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Zimbabwe emergency recovery program
World Bank
September 01, 2008

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Introduction

Approach and objectives

This paper outlines a possible Zimbabwe Emergency Recovery Program (ZERP) which Government could implement with support from Development Partners following the articulation of an internationally-backed recovery program. The draft ZERP is based on information gathered from a number of stakeholders in the course of implementing the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) led by the World Bank and supported by a number of development partners to assist with improving stakeholder knowledge on Zimbabwe. An emergency program would give Government the breathing space needed to re-formulate and finalize a medium-term development strategy.

It started off as a list of ten priorities based on information from stakeholders, and each topic was allocated to a Technical Review Groups (TRG) under the MDTF to document by way of a page summarizing the situation analysis using available knowledge (and clearly identifying gaps in knowledge which should be filled from further studies); and a second page on policy options using available study findings and stakeholders' views (and clearly indicating areas where more dialogue is needed to refine policy options). It is a living document to be updated with the availability of new information from analyses and consultations with stakeholders - it now contains a list of twelve issues following inputs from a number of stakeholders.

The draft ZERP provides a platform for dialogue among various actors likely to play a role in the financing, implementation, and monitoring of an emergency program not exceeding12 months. The draft outline of priorities has been shared with the Ministry of Economic Development (which is leading the Zimbabwe Economic Development Strategy - ZEDS - process), the Ministry of Finance, the National Association of NGOs (NANGO), the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), the main Donors likely to finance an emergency program, and opposition parties' economic policy-making teams; but not with the Reserve Bank (RBZ) of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), among others. Inputs from these key stakeholders are being used to improve on this draft.

The goal is to produce a short document outlining the kind of options that a government seeking to implement a credible stabilization program will face, with an indication of resources likely to be needed. The draft will also give a rough estimate of resource requirements for a 12 months period, in order to later mobilize resources for the emergency program.

Once an internationally-backed stabilization program has been articulated by Government, a multi-donor Rapid Needs Assessment Team will make a short visit to Zimbabwe to discuss and agree on the elements of the program. After that, Government and potential Financing Agencies, along with a mapping of donors' resources in the existing Multi-Donor Trust Fund (which currently finances analytical work), will be modified to finance the program in part or in totality. Donors will then be expected to put resources in accordance with the emergency program and the mapping of their resources.

The implementation of ZERP will be supported by a team of stakeholders (donors, civil society, selected Government agencies, representative bodies of industry and commerce, etc.) who will monitor progress and use the results to inform the development of a medium-term development strategy under the leadership of Government.

This draft ZERP is meant to promote consensus among stakeholders around what challenges face Zimbabwe and how they could be tackled when agreement is reached with the international community on a framework for re-engagement. It recognizes that Zimbabwe is faced by a social, political, and economic crisis that is being debated at many levels of society; and a viable ZERP will depend on the emergence of a national consensus - which the international community can support.

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