Online Reporter
Mthabisi Tshuma [email protected]
ZIMBABWE’S candidate for the post of Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Dr Cosmas Zavazava, has outlined his priorities as he seeks a second term at the global telecommunications body.
Dr Zavazava, who has headed the ITU’s BDT since January 2023, is among the candidates for the position at the ITU’s 2026 Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-26), which will be held in Doha, Qatar, from November 9 to 27.
In an interview from Tajikistan, where the ITU Regional Development Forum for the Commonwealth of Independent States (RDF-CIS) was held from September 29 to 30, Dr Zavazava said his priorities for a second term would include accelerating digital transformation, bridging the digital divide and closing the digital skills gap.
“If I am voted for the second term, I would like to forge more partnerships, raise more funding for development projects. I also intend to increase the projects that we implement in Member States. My key priorities will be bridging the digital divide, closing the digital skills gap and accelerating digital transformation.
“These will rest on three pillars namely Resilient Infrastructure, Sustainable Investment and Inclusiveness in order not to leave anyone behind (bridging the rural-urban divide, gender gap and elderly and people with disabilities),” said Dr Zavazava.
The ITU confirms that Dr Zavazava has served as BDT Director since January 1, 2023, with his work focused on digital transformation and closing digital and skills divides.
Dr Zavazava said during his first term he had overseen a number of projects aimed at supporting digital development globally.
“Across Africa, Zimbabwe included, I launched the Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Digital Development initiative that resulted in the establishment of Innovation Acceleration Centres and Network of Experts in Innovation. This is an initiative that appeals to and empowers youth. A series of hackathons have been held. Zimbabwe’s Acceleration Centre is hosted by Potraz and the director general Dr Gift Machengete is a member of my 35 member Board.
“Also across Africa including Zimbabwe I launched a 15 million Euros project for mapping and modeling broadband infrastructure in individual countries to identify gaps. This modeling provides investment opportunities for industry and private sector,” he said.
Dr Zavazava said cybersecurity had also been a key area of focus during his first term.
“On cybersecurity, I have led efforts to setup Computer Incident Response Teams and Centres across Africa. I also organised a series of CyberDrills for Africa.
“Zimbabwe hosted the 2025 joint CyberDrill for Africa and the Arab region. African countries have also been participating in our Annual Global CyberDrills with the last one attracting over 136 countries. ITU broke 11 Guinness Book records,” said Dr Zavazava.
He also highlighted Zimbabwe’s participation at the Regional Development Forum, where the country’s delegation was led by ICT Deputy Minister Dingumuzi Phuti.
“This is a multi-stakeholder forum bringing together ITU Member States, Industry and Private Sector, Development Partners, UN Agencies and Academia. Earlier this year Zimbabwe hosted a similar event on behalf of the African region.
“Since its launch in 2022, ITU has mobilised USD$100 billion for financing projects. The event provides a platform for the exchange of ideas and good practices in digital transformation. Zimbabwe took advantage of this Forum to meet and exchange with other countries. Also, Zimbabwe held a series of bilateral meetings to promote my candidature for re-election to the post of Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau at the elections to be held in Doha, Qatar in November 2026,” said Dr Zavazava.
“The Zimbabwe delegation hosted a well attended social event to promote Zimbabwe’s candidate and also held a series of bilateral meetings with all the delegations who attended the Regional Development Forum. The RDF was held jointly with the Regional Commonwealth on the Field of Communications that brought together high-level participation,” he said.
Dr Zavazava said Zimbabwe could draw lessons from the CIS region, particularly in using technology to overcome some of the challenges faced by landlocked developing countries.
“Out of the nine CIS countries, seven are landlocked developing countries but achieving high connectivity levels leveraging satellite connectivity. The impressive focus on innovation, incubators and entrepreneurship to grow economies and tap the youth talent are some of the lessons Zimbabwe could learn particularly in Artificial intelligence governance, establishment of green data centres and responsible AI.
“All regions face similar challenges especially that of diversity i.e. that among the countries in each region there are least developed countries (Africa has the 26 out of 46 LDCs number), Landlocked Developing Countries (Africa has 16 countries out of the 32 LLDCs). These groups of countries face vulnerabilities to external economic shocks, geography and natural disasters,” he said.
Dr Zavazava said he had also focused on mobilising resources for digital development during his first mandate.
“During my first mandate, I embarked on a massive resource mobilisation drive raising a record USD$80+ million dollars for the financing of viable, bankable and impactful projects.
“Benefitting from this was the launch of a record number of partnerships and projects on infrastructure, cybersecurity, statistics, innovation and entrepreneurship and capacity building. I also managed to recruit over 254 private sector and industry Development Sector members to more effectively engage with them and bring investment to bridge the digital divide,” said Dr Zavazava.
ITU says PP-26 is the organisation’s highest policy-making conference and will elect its senior management team, including the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, for the next four-year term.
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