| Grant Profile: |
| Project Title: |
Contribution to Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund |
| PCF/LICUS/SPF: |
LICUS |
Status: |
Open |
| File Number: |
65
| Region: |
AFR |
| Sector: |
Multisector |
Country: |
Zimbabwe |
| FY approved: |
2008 |
Grant Theme : |
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| Keyword(s): |
Donor harmonization;Multi-Donor Trust Funds |
Approved Amount: |
$1,000,000.00 |
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Grant Recipient:
World Bank Executed |
Grant Purpose:
The Multi-Donor Trust Fund will provide a venue to support donors’ effort to better coordinate and prepare their activities in Zimbabwe, and will strengthen donors’ knowledge on key development challenges facing the country. Participating donors will use the MDTF to improve their collaboration mechanisms and iron out coordination difficulties, gain greater country knowledge from an expanded analytical agenda, backed by an improved monitoring and evaluation system for NGO-implemented activities, and develop prototype instruments (including program documents for priority funding upon re-engagement and a programmatic MDTF framework). The MDTF will thus greatly contribute to the readiness of donors for eventual re-engagement by promoting consensus among various stakeholders on what would constitute an internationally-supported economic recovery program.
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Grant Activities:
The resources of the Multi-Donor Trust Fund will be used to undertake activities supportive of and relating to the thematic outcomes and areas of focus of the Interim Strategy Note in Zimbabwe, as well as for other broadly related areas, as agreed by the MDTF Policy Committee. The MDTF will undertake analytical work on the key development challenges facing Zimbabwe, and will develop, including through pilot activities, suitable instruments that can enable Government and donors to respond quickly when re-engagement (around a sound economic program with broad international support) occurs.
A key activity under this proposed grant is analytical and pilot work to lay the framework on what a follow-on programmatic MDTF would contain, rules of operation (including fiduciary assessments/arrangements), and priority areas for support. Resources under the MDTF will be used to finance consultant fees, contractual services, training, media and workshop costs, goods, travel expenses and associated overheads. The exact number of assignments to be financed will to some extent be determined by the prevailing situation and what donors and Bank consider high priority to prepare for re-engagement. Beyond the themes and objectives of the ISN, it is not possible to specify exact activities, thus the reason for quarterly meetings of the MDTF Policy Committee to respond to emerging priorities.
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News:
The Analytical Multi-Donor Trust Fund (A-MDTF) for Zimbabwe was established after the Zimbabwean government elections in 2008 as a result of joint international efforts. There was an urgent need for analytical work on the key development challenges facing Zimbabwe and the general socio-economic situation in the country. The analytical work carried out under the A-MDTF was to ensure that donors would be ready for informed and quick re-engagement, when the government and the international community agreed on a sound economic program.
Zimbabwe has for some time now been trapped in a perpetuating cycle of humanitarian, , sociopolitical and economic crisis. Drought, food shortage, spreading HIV/AIDS epidemic, cholera outbreaks, controversial land reforms, changes in government, and the plight or refugees and internally displaced persons, have left the country in turmoil for years. The Gross Domestic Product has shrunk by over a third for eight years, and the last officially released annual inflation rate was 231 million percent. Life expectancy has fallen to somewhere between 34 and 37 years of age which is among the lowest in the world.
The objective of the A-MDTF is to take a first step to respond to this complex situation in the country. The A-MDTF is expected to contribute to knowledge on key development challenges facing Zimbabwe, and enable the Government and donors to lead emergency recovery. Improved donor coordination is both an objective of the initiative and a requirement for its successful implementation. The Multi-Donor Trust Fund provides a forum for collaboration among donors, gaining greater country knowledge, developing an improved monitoring and evaluation system for NGO-implemented activities, and instruments for priority funding.
The World Bank is an administrator of the A-MDTF and a co-chair of the Policy Committee, the MDTF’s governing body. It is contributing a significant part of overall funds. The Policy Committee of the Fund comprising all donors and the United Nations Representative has held a number of meetings already and has endorsed the quick development of a re-engagement framework and an emergency recovery plan.
As a result of the A-MDTF, government, the private sector, NGO and international stakeholders have engaged in intense discussions on the most pressing development issues in Zimbabwe. This has led to an enhanced understanding of the key challenges. As a consequence of these discussions, the initiative has also contributed significantly to strengthened and harmonious donor coordination in the complicated environment in Zimbabwe. All donors see the project as a key instrument for the country’s recovery.
Multi-Donor Trust Funds have emerged as useful tools for the international community in coordinating support to countries facing economic or political crises. One key outcome of the A-MDTF is analytical and pilot work to lay the ground-work for a programmatic MDTF for Zimbabwe. This Programmatic MDTF is currently in the planning and will serve to strengthen the international community’s engagement in Zimbabwe.
Donors who have joined the efforts of the A-MDTF include: the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, the World Health Organization, the World Food Program, the International Organization for Migration, the International Labor Organization, government international cooperation and development agencies from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Japan, South Africa, and UN agencies, including UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO, and UNIDO.
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