Poor Service delivery is every resident‘s nightmare and policies to curtail this scourge which has seriously affected the day to day life of residents must be put in place . This was revealed at workshop on peace building, local governance and citizen participation in rural areas hosted by Civic Forum on Human Development.
By Owami Sithole Recently in Mudzi .
Speaking at the launch of the European Union funded project recently in Mudzi , Linda Kalenga on behalf of Phillipe Van Ambassador Head of EU delegation to Zimbabwe said the new initiative is meant to contribute to good governance, transparency and accountability in local governance.
“There should be increase democratic participation in governance by all citizens and communities of Zimbabwe, as started in paragraph b of the preamble to chapter 14 of the Constitution. This will lead to enhanced service delivery and improved quality of life amongst citizens, “said Kalenga.
She went on to say the project has a total of budget of EUR 676,425 from EU, and will be implemented over a period of 36 months in partnership with the center for Community Development Solutions and the Association of Rural District Councils of Zimbabwe .
The project which is meant to benefit citizens in areas which include Mutoko, Hwedza,Nyaminyami, Hurungwe and Sanyati is hinged on the need to promote good governance at grassroots level.
“The overall objective of the project is to promote sustainable and accountable governance in the management of public resource at local government level for effective service delivery. Whilst the specific objective is to enhance supply and demand side effectiveness, efficiency and good operational management for service provision through a better understanding of the public resource management framework,” she said.
She further said that the project also aims to promote gender equality by ensuring that both men and women participate in the dialogue on accountability and service delivery with the Rural District Councils and other relevant institutions.
“We are to fulfil the indicative programme which was signed between EU and the Government with mandate to reduce poverty and to support peace and stability by supporting growth and promoting human rights democracy and the rule of law,” she noted.
Civic Forum on Human Development Chief Technical Director Absolom Masendeke said that their organization is a bridge in strengthening mechanism and strategies for improved engagement between civil Society organizations and local governance institutions on service delivery.
“Our role as CFHD is to create common understanding on the planning and implementation of the inclusive service delivery and social sccountability in rural local authorities of zimbabwe as well as to build consensus on the operational plan of the project across the sic districts participating in the project ,” said Masendeke .
“We are to come up with a strategy for communication collaboration and knowledge sharing during the implementation of the project,” he said.
