On a Saturday in May 1994, fourteen-year-old Frida Umuhoza lay face down in a shallow ditch in rural Rwanda, her cheek pressed into the soil, her legs trapped beneath the weight of her relatives’ bodies. Around her, neighbors she once greeted daily had finished their work and were moving on.Before the blows began, she had been offered a choice of how she wanted to die.“It could be a machete, a club, a knife, a spear, or a big tree with nails,” she recalls. “But there was no gun, and even if there was, we couldn’t afford it anyways.” She chose the club.That moment—one girl in a ditch, surrounded by a community turned against itself—turned “genocide” from an abstract word into a series of sounds and images that never leave, children screaming, “Please forgive me. I will never be a Tutsi again.” A mother’s head hacked from her body. A beloved grandfather, Bible in hand, asking, “Why are you doing this to us?” before a club silenced him.Thirty-two years later, in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Tuesday 7 April, Frida’s story was shown as a video testimony—one among thousands—at the heart of a global commitment that the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda will be remembered truthfully, taught honestly, and never allowed to be denied or repeated.“We gather today, here in Harare, united in sorrow and in resolve,” said Mr. Edward Kallon, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, at the 32nd Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. “More than a million people were murdered… Entire families were erased. Communities that had lived side by side for generations were torn apart by a brutality that still defies understanding.” Frida’s was one of those families.“Stand up. You are Tutsi.”From the outside, her childhood looked ordinary, a businessman father, a mother raising six children—three sons and three daughters—in a home shaped by faith and hard work.“I had no idea I was a Tutsi until I started school at the age of six,” Frida says.One day, a teacher entered with a registration book and asked how many Hutus and how many Tutsis were in the classroom. Frida didn’t know where she belonged. A friend leaned over and whispered the words that would define her life: “Stand up. You are Tutsi.”“Since then,” she says, “I knew that I was referred to as a cockroach and a snake—less than a human being.”At the Harare commemoration, Mr. Kallon described how this dehumanization was weaponized. A radio journalist “allowed his microphone to become a weapon,” he said, using “inyenzi”—cockroaches—to make murder “thinkable, then acceptable, then routine.”For Frida, the violence did not begin with machetes. It began with language—in a classroom, and later on the airwaves.In 1990, the private radio station RTLM began broadcasting hate speech. “It was purposely there to plant and put hate speech on the radio,” she remembers. Lists followed. “Our friends also told us, from school, that we were on the list of the people that are supposed to die.”Killings had already started in parts of the country. Her father was arrested, accused of supporting the Rwandan Patriotic Front. His business was crippled by restrictions. Fear settled into the family’s daily life.When President Juvénal Habyarimana’s plane was shot down in April 1994, Frida says, the radio announced the killing should begin. “We already knew that machetes had been supplied in all the villages.”“You were killed by a friend, a neighbor.”In her region, the massacres began later—around the third week of April. Frida’s mother split the family into small groups to hide. Frida, her sister and a cousin were sent to a neighbor’s house; others fled into the bushes.“We’d been running for weeks and weeks,” she says.Then, in May, the killers changed tactics. An announcement went out, the killing had stopped; people could return home. It was a lie. “We went back home, but there was no home to go back to,” Frida says. “My home was demolished.”They made their way to her grandfather’s house. He was a respected teacher, “a really wonderful man in the community.” He was still alive, but only because his captors had decided to let him die slowly—without food or water—after they killed everyone else.For a brief moment, hope returned. Frida’s mother arrived with her brothers and two boys she had been sheltering. Her father, recently released, returned that same week. “I was very happy to see my whole family still alive,” Frida says.It didn’t last.They were rounded up and taken to a roadblock with other Tutsi families. In Frida’s area, even death had a price. “To be shot was an expensive death, you had to pay for it,” she says. They couldn’t. Asked for a grenade, her grandfather explained they had no money. They were sent home with the message understood: cheaper methods would do.On the day of the president’s burial, the killers came.Early that morning, Frida heard children screaming at neighbors: “Please forgive me. I will never be a Tutsi again.” “Very little children,” she says, “who believed that the worst crime they had ever committed was being a Tutsi.” Then it was their turn.The ditchEighteen people were in her grandfather’s house: grandparents, aunts, siblings, cousins, her mother. One younger sister had been killed earlier. Her father, certain he would be targeted first, had hidden for weeks on the roof, listening.They were driven to a prepared ditch. “When we got there, it was all our friends and our neighbors,” Frida says. “You weren’t killed by people from so far away. You were killed by a friend, a neighbor, someone that you’ve loved.”Frida had already decided how she would die. She asked a young man she knew—John—who held a club, to kill her with it.As the blows fell, she saw her mother’s head chopped off near her brothers. “When I saw that, I covered my head with a hoodie,” she says. Then the club hit the back of her head. She lost consciousness.When she woke, she was beneath a pile of bodies. The killers were already filling the ditch. “Everybody had died,” she says. Her sister beside her was still alive—briefly—then took her last breath.She was fourteen, bleeding, pinned under roughly fifteen corpses, and buried.