The Sunday Mail
Reza Hossaini
It was 29 months ago that my tour of duty in Zimbabwe began as the Unicef Country Representative.
I arrived soon after the announcement by His Excellency, President Robert Mugabe, of a new Government that replaced the inclusive Government that had run its course since early 2009.
I recall the mood in the country being somewhat sombre.
I recall the uncertainty that seemed pervasive and I recall that almost everyone I talked to spoke about the strained relations between the Government of Zimbabwe and the international community.
They also spoke about the deficit of trust between the Government and the international community on the one hand, and the deficit of trust between the Government and civil society, especially the NGO sector, on the other.
It was also a time when Unicef was managing multi-donor trust funds in health, education, child protection, water and sanitation – making this the fourth largest country programme globally following closely behind Ethiopia, Nigeria and India.
As duty calls me to my next assignment, I leave this beautiful country with much sadness.
I look back to reflect, and look forward to project, and I cannot help but share my reflections and projections.
Looking back over the 29 months, I am very proud of what Unicef and the broader United Nations, in collaboration with the Government of Zimbabwe, development partners, civil society and the private sector, have achieved.
I am proud of having played a part in a number of achievements for the country, such as the high quality evidence generated through surveys and analyses that not only provided the strong advocacy tools for the rights of every child, but evidence that also showed the significant gains Zimbabwe had made in the social sectors such as health and education.
These gains have subsequently justified the current Unicef policy engagement and programmatic approach.
I am further heartened by the Government’s commitment to children, although I leave this country believing that more could be done and should be done for its children!
Looking forward, the country is faced with a difficult 2016 due to the economy, the drought and the not-too-favourable global outlook.
Donor funding for Zimbabwe is on the decline, but fiscal resources from Government are not on the increase – this is a risk that needs to be watched closely because funding for most of the social sectors is uncertain, and without these social sectors functioning, the country’s development prospects are slim.
While difficult in the short-term, or even in the medium-term, Zimbabwe should progressively embark on a path toward abolishing user fees, and finance them through general taxation.
User fees are an inefficient, regressive, and unfair way to cover funding gaps in basic social sectors since the most needed segments of the population get excluded from access to these services.
With economic and fiscal recovery, Government could take a stand and reduce fees for services, either across the board or through subsidies to targeted segments of the population.
User fees could be phased out in steps; first focused on abolishing the fees for the highest priority interventions (as primary education, or core maternal and child health services).
The donor community in particular and development partners in general have played a critical role in the revival of the social sectors. This I cannot over-emphasise in light of the current socio-economic and, of course, political context.
Too quick a total withdrawal by donors from the support provided to Zimbabwe could produce consequences similar to what was experienced in 2008/9.
I urge continued dialogue with Government and partners to safeguard the investments that have already been made in reviving the social sectors in particular.
The private sector and local communities also have the potential to contribute meaningfully to the process of achieving social sector objectives.
This potential needs to be tapped and coordinated.
Though co-operation between the private and public sectors has existed for a long time, this has been ad hoc and informal. Opportunities could be explored to increase the capacity of local manufacturers, to produce essential supplies for the education and health sectors (such as textbooks, drugs, equipment).
Introducing a comprehensive private-public partnerships scheme in the health and education sectors could also lead to improved working conditions and thus attract skilled personnel back to the sectors.
Communities could play a greater role in the management of facilities and services, and also in rebuilding infrastructure. Community infrastructure initiatives could help better identify local priorities and create employment opportunities in the respective areas.
What has saddened me the most during my time in Zimbabwe are some of the social practices.
I recall The Sunday Mail of June 22, 2014 carried a headline, “Over 170 men rape daughters in a year”, while The Herald of February 10, 2014 read “Father Rapes 2-month old daughter”, and on Friday February 7, 2014 it had an article titled, “Rapist dad gets 20 years”.
Many more reports of similar titles not mentioned here have been published while many others go unreported.
One thus wonders what on earth drives men to unashamedly commit such an unthinkable, selfish and criminal act of sexually preying on their own flesh and blood.
In another outrageous case, a report from the courts stated, “Granny forces girl, 14, into marriage” (Daily News, May 12, 2014). In this story, a Mhondoro grandmother allegedly forced a 14-year old girl to marry a 47-year old man who later raped her and infected her with HIV.
This is certainly not the first time such a gross violation of a girl-child’s rights has been reported, and it certainly won’t be the last, but it is nevertheless despicable!
Harmful practices against the girls of this country, and in fact even to the boys of this country is slowing eating away at our moral fibre, our moral uprightness!
In the final analysis, Nelson Mandela surely had these harmful practices in mind when he remarked, “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children”. And in our case in Zimbabwe, more needs to be done to improve the way we treat the girl child!
As Unicef and the broader UN, we have a role to play, a role that needs to be strategically utilised in this context.
We need to continue honest but aggressive dialogue with Government; we should not shy away from our ability to engage truthfully with Government, to advocate the rights and freedoms of all Zimbabweans, especially children.
We need to reinforce evidence-based programming and policy development, and in particular, we need to support in all forms the much-needed economic, monetary and fiscal reforms that are the country’s only hope of climbing out of the hole!
Government also needs to increase its role in guiding and coordinating donor interventions.
Donors have played a major role in financing social expenditures even prior to the economic crisis, and increasingly after that. Improved Government-donor coordination is essential to ensure support to critical social service delivery while preventing unnecessary duplication of efforts.
In addition, Government should continue to mobilise NGOs and agencies to take up its role in service provision until it is capable of resuming these tasks with own resources.
I wish the country the best of success.
I have really enjoyed the warmth of the Zimbabwean people, their resilience, and, of course, I have enjoyed the beautiful country.
Mr Reza Hossaini is the outgoing Unicef Zimbabwe Country Representative
