Zimbabwe's support to national response

Support to the National Response to contain the impact of COVID-19

Situational Analysis

The President declared COVID-19 as a national disaster on 18th March 2020 and a number of initial measures to curb the spread of the disease, including ban of public gatherings of over 50 people, border closure for human traffic and restrictions on unnecessary travel. The country also went on an initial 21-day, then 14-day lockdown since March 30th, 2020. As of 20th April, the country has recorded a total of 25 cases with 2 recoveries and 3 deaths.

Under the guidance of WHO and with support of UNDP and other agencies, the government is focused on scaling up testing, surveillance and contact tracing as well as increasing the supply of PPEs and identification and equipping of isolation and treatment centers across the country.

Furthermore, the revised, comprehensive national response plan is now budgeted at USD 212mil. UNDP’s budget in support of the national response plan is currently at USD 26.7mil out of which 6.3mil has been mobilized through a combination of reprogramming from Global Fund and other cost sharing as well as UNDP’s core resources.

This leaves a funding gap of about USD 20.4mil. Additional reprogramming is expected under the Global Fund and further resource mobilization efforts are ongoing.

Areas of intervention

 

Health System's and Procurement Support

USD 4.1mil related to Personal Protective Equipment procurement has been approved by the Global Fund. This represents a big contribution to the government needs in terms of ensuring adequate and timely preparation and response.

Further efforts are ongoing to reprogram additional USD 10 mil, amongst others to support hazard pay to front line health care workers at high risk of contracting the disease. Additional funds will be directed towards augmenting the diagnostic and labs capacities.

Inclusive and integrated Crisis Management and Response

Through a combination of funds reprogrammed from cost sharing and UNDP core resources, e-governance support is being rendered for core governance functions to enable Business Continuity, coordination and adequate response under the current lockdown and COVID related restrictions.

  • Community engagement and risk communication- leveraging the Youth Connekt platform.
  • Support to Human Rights monitoring, documentation, and reporting in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
  • Leveraging the platform of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission to promote cohesion and conflict prevention.
  • Support to vulnerable groups through the development of awareness raising materials and dissemination of information in accessible formats on COVID-19.
  • Tailored resilience building support to communities – through the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund.

Socio-economic impact and needs assessment

UNDP, other UN agencies and the World Bank are jointly undertaking a  the Socioeconomic impact assessment. The recommendation will be used to guide the government recovery process and policy guidance.

UNDP is strategically leading the work on the informal sector in collaboration with the WB, ILO, FAO and UNICEF by exploring alternative food distribution models that reduce the risk of COVID 19 transmission while ensuring the continuation of economic activities and thus, sustaining livelihoods of vulnerable section of the society.

Budget

 

Areas of Intervention Resources Required Resources Available Resource Gap
Strengthening health systems, including procurement and supply chain management $ 20,000,000 $ 4,153,940
$  15,846,060
Inclusive and multi-sectoral crisis management and response $ 4,502,000 $ 1,891,964 $ 2,610,036
Socio-economic impact assessment and recovery $ 2,290,000 $ 340,000 $  1,950,000
Total $ 26,792,000 $ 6,385,904 $ 20,406,096