“At the age of 14, you really don’t understand everything,” she says. “But I then started thinking, maybe my dad will come down and dig me out.”She didn’t know that from the roof her father had watched the murder of his wife, children and extended family—then climbed down and offered himself to be killed. As Frida screamed under the soil, the killers celebrated his death. “I lost hope,” she says.A neighbor heard her. A woman nearby caught the sound of her crying and fetched help. “The young man who dug me out was a young man who had worked for my grandfather,” Frida says. Later, a Hutu man hid her until RPF forces reached the village and the slaughter ended.“I was a broken girl,” she says. “I was traumatized for a very long time… deep inside, I was lost.”“It is as if it happened yesterday”In Harare, officials returned again and again to the fact that time does not dissolve this pain. Rwanda’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe, His Excellency James Musoni, who is also the Dean of Diplomatic Corps said the trauma remains vivid and survivors continue to bear physical and emotional scars.Frida put it more starkly, survivors are still suffering—depression, anxiety, nightmares. Women raped and infected with HIV/AIDS still need help. “It is not enough to remember the dead; we must protect the living,” Mr. Kallon said, echoing the UN Secretary-General. Prevention means rejecting incitement, investing in social cohesion, and strengthening institutions that stop mass atrocities.Zimbabwe’s government, in a keynote address delivered by Chief Director Mr. M Chigiji on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Honorable Professor Amon Murwira, tied the commemoration to constitutional obligations to promote regional and international solidarity and to participate in organizations that stand for humanity’s well-being. The message emphasized Rwanda’s resilience and the difficult work of reconciliation as proof of what determined rebuilding can achieve.Naming the crime—and confronting denialMr. Kallon noted that in 2018 the UN General Assembly amended its language to explicitly recognize the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, closing space for denial, distortion, and equivocation. “This clarity matters,” he said. “Naming the crime accurately is the first defense against its repetition.”Ambassador Musoni warned that denial and “genocide ideology” now spread rapidly through digital platforms, and called for decisive measures - confronting hate speech, ensuring perpetrators are brought to justice, and refusing to allow those responsible for grave crimes to live freely while spreading division.Frida’s appeal is simpler—and harder. “We all have that responsibility of fighting against that ideology,” she insists. “It’s not easy when you’ve lost everything you’ve loved and known.”Genocide as a chain of choicesMr. Kallon called it organized and planned—driven by political leaders who chose division, commanders who turned institutions into instruments of slaughter, administrators who used lists and identity papers as tools of death, media voices that poisoned the public sphere, and leaders who stayed silent when their moral authority was needed most.But even in Frida’s story, the same society that produced killers also produced rescuers: the woman who heard her under the soil, the young man who dug her out, the man who hid her until liberation. “Genocide is not inevitable,” Mr. Kallon said. “It is built, step by step. And it can be prevented, step by step.”Prevention begins long before the first machete is raised - challenging dehumanizing jokes, resisting scapegoating, defending inclusive institutions and independent courts, upholding rights, and acting early when hate speech and targeted violence rise.From the podium, Mr. Kallon assigned responsibility widely. “First, to governments and political leaders,” Mr. Kallon said, “you carry the primary responsibility… to protect your populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.” That means inclusive institutions, security forces that protect rather than prey on citizens, independent courts, open civic space and honest addressing of historical grievances.To security institutions, he was blunt: “‘Following orders’ is no defense for participation in genocide or crimes against humanity.” Early warning requires monitoring hate speech, militias and targeted violence—and acting on them.To educators and cultural leaders, “Genocide begins in the mind before it is carried out by the hand. You shape how young people understand ‘us’ and ‘them.’ You decide whether history is told honestly… or manipulated to sow new hatred.”To media professionals, “Today, digital platforms can spread dehumanizing language and incitement faster and further than ever before.” Societies, he argued, need “responsible journalism, ethical communication, and media literacy” that can distinguish hate speech from legitimate debate.Religious and traditional leaders, Mr. Kallon noted, carry “enormous weight” in tense moments, and young people “are not only the ‘leaders of tomorrow;’ you are shapers of today’s social media spaces, community initiatives, and civic movements.”But his final appeal was to everyone.“Genocide does not begin with mass killings,” he said. “It begins with whispered slurs, with jokes that demean, with rumors that paint neighbors as enemies. Every time we refuse to laugh at a dehumanizing joke; every time we defend someone who is targeted because they are different… every time we speak out against corruption, discrimination and abuse – we are acting as agents of prevention.”Remember, unite, renewThe commemoration theme—“Remember, Unite, Renew”—ran through the ceremony and through Frida’s life. Rwanda’s post-genocide progress, speakers said, shows what a country can build after near-total destruction. As the ceremony closed, Mr. Kallon offered a final standard - remember faithfully and without distortion, listen to survivors as a moral compass, and act—in institutions and in everyday life. “‘Never again’ must be more than a slogan,” he said. “It must be the standard by which we measure our laws, our leaders, and ourselves.”For Frida, that standard began with a teacher’s roll call and a radio’s lies, and ended in a ditch filled with bodies. Her survival—and her decision to speak—insists on a final question, from Harare to Kigali and beyond: will the world truly hear, and act, step by step, before the next ditch is dug?

At dawn in Binga, in Zimbabwe’s drought-scorched Matabeleland North due to El Nino, 46-year-old farmer Sibongile Ncube peers at her simple Nokia handset, scrolling through a stream of SMS messages she no longer knows how to read—or trust.One text from a seed company promotes a “climate-smart” maize hybrid she’s never heard of. Another, in English, warns of “severe rainfall variability,” using language that feels far removed from the dry fields and empty micro-dam outside her homestead. A third insists she register yet again for a new subsidy scheme if she wants cheaper fertilizer.“They are always asking us for information,” she says quietly. “My name, my field size, my yields. But most of the time, nothing comes back. We don’t know who is using that information. We don’t know how it helps us.”That uneasy gap—between data taken and value returned, between cautious hope and deep distrust—sat at the core of the 2026 Agile Data and Digital Public Infrastructure Summit held this week at the Elephant Hills Hotel in Victoria Falls.Against the backdrop of the roaring falls and the soft clatter of laptops, one theme cut through: if Zimbabwe is to build a climate-resilient, digitally enabled agriculture sector, it must start with farmers like Sibongile—not as raw material for data pipelines, but as decision-makers who benefit directly from the systems built around them.“No farmer, no future. No trust, no transformation.”  “We must be honest with ourselves,” said Mrs. Miranda Tabifor, UNFPA Representative, Chair of the UN Programme Management Team, and Co-Chair of the National Data for Development and Innovation in Zimbabwe, as she opened a key session on policy for agile data and digital public infrastructure.“The question before us is not whether data and digital tools will shape the future of Zimbabwean agriculture and climate resilience. They already are. The question is whether we will shape that future deliberately and inclusively—or allow it to evolve in fragmented, inequitable, and ultimately fragile ways.”Addressing government officials, private-sector leaders, researchers, development partners and small-holder farmers from different parts of the world, Mrs. Tabifor offered an honest assessment. “Across the continent, and here in Zimbabwe, we have seen substantial investments in digital agriculture platforms—weather apps, farmer registries, e‑voucher systems, remote-sensing dashboards,” she noted. “Yet many initiatives remain small, fragmented, and difficult to scale. The barrier is no longer just technology. It is trust.”Farmers in the room recognized the pattern immediately, repeated registrations by different agencies; long questionnaires; promises that the data is “for development”—followed by silence.“Too often,” Mrs. Tabifor continued, “government builds one platform, the private sector builds another, donors fund a third, and none of them talk to each other. Data is locked in silos, business models feel threatened, and farmers see duplication rather than value. What emerges is not an ‘architecture of trust,’ but an architecture of distrust.”For farmers, that architecture is painfully tangible. It appears when an extension officer collects data and never returns with advice. It appears when a woman farmer provides detailed harvest figures, only to discover that her non-farming husband is the one approached about a loan.“In many places, including here in Zimbabwe,” Mrs. Tabifor warned, “the experience is one sided: farmers give data, and receive little in return. When this happens, even the best-designed systems will fail the very people they are meant to serve. Good systems will fail good farmers.”Her response is a fundamental shift she calls “Data Democracy”—a rebalancing of who holds power, and who reaps value, in the data ecosystem. “Data Democracy means that the farmer is not merely a ‘data point’ or a ‘source;’ she is a data beneficiary,” Mrs. Tabifor stressed. “Every interaction in which her data is collected should yield immediate agronomic value, market value, or risk management value.”“In other words,” she said, “we must ensure a clear pathway from Data to Knowledge (D2K) for farmers themselves. If a farmer reports her yields or input use, that data should come back to her as something she can understand and apply within her context.In Binga, that D2K pathway is exactly what Sibongile feels has been missing. “They asked me last year, ‘How many cattle do you have? How many bags did you harvest?’” she recalls. “I answered everything. But when I asked how this would help me, they just said, ‘It will help the government and donors to plan.’ That is good—but what about helping me to plan?”For Mrs. Tabifor, simply adding more data and more messages is not the answer. “There is also a danger we must avoid: ‘infobesity,’” she cautioned. “More messages, more dashboards, and more alerts do not automatically translate into better decisions. Overwhelming farmers—and indeed policymakers—with non-actionable information can paralyze decision-making, rather than improve it.”For Sibongile, whose first language is Ndebele and who shares one basic phone with her husband, these design choices are decisive. If information arrives in a language she doesn’t speak, on a device she doesn’t own, in a format she doesn’t grasp, “it might as well not exist,” she says.Mrs. Tabifor highlighted that the digital transition is not neutral: it risks deepening existing inequalities. “We know that women in Zimbabwe, as in many countries, have less access to mobile internet, smartphones, and digital skills,” she emphasized. “If we design data systems that assume universal connectivity or literacy, we unintentionally deepen inequality.”She posed a direct challenge to policymakers: “Do our existing and planned data systems ensure that farmers retain meaningful control over their data—and derive direct value from what they share? What specific measures are we adopting to close the digital gender gap—so that women and other smallholder farmers are equal participants and beneficiaries of data-driven services?”. Practical ideas are already being discussed:Subsidized rural connectivity to cut the cost barrier for low-income households.Targeted support for women’s digital literacy and farmer field schools enhanced with digital tools.Services designed for basic phones—through USSD, SMS, and voice—in local languages.Requirements that public–private partnerships report gender-disaggregated reach and impact.For Sibongile and her neighbors, such changes could be decisive. “If information comes by WhatsApp, we are already out,” she says. “But if it is voice, in isiNdebele, then even my grandmother can benefit.”“Zimbabwe can reimagine the role of the state—not as the exclusive builder of platforms, but as the designer and guarantor of Digital Public Infrastructure- the neutral ‘rails’ upon which many actors can innovate,” Mrs. Tabifor argued. She framed two central policy questions for Zimbabwean and other leaders who participated at the Summit:Are current digital agriculture strategies building yet more siloed apps, or are they purposefully constructing shared, pre‑competitive rails?Within those strategies, have we clearly defined an “architecture of trust”—who is liable, who audits, and who enforces?“Without answers to these questions,” she warned, “any AI-based advisory system, e‑voucher platform, or climate data hub will operate on unstable ground. But with clear, enforceable rules of the game, Zimbabwe can unlock not just pilots, but system-wide transformation.”Mrs. Tabifor’s third major shift spoke directly to the lived experience of climate volatility on Zimbabwean farms: moving from slow, retrospective monitoring to agile data that enables rapid, climate-adaptive policymaking.“Traditional monitoring and evaluation approaches—large baseline surveys, midterm reviews, and endline assessments—are important,” she acknowledged. “But they are often too slow and too expensive to guide real-time decision-making. By the time we learn that a fertilizer subsidy didn’t reach the right farmers, or that a conservation practice isn’t being adopted, the season is over. We are learning after the fact.”“For Zimbabwe, which faces recurrent droughts, cyclone risks, and shifting rainfall patterns,” Mrs. Tabifor said, “the ability to adapt policies within a season through connectivity and digital rails moving “from Compute to Capability” for AI-driven agricultural advice could be transformative.”  “AI will not create value in isolation,” she said. “It needs reliable connectivity, interoperable data systems, ethical safeguards, and human capacity.”Mrs. Tabifor anchored these proposals within a broad human-rights and sustainable development vision. “Zimbabwe’s DPI ecosystem can be designed as an open, interoperable and human-centric system that embeds safety and inclusion at every layer,” she said, aligning it with the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology’s Universal Safeguards: lawfulness, human rights due diligence, transparency, algorithmic accountability, inclusivity, and meaningful public participation. “These are not abstract aspirations; they are actionable choices,” she insisted. The potential benefits touch almost every corner of Zimbabwe’s development agenda. Convened by COSA and funded by the Gates Foundation and GIZ, the Agile Data and DPI Summit 2026 was the first to bring these two powerful ideas—agile data and digital public infrastructure—into one conversation, under one roof.Over four days, innovators, policymakers, researchers, private-sector executives, civil society actors, and farmers worked in mixed groups, sketching how farmer-centred insights and interoperable digital systems could come together to drive real, lasting changes: in land preparation and planting decisions, in access to credit, in drought preparedness, in fairer, more transparent markets.The organizers' aim was explicit, not to produce yet another polished strategy document, but to “break silos, unite diverse communities, and co-design pathways that link data collection, digital systems, and enabling policy.”And always, at the centre of those pathways, stood the figure of the farmer. “The decisions you make now,” Mrs. Tabifor underlined, “will determine whether Zimbabwe’s digital transformation in agriculture is fragmented and fragile, or trusted, inclusive, and climate resilient.”Back in Binga, the practical agility of data and digital public infrastructure will be measured not in conference communiqués, but in what happens the next time someone asks Sibongile for her data. Will they be able to answer the question she has learned to ask: What will I get back?As Mrs. Tabifor put it in perhaps her most resonant line of the summit, “Let us move together, so that every byte of data, every line of code, and every digital rail laid serves the wellbeing and resilience of Zimbabwe’s people, and especially its farmers.”

