Back to Index

Zimbabwe Civil Society, NGOs probe official MDG report
John Chimunhu, ZERO Regional Environment Organisation
Extracted from SusWatch MDGs e-Monitor
July 04, 2006

Zimbabwe has made some progress towards attaining the United Nations sponsored Millennium Development Goals but a lot more needs to be done if targets are to be met by 2015, SusWatch says.

In a 29 page report (National SusWatch Report) critiquing the government's official MDG report published in 2004 and launched in September 2005, SusWatch highlights some glaring shortcomings in the state's presentation. According to SusWatch, the official MDG report paints a rosy picture which is quite possibly misleading.

"This assessment does not seem to be supported by evidence on the ground. The absence of updated data on key indicators on poverty, environment and health are of major concern. Even in those areas where data was collected, capacity to analyse and timely produce reports is very weak", the SusWatch report says. However, after the Summit the Government embarked on reviewing the 2004 report in question and a draft 2005 report is being finalised. However, the process indicated that not all CSOs participated, but the fact that some participated is a clear indication by CSOs to complement government's efforts towards sustainable development and the attainment of MDGs in Zimbabwe.

It says the official report plays down the lack of capacity in state institutions to capture, analyse and track data e.g. while the MDG reporting process was initiated in 2002 it was only finalised in 2004. Other examples cited include the 2002 population census whose results were only published in 2005. SusWatch says monitoring Zimbabwe's implementation of Goal 1, which calls for halving of extreme poverty by 2015, has been made difficult by government's failure to publish the report of the 2003 National Poverty Assessment Study and the absence of a poverty reduction strategy paper. This has left Zimbabweans to estimate poverty levels in the country, with some putting them at over 60 percent.

Meanwhile the National Poverty Assessment Study results are ready for publishing. However, one of the sentiments from CSOs is the late publication of these results. Non-availability of official updated poverty statistics and related data impacts on poverty alleviation programmes and related initiatives.

Efforts to monitor Goal 7 on environmental sustainability are also constrained by a lack of reliable information and lack of resources, says SusWatch.

"Data on environmental issues is also very weak, making it difficult to give an objective assessment of the status of the environment. The last State of the Environment Report was produced in 1998, creating a data vacuum of astronomic propositions", the report said.

On Goal 8 (Partnerships for Development), the SusWatch report said frosty relations between government, CSO and international donors were a major drawback.

Visit the ZERO Regional Environment Organisation fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP