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WE welcome the signing of an agreement between the government and the United Nations which will see the world body mobilising $1,6 billion between next year and 2020 to support development programmes.

The landmark agreement will go a long way in expediting the implementation of the government’s much-vaunted economic blueprint – the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation and boost efforts by the government to turn around the economy.

Dubbed the Zimbabwe United Nations Development Framework, the agreement was signed by the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda and the UN Resident Coordinator Bishow Parajuli in Harare on Friday. ZUNDAF will support various areas contained in Zim-Asset such as food security and nutrition, gender and equality, HIV and Aids, poverty reduction and value addition, public administration and governance and social services and protection.

We commend the UN’s shift from focusing on humanitarian assistance to development issues. We also hope that the lead taken by the UN will be emulated by the government’s other development partners particularly those aligned to the West. Since the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe by the European Union, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada at the turn of the millennium, these countries have been reluctant to channel development aid via official channels, preferring instead to use non-governmental organisations whose agenda has always raised suspicion in the government.

NGOs aligned to the West have tended to politicise their aid and have in the past clashed with authorities who accused them of pursuing a regime change agenda. We are however, glad that relations between the EU and to some extent the US and Zimbabwe are slowly but surely normalising and hopefully this will lead to more direct engagements.

Harare has always maintained that it is open to engagement with the West and is amenable to a normal mutually beneficial relationship underpinned by respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. The government has also been consistent and coherent in as far as policy implementation is concerned and has been making moves to curtail expenditure while moving to rationalise its workforce.

Zimbabwe has committed itself to implementing robust reforms and modernisation of its institutions of governance. It has pledged to deliver quality service underpinned by the Results Based Management system incorporating e-Government as part of its citizen responsive government initiative. It has also been heavily engaged with the International Monetary Fund and complying with its staff-monitored programme.

We also note with optimism the various high level trade delegations that the US and several EU countries have been dispatching to Harare and are confident that normalisation of relations is not far off. Zim-Asset is a brilliant blueprint that requires funding and the move by the UN to chip in with $1,6 billion is timely. Hailing the agreement, Sibanda welcomed the UN shift from humanitarian to development assistance. “I’m particularly pleased to observe that the crafting of the 2016-2020 ZUNDAF has been underpinned by the Zim-Asset blueprint, entailing the alignment of the programming processes to Zim-Asset priorities,” he said.

“Without doubt, this will add value to government’s developmental efforts by shifting the focus of the UN system from humanitarian to developmental support.

“It’s against this background that I am confident that the new ZUNDAF cycle will further buttress the accelerated implementation of Zim-Asset through the provision of technical and financial assistance to the various projects and programmes.”

On his part, Parajuli called for the establishment of efficient, well functioning development coordination architecture anchored on Zim-Asset emphasising that it was important to have well-run and effective Zim-Asset clusters.

We hail the agreement and call on the two parties to ensure that the 2016-2020 ZUNDAF is sustained and enhanced.