On 24–25 February 2026, more than 80 representatives from Government, UN agencies, Independent Commissions, Diplomatic Missions, development partners, the private sector, civil society, youth groups, organizations of persons with disabilities, academia and the media gathered at the UN premises in Harare, with colleagues joining online from the UN Development Coordination Office Africa Sub-Regional Office. The objective was not to “sign off” a UN document, but to rigorously test and sharpen an evidence base that can guide Zimbabwe’s development choices to 2030. At the center of the discussion was the “Country Analysis: Zimbabwe” – a comprehensive, data-rich assessment that will underpin the next Zimbabwe United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (ZUNSDCF) for 2027–2030. That Framework will, in turn, support the implementation of the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS 2) for 2026–2030 and Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 of becoming an upper middle-income society, while advancing the Sustainable Development Goals. “This workshop is not about a UN report,” emphasized Mr. Edward Kallon, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Zimbabwe, opening the consultation and validation workshop. “It is about a shared evidence base that all of us can use to make better choices for Zimbabwe’s future.” A Pivotal Moment for Zimbabwe – and for MultilateralismThe timing of the Country Analysis is intentional. This year Zimbabwe has transitioned  from NDS 1 to NDS 2 just as the world enters the second half of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At the same time, multilateralism is under pressure from geopolitical rivalries, conflict, growing inequality, rising debt, escalating climate impacts, food and energy insecurity and disruptive technological change. “In many quarters, narrow and short-term national interests are being aggressively promoted as the supposed pathway to human progress,” Mr. Kallon cautioned, noting that this often undermines global public goods, international law and the UN Charter. Yet the last eight decades demonstrate that when rules-based cooperation, solidarity and shared responsibility prevail, humanity advances. The UN’s 80th anniversary (UN80) and the reform agenda underway provide an opportunity to revitalize multilateralism so it is more inclusive, representative and effective – particularly for developing countries like Zimbabwe. For Zimbabwe, aligning NDS 2 and Vision 2030 with this renewed multilateralism is not a choice but “a strategic necessity.” The Country Analysis is designed to ensure that this alignment is grounded in facts and capable of mobilizing the right partnerships and financing.Zimbabwe’s Direction is Clear – The Challenge is How to Get ThereThe Country Analysis confirms that Zimbabwe has set a clear direction. Vision 2030 and NDS 2 (2026–2030) spell out the aspiration of a prosperous, empowered upper middle‑income society by 2030, with strong focus on value addition, competitiveness, decent work, climate resilience, innovation and leaving no one and no place behind. Zimbabwe’s vision is consistent with the 2030 Agenda, the African Union’s Agenda 2063, SADC’s Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan and the Paris Agreement. The country is party to core human rights treaties and has made strong normative commitments to an inclusive, green, human rights–based development model.  “There is no ambiguity about the destination,” Mr. Kallon observed. “The question is how to reach it, at speed, in the context of tight fiscal space, climate shocks, and global uncertainty.” The Country Analysis depicts meaningful but uneven progress. Among the gains: Economic growth rebounded to an estimated 6.6% in 2025 and is projected to follow a similar path in 2026, powered by agriculture, mining and remittances.Maternal mortality has fallen sharply—from 960 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2011 to an estimated 212 in 2023–24.Access to improved water sources has risen to 84%, and improved sanitation to 77%, while open defecation has declined.Forest cover and protected areas have seen recent recovery.Public financial management and budget transparency have improved, with Zimbabwe scoring 63/100 on the 2023 Open Budget Survey—among the stronger performances in the region.At the same time, the analysis highlights persistent challenges. Youth unemployment remains high, with many people absorbed into informal, low-productivity and low-protection employment. Gender inequality is entrenched with nearly one in four adolescent girls experiences teenage pregnancy; about one in three young women were married before age 18; violence against women and girls is widespread; and women carry a disproportionate burden of unpaid care work. Persons with disabilities, older persons, rural communities, residents of informal settlements, migrants and other groups still face structural barriers to services, participation and decent work. Zimbabwe has advanced, but large segments of the population and certain regions risk being left behind. Intentional, sustained efforts are required to close these gaps to achieve Vision 2030 and the SDGs. Interlocking Systemic ChallengesA distinctive strength of the Country Analysis is its treatment of systemic, interconnected challenges rather than isolated issues. It identifies feedback loops that cut across the SDG pillars of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership, including: Poverty–Informality Trap: Poverty and limited formal employment push people into informal livelihoods. Low productivity and a narrow tax base then constrain public investment in health, education and social protection, reinforcing poverty and undermining human capital. Climate–Agriculture–Food Security Loop: Increasing droughts, floods and cyclones—projected to cost up to 5% of GDP annually by 2050—hit rain-fed agriculture, drive food insecurity and malnutrition, and erode households’ and the State’s capacity to invest and adapt. Debt and Financing Constraint Loop: A heavy public and publicly guaranteed debt burden, including arrears, restricts access to concessional finance, crowds out social and development spending and keeps growth volatile.Stakeholders at the workshop underscored how these loops shape every aspect of development—from climate resilience and energy security to youth employment, social cohesion and the capacity to mobilize and manage development finance. Participants also called for deeper analysis of: The wider structural and regional drivers of informality, including de‑industrialization and shifting labour patterns.The opportunity costs of high debt and the trade-offs between debt service and domestic investment.Environmental impacts of mining, agriculture and industry, particularly water and groundwater pollution.The links between extractive industries, land rights and human rights.Geopolitical risks—from sanctions to global energy and mineral markets—and what they mean for a just transition.Some participants observed that Zimbabwe is often “strong on analysis but weaker on implementation,” citing fragmented institutional arrangements, under‑investment in systems and coordination, and limited use of data for decision-making. Five Acceleration Pathways: From Risk to OpportunityIn response, the draft Country Analysis proposes five interconnected “acceleration pathways” to help shift Zimbabwe from systemic risks to virtuous cycles. These pathways will shape the Theory of Change and strategic priorities of the 2027–2030 Zimbabwe UN Cooperation Framework: Invest in Climate-Smart Agriculture and Renewable Energy: To break the climate–food–livelihoods loop, stabilize food systems, increase productivity and build resilience—especially in rural areas where 61% of Zimbabweans live. This would also position Zimbabwe as a regional leader in green energy and sustainable value chains. Stakeholders stressed aligning these investments with the evolving legal and policy landscape, including the Climate Change Management Bill and environmental and energy legislation. Facilitate the Transition to Formality: To raise productivity, broaden the tax base, improve working conditions, and expand access to finance and social protection for micro, small and medium enterprises and cross-border traders—many of whom are women and youth. Participants advocated shifting from “enforcement-first” to “incentive-first” approaches, embedding formalization within wider tax, regulatory and market reforms that reward productivity and competitiveness, not just compliance. Resolve Debt and Arrears, and Catalyze Innovative Finance: To restore fiscal space, reopen access to concessional finance and scale up investment in infrastructure, human capital and climate adaptation. This includes using innovative instruments such as blended finance, SDG-linked and green bonds, and diaspora investment vehicles, framed by an Integrated National Financing Framework and the UN’s Joint Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Strategy. Stakeholders requested clearer comparisons with other countries, more detailed estimates of financing volumes and sources for a green and just transition, and a stronger focus on governance and investor confidence. Strengthen Gender Equality and Inclusive Governance: To tackle the root causes of gender inequality and violence against women and girls, and to ensure meaningful participation of women and young people in decision‑making. This pathway also involves widening civic space, bolstering independent oversight institutions, and aligning laws, policies and budgets with human rights standards—while ensuring these are effectively implemented. Participants highlighted the need to view extractives governance, land rights and decent work consistently through this lens. Enhance Human Capital and Social Protection: To halt and reverse the erosion of skills and health by building stronger, better‑financed education and health systems and comprehensive social protection. This pathway underpins all others, ensuring people survive, learn, thrive and are able to sustain economic and governance reforms over time.Threaded through each pathway is the “Leave No One Behind” (LNOB) principle. The Country Analysis and the consultation repeatedly returned to core questions: Who benefits? Who is excluded? What must change—legally, financially, institutionally and culturally—for every person, in every part of the country, to share in progress? The consultation itself was integral to validating and refining the analysis. Stakeholders raised cross-cutting issues that the UN Country Team committed to integrate, including strengthening risk analysis, financing strategies and governance dimensions in the final Country Analysis. From Evidence to Action: Implications for the Next Zimbabwe UN Cooperation FrameworkFor the UN in Zimbabwe, the validated Country Analysis is the cornerstone of the next Cooperation Framework. It carries several implications for how the UN will engage between 2027 and 2030: More Coherent, Integrated Support: Working as a unified UN Development System across mandates and agencies to back systemic, multi-sectoral solutions, rather than fragmented, stand‑alone projects. Deeper Engagement on Macro and Structural Issues: Complementing community-level resilience and service delivery work with stronger support on debt sustainability, financing, macroeconomic stability, governance and institutional reform. Strategic Partnerships with the Private Sector and Diaspora: Engaging these actors not only as financiers but as innovators and partners in trade, investment promotion, value chain development and institutional capacity building. Stakeholders urged a pivot towards long-term, cross-sector partnerships grounded in “partnerships, trade and investment,” each with clear financing pathways. Centering Women, Youth and Marginalized Groups: Ensuring that women, young people, persons with disabilities and other marginalized populations are at the heart of programme design and implementation, not simply participants in consultations.The workshop also emphasized the pivotal role of local authorities in local economic development, service provision and implementation of the five pathways, with a call to explicitly recognize and empower them within the Cooperation Framework. A Shared Choice About Zimbabwe’s FutureIn reflecting on three possible futures—a stalled transition, fractured resilience, or a green and digital leap—participants converged around one message: the Country Analysis clarifies Zimbabwe’s options, but it does not choose among them. Realizing the most ambitious and inclusive pathway is a shared responsibility: Government provides vision, policy coherence and accountable