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USAID promotes good governance in Zimbabwe with a major donation of audio equipment to Parliament
US Embassy
September 10, 2010

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), working with its partner PACT and the Southern Africa Parliamentary Support Trust (SAPST), funded the purchase and installation of audio and other equipment to the Parliament of Zimbabwe as part of an ongoing effort to boost the capacity of parliamentarians and promote good governance.

Worth approximately $500,000, the donation consists of a new sound system, and equipment to facilitate voting, provide simultaneous translation, and permit digital archiving. The equipment will allow the Parliament to make official proceedings more accessible to the media and the general public.

Thanks to the new equipment, parliamentary and committee debates can now be digitally recorded onto a computer, providing an archive for public discussion, as required by law. The new system will also speed publication of the daily record of parliamentary debate and proceedings.

The equipment was made available under a Memorandum of Understanding with Parliament signed in May 2010. "USAID has had a long standing relationship with the Parliament of Zimbabwe and this donation is symbolic of our wishes to continue to work with Parliament to expand its capacity," said USAID Director Karen Freeman. "We are delighted to provide equipment to support and improve the daily function of this fundamental branch of government."

U.S. Ambassador Charles Ray and USAID Director Karen Freeman will officially announce the donation on September 21 at public ceremony at the Parliament inaugurating the systems.

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