Online Reporter
Ambassador James Manzou
FOLLOWING the launch of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) report for Zimbabwe, let me say that all credit goes to President Mnangagwa for the courage and wisdom he showed in agreeing to have the country reviewed by his peers.
The presentation of the report in February this year, followed by its launch on July 16, was a very historic occasion.
We thank the President for his guidance and wisdom throughout the process.
Now, where are we?
This was part of the discussion at our meeting this week (last week).
The Zimbabwean Chapter National Governing Council held its quarterly meeting to assess where we are at the moment.
Following the launch, a National Programme of Action was developed by the governing council, and that plan was launched together with the report by the President on July 16.
Following the launch, the plan was integrated into the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2). As you know, within NDS2, we have many pillars.
So, what we did was to look at the recommendations of the peer review mechanism and assign those recommendations to the various pillars of NDS2.
The importance of this is that we are then able to implement those recommendations simultaneously with the strategies under NDS2. That gives us a very smooth implementation process, and more importantly, it also facilitates monitoring and evaluation, because we use the existing processes of NDS2. So, that is the phase we are in at the moment.
From there, we expect that the President may require a report to present at the next APRM Forum in Addis Ababa.
We understand that the forum will be held in January.
So, between now and then, the National Governing Council will work on a draft report, which we will submit to the President for approval and subsequent presentation at the African Union (AU).
Review
The other area where we have to await direction from the President is on the next review.
We have conducted the first sectoral review. I say sectoral because it was not comprehensive. We reviewed the economic governance and management sector.
There are various other sectors for which we can conduct a review, or we can undertake a comprehensive review.
However, that decision rests with the President. The National Governing Council will await direction from His Excellency on where we go from here in terms of the next target.
Monitoring
We have made a decision to return to the provinces where we conducted the review and report back on what transpired.
The report has now been launched, together with His Excellency’s recommendations. It is important for the National Governing Council to go back to the provinces and report on the outcome of the process.
Because, by the way, this is a people’s report. It reflects the voices and views of the people.
So, between now and January, resources permitting, the National Governing Council will return to the provinces to report back and, importantly, receive feedback from the people.
This is a citizen-centric process, and it is the voices of the people that matter.
But, as I said earlier, the implementation of the recommendations will be monitored through the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms of NDS2, because that is where we have integrated them.
We will, therefore, engage the chairpersons of each NDS2 pillar and say: These recommendations have been integrated into your pillar; what progress have you made in implementing them?
We will do this for every pillar, and the findings will form part of another report to His Excellency, outlining how the recommendations have been implemented and the achievements recorded.
Vision 2030
The fact that all the recommendations fit comfortably within the pillars of NDS2 says something. It means the recommendations are compatible with NDS2 and, by extension, Vision 2030.
Therefore, their implementation will enhance our efforts to achieve Vision 2030.
That is why we are implementing them within the NDS2 framework.
The APRM is a very useful mechanism.
As I said earlier, depending on the decision of the President, we can be mandated to undertake, for example, a comprehensive review covering other areas.
Remember, this first review focused specifically on economic governance and management.
Other countries, however, have undertaken comprehensive reviews covering a wide range of areas.
Alternatively, we can be mandated to undertake other sectoral reviews.
For example, some countries have conducted reviews focusing specifically on youth issues. We could do the same, just as we did with economic governance and management, and come up with recommendations that enhance the achievement of NDS2 and Vision 2030.
We could also be mandated to review areas such as women’s empowerment.
We would look at what we are doing in that area and develop recommendations based on the findings. There can be as many areas as there are sectors.
All that would constitute another stage of the APRM process, but it is a stage guided by the decision of the President.
Best practices
You will recall that the peer review report identified a number of best practices.
These include best practices in transformative leadership, land reform, Education 5.0, the village business unit model and Agriculture 8.0.
There are also best practices in performance management and financial management under the Government’s “back-to-basics” approach.
There are best practices that the AU is already taking forward.
As you may have heard, the AU sent a commissioner for Education to Zimbabwe to understand what Education 5.0 is all about because it had generated considerable interest.
They wanted to understand what Education 5.0 entails and how it could be shared across the continent as a best practice.
That process is underway.
But let me also say that, as Zimbabwe, while we have best practices to share, we are equally ready to learn from others.
That is the whole purpose of the APRM.
From what we are doing well, other countries can learn from us.
Equally, where we face challenges, we can learn from other countries.
It is about Africans sharing experiences with other Africans on an equal footing, within a voluntary framework.
Ambassador James Manzou is the African Peer Review Mechanism National Governing Council chairperson. He was speaking to our reporter Nyore Madzianike following last week’s meeting of the council.