institutions through NDS 2 and Vision 2030.Parliament and independent commissions ensure oversight and protect rights.The private sector invests responsibly, innovates and creates decent work.Civil society, communities and the media amplify voices, safeguard civic space and promote accountability.Regional and international partners, including International Financial Institutions, support debt resolution, climate action and long‑term investment.The UN remains a reliable, principled, evidence-driven partner, using its convening power and technical expertise to turn analysis into concrete action.In his closing remarks at the end of the day‑and‑a‑half validation workshop, Bishop Charles Masunungure, Board Member of the National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, commended the UN for consistently convening diverse partners around the sustainable development agenda. He called for sustained engagement as the process moves from analysis to strategic prioritization, and on to the development and eventual implementation of the next Zimbabwe UN Cooperation Framework.“As UN Resident Coordinator, I commit that the UN Country Team will use this analysis to sharpen our support, to advocate for bold yet realistic reforms, and to stand with the Government of Zimbabwe as it works to transform systemic challenges into systemic opportunities,” pledged Mr. Kallon. The consultation closed with a call for candid engagement and continuous dialogue. Stakeholders were invited to keep challenging, enriching and owning the analysis—so that the Cooperation Framework that follows is not simply a UN document, but a shared roadmap to support the Government and people of Zimbabwe in making sustainable development a lived reality for every person, in every part of the country, by 2030. 

At Zimbabwe’s New Parliament House on Friday, the country signalled its intent to step decisively into the heart of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. With the formal launch of the Zimbabwe National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2026–2030, His Excellency Dr. Emmerson D. Mnangagwa, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe framed AI not as a distant, abstract technology, but as a strategic lever for national development, economic transformation and social progress. Side by side with the United Nations, represented by the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mr. Edward Kallon, Zimbabwe positioned itself as not just a consumer of AI technologies, but an emerging architect of how they will be used on the African continent.“This strategy,” President Mnangagwa declared, “marks a new chapter in our country’s development trajectory,” one he said must be “home-grown, inclusive and anchored in our national values, interests and aspirations.”AI as a development tool, not a luxuryFrom the outset, the President’s message underlined that artificial intelligence is no longer optional for countries seeking to modernize. “Artificial Intelligence is central to the ongoing global technological transformation,” he said. “For Zimbabwe, it is critical to our modernization, industrialization and sustainable socio-economic growth.”The Head of State described AI as a strategic catalyst – a cross-cutting tool that can raise productivity, improve public services, and help the country leapfrog stages of development. In his view, AI must become embedded in the national development agenda, complementing existing plans such as Vision 2030 and the Smart Zimbabwe 2030 Master Plan.Mr. Kallon echoed that view, tying Zimbabwe’s strategy to global developments. Just recently, the UN General Assembly in New York had adopted a landmark resolution on “Seizing the opportunities of safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems for sustainable development.” “Its message is clear,” Mr. Kallon said. “AI must be inclusive, not exclusionary; it must accelerate development, not deepen divides; and it must be safe, secure and trustworthy, or it will not be sustainable. Zimbabwe’s AI strategy is an opportunity to put that vision into practice—here, now, for the benefit of all.”At the core of Zimbabwe’s new strategy lie  interlinked pillars designed to move the country from aspiration to implementation. The pillars include, targeting people – the skills, knowledge and creativity needed to build and govern AI systems. President Mnangagwa called for a fundamental reorientation of the education system “from primary to tertiary level” towards STEM, coding and data literacy. AI Centres of Excellence will be established, with funding for research and development, and deliberate efforts to make AI careers attractive for young Zimbabweans. Mr. Kallon underscored why this is urgent. “AI’s potential will only be realized if Zimbabwe invests in STEM and digital skills, and supports lifelong learning and reskilling as jobs evolve,” he said, adding that the UN system would support this skills transition, with a focus on ensuring no one and no place is left behind.The message to the country’s youth was direct. The President urged young “techno-preneurs” to “push creative boundaries and develop solutions that build Zimbabwe,” linking their efforts to his oft-repeated mantra that “nyika inovakwa, inotongwa, inonamatirwa nevene vayo” – a nation is built, governed and prayed for by its own people. The second pillar is about building the digital backbone that makes AI possible. Zimbabwe plans to:Operationalize the Data Protection Act, creating a secure environment for data use.Promote open data and secure data marketplaces.Invest in digital infrastructure and cloud computing.Fully utilize the High Performance Computing Centre to support AI research and applications.Mr. Kallon highlighted the importance of this foundation, including reliable, sustainable energy. “AI’s transformative power depends on robust infrastructure and reliable, sustainable energy,” he said. “Here, too, the UN is a partner—drawing on global experience, including through the UN Joint SDG Fund, to pilot catalytic renewable energy