Online Reporter
Nduduzo Tshuma in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Zimbabwe and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have extended their Government Experiences Exchange Programme (GEEP) to 2030, a move expected to further strengthen public sector capacity and improve service delivery under the Second Republic.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the World Governments Summit, where Zimbabwe was represented by the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Martin Rushwaya, while the UAE was represented by Her Excellency Maryam bint Ahmed Al Hammadi, Minister of State and Secretary-General of the Cabinet.
GEEP falls under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Co-operation in the Field of Improvement and Development of Government Activities, which was signed in February 2023.
The extension aligns with the programmatic cycle of the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2), which runs from 2026 to 2030. Its primary objective is to enable Zimbabwe to draw on best practices and experiences from the UAE on how government and the public sector can be reformed and transformed into agile, innovative and modernised institutions capable of delivering high-quality services to the people and the economy, in line with Vision 2030 targets.
The programme encompasses more than 100 areas of co-operation, structured around key pillars that include Government Enablers, Infrastructure Readiness and Leadership and Capacity Building.
In an interview after the signing ceremony, Dr Rushwaya said: “We have further signed an agreement to extend the duration of the co-operation from 2026 to 2030 in areas of increasing the capacity and performance of Government ministries in the delivery of services.”
Dr Rushwaya said the programme has already yielded tangible results, particularly in strengthening the skills base among senior Government officials.
“We have benefited in areas of training some of our senior officers as we speak.
“Some of the officers graduated last week in areas of project monitoring, financial management and capacity building in terms of project implementation,” he said.
The co-operation has also extended to youth development, with a group of Zimbabwean ICT students receiving specialised training in the UAE.
“We also had a group of ICT students who were trained here by the Government of the UAE,” said Dr Rushwaya.
Dr Rushwaya said the extension of the agreement underscores the Government’s commitment to adopting global best practices to enhance service delivery.
“This is an extension of an existing agreement that was signed initially in 2023 to enhance our capacity as Government to improve service delivery,” he said.
Implementation of GEEP will be led by the Office of the President and Cabinet, working with other key Government agencies under the High-Level Forum on Public Sector Reforms and Transformation (Tripartite), which will serve as the delivery unit for Government.
