THE government is working towards the streamlining of non-governmental organisations’ (NGOs) operations to avoid duplication of projects in Zimbabwe, a government official has said.
TARISAI MANDIZHA
Speaking at the Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development (SMECD) stakeholders’ consultative workshop in Harare yesterday, SMECD minister Sithembiso Nyoni said the ministry was looking at streamlining operations with the development partners to avoid duplication of projects.
She said the ministry would soon come up with a methodology to ensure that projects by NGOs were equitably distributed across the country so that they benefited the needy. “I have some of you who do not want to go to untamed areas where nobody has visited before. Where there is real poverty you hesitate to go,” Nyoni said.
“Let us be ourselves and go out there and deal with poverty because you come here with that and not to double up on the same areas.
“Let us spread out, you come here for Zimbabwe and not one corner of Zimbabwe.” Nyoni said the ministry would give preference to registering NGOs that intended to pursue projects in the untamed areas.
“I am not registering NGOs that are going where there are others already operating, but I will be registering NGOs that are going where there is no one, to avoid duplication of work,” Nyoni said.
“Everyone wants to go to Binga, but there are some areas apart from Binga like Manicaland.”
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Nyoni said NGOs should inform government before implementing their projects for planning purposes.
“We are partners and there is need for us to work hand in glove in implementing all the programmes right from the outset, including needs identification, project implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation,” Nyoni said.
“It should be a thing of the past where the ministry should be left to take a back seat and just wait for quarterly and annual reports from our partners.”
Speaking at the same event, SMECD secretary, Evelyn Ndlovu said government had signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with several NGOs in the country.
“We have been having MoUs with NGOs, but they identify their own implementing agencies and after a while they just give us reports of what they have done. We want to be part of the consultations so that there is transparency,” Ndlovu said.