investments that can power Zimbabwe’s digital ambitions sustainably.”The third pillar focuses on getting AI out of the lab and into everyday life. The President announced that government will actively drive AI adoption across all sectors, and will incentivize businesses that use AI to boost efficiency and productivity. Flagship AI projects are planned in:Precision agriculture – from crop and climate analytics to early warning systems.Predictive healthcare – using data to anticipate disease outbreaks and optimise resources.Smart mining – for safer operations, accurate exploration and efficient energy and water use.Public service delivery – reducing queues, delays and leakages, improving transparency.Anti-corruption – leveraging data analytics to detect irregularities and strengthen accountability.The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator painted a vivid picture of what this could mean on the ground. “In agriculture,” he said, “AI-driven climate and crop analytics can guide farmers on when and what to plant, and how to use scarce water and inputs more efficiently.” Coupled with improved early warning systems, such tools can help shield livelihoods and improve food security.In mining, he noted, AI can reduce environmental damage and improve traceability in mineral supply chains. In manufacturing, AI-enabled process optimization can sharpen Zimbabwe’s competitiveness in regional and global value chains. In services, particularly financial services, AI can expand access to credit, savings and insurance—“provided that AI models are designed and governed to avoid bias, discrimination and predatory practices.”In government, he added, AI can strengthen the delivery of health, education, social protection and tax administration “by improving targeting, reducing leakages and supporting evidence-based policy.”The fourth pillar addresses the risks of AI head-on. President Mnangagwa stressed that Zimbabwe’s AI journey must be “human-centric, transparent, fair, and free from bias,” protecting national interests and the dignity of all Zimbabweans. He called for a robust legal and ethical framework to govern AI development and deployment.Mr. Kallon spelt out what that entails, “clear legal and regulatory frameworks for data protection, algorithmic accountability and AI safety; impact assessments for high-risk systems; accessible redress mechanisms; and independent oversight capacities in government, civil society, academia and professional bodies.”He stressed the need to confront bias and exclusion “by requiring diverse, high-quality datasets, gender-responsive and inclusive design, and meaningful participation of affected communities.”The messages of the President and the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator converged on a central point, trust. Without public trust, the AI project cannot succeed.Building on a decade of digital progressPresident Mnangagwa rooted the AI strategy in a longer trajectory of investment in ICT under the Second Republic. Expansion of connectivity and internet access, modernization of postal and courier services, and integration into e-commerce platforms have created “a strong base and user pool for AI solutions.”Mr. Kallon described the new strategy as the latest “foundational brick” laid on earlier work supported by the UN, including:The 2025 AI Readiness Assessment Methodology report, anchored in the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI.The National ICT Strategy and Smart Zimbabwe 2030 Master Plan.Development of a national media and information literacy policy and community-based early warning systems using the Internet of Things.“These are the foundational bricks upon which today’s national AI strategy is built,” he said. “Anchored on interrelated pillars and grounded in a home-grown vision of AI, Zimbabwe has earned its place among the community of nations navigating the fourth industrial revolution.”From launch to implementationHonourable Tatenda A. Mavetera, Minister of ICT, Postal and Courier Services said, "History shows that each generation adapts uniquely to technological changes. As Zimbabwe aims for Vision 2030, we are ready to engage with the global economy. The National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2026-2030 highlights our commitment to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and our progress toward a unified digital vision for Zimbabwe. The Honourable Minister added, "We stand at the dawn of a new era, a time of unprecedented technological advancement that will reshape our world, where the 21st century is defined by the rapid pace of technological change and at its heart lies Artificial Intelligence. This is not merely a technological shift; it is a fundamental reordering of our society and economies."For all the ambition on display at New Parliament House, both the President and the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator converged on a sobering truth. The true test of the strategy will be on its implementation. Mr. Kallon listed what this will require, “strong continued leadership; sustained investment in infrastructure, skills and institutions; agile regulation; and continuous dialogue among government, private sector, academia, civil society and development partners.”President Mnangagwa framed the launch as both a commitment and a call to unity. With this strategy, he said, Zimbabwe “affirms its readiness to embrace AI responsibly and ambitiously,” and to harness it so that the country becomes “a smarter, more efficient and prosperous nation.”What happens next—in classrooms and coding bootcamps; in farms and factories; in Parliament and provincial councils; in start-up garages and government offices—will determine whether this moment becomes a turning point.  But on 13 March 2026, in a chamber built to house Zimbabwe’s democratic aspirations, the country made a clear statement, it intends not merely to watch the AI revolution unfold, but to shape it, according to its own priorities, values and vision for inclusive, sustainable development.