong linkages in the region and has arranged a number of strategic meetings over the last 10 years.
• The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) is the focal point for coordinating South-South activities. The ZNFPC, along with the Population Secretariat (POPSEC) in Uganda, and the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) in Kenya, provides strong support to the GLP efforts and assurance of assistance to the programme in respective country settings and the regional context. The council with support from UNFPA and JHPIEGO instigated an orientation course on RH service delivery guidelines for programme managers.
• Zimbabwe reflects a remarkable commitment to HIV/AIDS policy interventions, being the first country in the world with an AIDS levy of 3% over the income tax. A team of parliamentarians visited Uganda to observe its successful AIDS programme to be replicated in Zimbabwe and will involve the government civil service in its implementation.
• Among other health concerns, the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, through the ZNFPC and in collaboration with other stakeholders, piloted 2 reproductive health initiatives targeted at youths of 10-24 years in 7 sites with funding support from UNFPA, USAID, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Government of Zimbabwe. It has also launched the Promotion of Youth Responsibility Project and a project on developing effective RH Service Delivery Models for the youth in Zimbabwe. Initiatives also include the multi-national and multi-media “Africa Alive” youth programme created with assistance from the JHU/PCS attended by African countries from the Sub-Saharan region. To improve their own efforts, ZNFPC/University of Zimbabwe and MOH&CW visited Kenya in 1998 to observe and share experiences on youth programmes.
• Zimbabwe had organised an orientation session for consultants and NGOs which included: ZAPSO, Women’s Action Group, Musasa Project, Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE), WILDAF, UNFPA, Care International Uganda, FPA Uganda, ZNFPC. The seminar objective was to introduce the newly developed the Partners Handbook to consultants and NGO representatives and to obtain feedback on the handbook. The country also facilitated the meeting of a multi sector committee comprising consultants and technical experts to develop concepts from various reproductive health topics extracted from the National Reproductive Health Plan (1998-2002). These have been packaged into proposals to be presented at the regional workshop for possible funding from donors.
• Zimbabwe is a key player in the promotion of South-South collaboration. It has been instrumental in setting an NGO-GO network with the NGO Group Meeting on strategies for South-South Initiative held on 10 February 2000. The network focus corresponds with the priority area of the Alliance, namely RH and FP, ASRH, maternal mortality and morbidity, STI and HIV/AIDS. The meeting also discussed the need to include gender and development component that is cross cutting all four areas.
• In pursuit of international cooperation, the country has successfully shared and exchanged effective schemes with other countries. From 1995, with support from JHPIEGO, the University of Zimbabwe, the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and the ZNFPC piloted the screening of cervical cancer using visual inspection and acetic acid technique in 3 districts which was later replicated in other countries and was disseminated at the 6th Partners Board meeting in Beijing and an Asian Regional Conference of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Bangkok in 2000. There have been two study tours for Malawi and Botswana and Swaziland to attend medical training in IUD/Norplant insertion and removal skills. Then a group of private midwives, funded through SEATS, visited their Ugandan counterparts in 1998 to understudy private midwives programmes. Exchange of ideas regarding HIV/AIDS prevention and youth programmes has also taken place at a regional level.
• Zimbabwe joined Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Malawi and Zambia in The Girl Child Friendly Education Initiative which emanated from the Partners in collaboration with Danida. The priority area is gender and development, bringing gender issues into the main stream of the programmes with particular emphasis on the girl child as primary stakeholder. It has launched a further two initiatives – the Girl Child Network and Childline – to fight sexual abuse and to sensitise the public to the psychological and psycho-social effects of child sexual abuse which is on the rise in Zimbabwe. These efforts empower children to voice their perspective.

In addition, Zimbabwe has hosted high profile South-South regional meetings, such as :

•  Board and Executive Committee meetings of PPD
• Sub Saharan Africa Regional Workshop as well as the PPD sponsored Proposal Writing Skills Workshop from 31 May-4 June 1999. An inventory of skills and experience covering the areas programme experience, country experience, programme development, donor relations, collaboration experience, was carried out on participants attending the workshop.
• One-day roundtable meeting in 1999 with donors: USAID, UNFPA, EU, DFID, World Bank, UNAIDS, WHO UNICEF, UNDP, Embassies of the U.S.A. , Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, UK, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Indonesia, and Japan, CIDA, University of Zimbabwe, Euro Health Zimbabwe, National AIDS Coordination Programme, Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention and Support Organisation (ZAPSO), USAID and collaborating agency JHPIEGHO. The purpose of the meeting was to establish linkages and reinforce existing ones with the donors to enhance partner countries’ capacity to implement their Population and Development programmes through South-South modalities; to promote negotiations between donors and the local programme representatives; enabling the programme staff to have direct input from the donors and expose local staff to the needs, requirements and sensitivities of the donors.
• Inter regional workshop on reduction of maternal mortality and morbidity in1998.
• Pan African Environmental and Mutagen Studies (PAEMS) Conference hosted by the University of Zimbabwe in March 1999 to share research studies and findings on the effect and magnitude of malignant diseases affecting humans and animals.