Online Reporter
Lovemore Kadzura
Post Reporter
SENIOR Government officials have been challenged to move beyond drafting plans and ensure that development strategies are implemented efficiently and translate into tangible improvements in the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.
Speaking at the Integrated Results-Based Management (IRBM) Facilitators’ Refresher and Strategic Planning and Reviews Preparation Workshop held in Mutare yesterday (Thursday), Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Mr Zvinechimwe Churu, said public institutions must demonstrate measurable results and deliver meaningful development outcomes at community level.
He said Government resources should be directed towards programmes that generate real value for citizens, warning that the era of producing impressive plans without visible results on the ground was over.
“Strategic planning must never be reduced to the preparation of documents, matrices, indicators or lists of activities. A strategic plan is, fundamentally, a statement for making disciplined choices and, above all, a commitment to delivering results,” said Mr Churu.
He stressed that ministries, departments and agencies must focus on implementation and continuously assess whether their interventions are producing the intended developmental impact.
“Government operates within an environment of finite resources and competing demands. The resources entrusted to us must therefore be directed towards interventions that generate meaningful and measurable public value.
“As we prepare for 2027, our task is not merely to produce plans. It is to strengthen the ability of ministries, departments and agencies to think strategically, prioritise effectively and manage for development results,” he said.
Mr Churu said well-crafted plans alone are not enough if they fail to translate into tangible outcomes.
“A technically sound plan can still be strategically weak. A well-written plan can still fail in implementation. An institution can report hundreds of activities and outputs without demonstrating meaningful development impact.
“Our objective must therefore be to develop plans that are credible, coherent, focused, results-oriented, adequately resourced and implementable,” said Mr Churu.
He said every public sector plan should clearly articulate the change it seeks to achieve, who will benefit, the scale of impact and the timeframe for delivery.
“Every plan should ultimately answer four fundamental questions: What will change? For whom? By how much? And by when?” he said.
Mr Churu noted that Zimbabwe is now firmly in the implementation phase of the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2), and urged institutions to treat the transition to the next planning cycle as an opportunity for reflection, learning and strategic realignment.
“The transition from one planning cycle to another must not be treated as a routine administrative exercise. It should be a period of reflection, learning and strategic recalibration,” he said.
He called for a results-driven culture across the public service.
“We must cultivate a public service culture that values evidence over assumption, learning over blame, prioritisation over indiscriminate expansion and results over activity.”
Mr Churu said Integrated Results-Based Management remained a key pillar of Government’s development agenda and should increasingly focus on outcomes and impact as Zimbabwe moves towards achieving Vision 2030.
“We must now take this journey to a higher level where outcomes and impact are the true measure of success, especially as we enter the last mile towards the implementation of Vision 2030,” he said.
The Deputy Chief Secretary also urged Government institutions to embrace a whole-of-government approach, saying national development targets could only be achieved through effective coordination and collaboration.
“No ministry, department or agency operates in isolation. Where institutions contribute to the same national outcome, their respective roles, dependencies and responsibilities must be clearly reflected in their plans,” he said.
“Shared priorities require coordinated implementation, defined responsibilities and collective accountability. This is how we give practical meaning to the whole-of-government and society approach.”
While acknowledging the achievements recorded under the first National Development Strategy (NDS1), particularly in infrastructure development, Mr Churu urged policymakers to focus more on long-term developmental outcomes and sustainable impact.
“As we implement NDS2, we must also draw lessons from NDS1. Significant progress was achieved, including in infrastructure development. However, we must increasingly focus on the longer-term outcomes and developmental impact generated by our interventions,” he said.
Mr Churu said ultimately citizens will judge Government, not by the number of plans, reports and meetings held, but by the positive changes they experience in their daily lives.
“The people of Zimbabwe will not judge Government by the number of plans, meetings or reports we produce. They will judge us by the positive and lasting changes they experience in their daily lives.”
Ends
