UN Country Analysis Shaping Discourse on Zimbabwe’s Green, Digital, and Inclusive Future

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 Multilateralism

The 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 There

The 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 Challenges

A 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 Opportunity

In 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: 

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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 Framework

For 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 Future

In 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.