Partnering for Resilience and Sustainable Development in Zimbabwe: Climate Resilience, Inclusion, Strategic Partnerships, Development Financing

Zimbabwe's development story is one of both opportunity and urgency. The country has the resources, talent and ambition to achieve its Vision 2030 goals, and has demonstrated resilience and progress. At the same time, Zimbabwe's development journey continues to be hindered by structural economic constraints, including high levels of public debt, erratic economic growth, and a pervasive informal economy. 

Human capital development is equally hindered by persistent poverty, child stunting, high youth unemployment, and deep-seated gender inequalities, which leave vulnerable populations reliant on heavily underfunded social services. This is further worsened by climate-related vulnerability, such as El Niño droughts, which disrupt agriculture, threaten livelihoods, cause food insecurity, and reshape how and where people live, work and move. Limited access to concessional finance makes it harder to invest in the infrastructure, services and opportunities that can drive inclusive growth.

Meeting these challenges requires integrated approaches that protect those most at risk, strengthen community resilience and create economic opportunities that allow all people and communities to thrive. There is an urgent need to create quality jobs, build resilience to climate shocks, ensure inclusion, strengthen public services, and mobilize the financing needed for sustainable development. Meeting these challenges will require more than funding alone. It will require development solutions, expertise, innovation and partnerships that bring together government, communities, business, and development partners.

Against this backdrop, the United Nations works to support government, in partnership with development actors, to turn development ambition into action. As the current programme of cooperation between the UN and the government of Zimbabwe nears completion, and the new programme is finalized for the period 2027-2031, the UN is committed to deliver better together for the government and people of Zimbabwe. Leveraging policy support, programmes, and partnerships from across its agencies, the United Nations brings together global norms and standards, evidence, technical expertise, and experience from around the world to help identify solutions that work, adapt them to local realities, and ensure that development benefits reach everyone, especially those most at risk of being left behind. 

As a trusted and neutral partner, the UN helps connect local priorities to global opportunities, promoting inclusive, resilient and sustainable development. The UN’s focus is increasingly on coordinated interventions, strengthened partnerships and helping.

unlock financing needed to accelerate progress, from strengthening policies and institutions to developing investable opportunities, mobilising concessional and blended finance, and attracting sustainable investment.
 

Purpose

The Media Encounter in Harare seeks to strengthen public understanding of the United Nations' role in Zimbabwe, highlight key development priorities, and foster informed reporting on issues relating to the sustainable development goals and trajectory for the country. It aims to shine a spotlight on key themes, results, and opportunities, initiating a series of engagements by the United Nations country team during the month of October leading up to UN Day (24 October).

The event aims to promote dialogue and strengthen engagement between the United Nations and the media to promote accurate, informed, and solutions-oriented reporting. The ultimate objective is to increase public awareness of key issues and the United Nations' contribution to Zimbabwe's development objectives, enhance understanding of the importance of collaborative approaches in addressing development and humanitarian challenges, and highlight opportunities for future partnerships and investments.
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Discussion Areas

The event will include reflections from key UN actors:
- Overall scene setting (UN Resident Coordinator)
- Climate Resilience and El Niño Preparedness (World Food Programme)
- Development Financing for the SDGs (UN Development Programme)
- Displacement, Migration and Resilience (Lead Agency: International Organization for Migration)
- Public-private partnerships for Sustainable Development (Econet).
 

Participants:
 

A total of 50 people: Editors and Senior Representations from Media Houses (Print, Broadcast, Digital and Community Media); UN Agencies Heads of Agencies , Funds and Programmes; Government Representatives; Development Partners; Private Sector Representatives.
 

Roles and Responsibility
 

Heads of Agencies: Their role is to highlight the strengthened efforts to deliver as One as the Agencies under the banner of the UN in Zimbabwe, without losing their identities and mandates as Agencies. They are expected to participate actively in this. Some of the Heads of Agencies will made presentation and these should highlight the work of the UN as opposed to individual agencies.
 

Media: Editors’ role is to engage with the UN Heads and provide insight into how partnership can be strengthened. Editors will engage whilst reporters will provide coverage of the discussions on their different platforms. They will collect content from the event and also from individual interviews should they wish.
 

UN Communications Group: Support for the smooth running of the programme and interface with the editors will be provided by the UN Communications Group.