adminPaidamoyo Chipunza Herald Reporter
The National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations says it is ready to work with the Zanu-PF Government following its landslide victory in the July 31 harmonised elections.Speaking to journalists during a feedback meeting on budget prioritisation in Harare yesterday, Nango programmes manager Mr Machinda Marongwe said Government on the other hand had also shown keen interest in working with NGOs in developmental issues.
“We are looking forward to engaging with Government in coming up with pro-poor policies and budgets,” said Mr Marongwe.
“We want to engage with them as much as possible in the budgeting process as we give them submissions from our stakeholders throughout the country.”
He said his organisation has consulted people in different provinces in the country on their priorities and these priorities will be consolidated to come up with a national priority list which will be submitted to Government for consideration.
Mr Marongwe said he was confident that Government would take their submissions seriously because of the interest they have shown in working with NGOs in developmental issues.
“We want to hold the Government accountable for what they have said in their manifesto and also see to it that pro-poor polices and budgets are prioritised,” he said.
The fact that 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s population lives in rural areas, Mr Marongwe said, made it important to come up with pro-poor polices.
According to their consultations, most people have called for prioritisation of health, education and other social services in budget formulation.
The organisation has also come up with proposals of raising funding for health and education sector. The proposals include levying the telecommunications and insurance sectors both the users and the providers to fund education and health respectively.
“We have realised that calling for increased budgeting towards a certain sector does not make sense without really proffering solutions on how to raise the funding,” he said.
“These and other submissions will soon be presented to Government as we work for the betterment of the country.”
There have been bad blood between some NGOs and Government with the former accused of getting involved in politics instead of concentrating on developmental issues.
Online Reporter