CLGF has been recognised for the skill and impact of its capacity building work with councils in Zimbabwe.

Community capacity excellence

At the 2020 Manicaland Provincial Environment, Responsible Business and Community Social Responsibility Awards held in Mutare City this week, staff from the CLGF Project Office in Harare picked up the prize for Excellence in Community Capacity Building. This reflected the efforts in providing support to the nine local authorities in Manicaland Province.
 

Challenging operating environment

CLGF Programme Manager for the Southern Africa region, Ms Nyasha Simbanegavi said: "I would like to congratulate the team for carrying the CLGF flag so gracefully, and leaving a clear and positive mark on the local government sector. The effort and hard work is not only in Manicaland, but in Zimbabwe." Thanking them for the passion and dedication to this work, the results of which go beyond delivering the projects on time and on budget in line with the project proposals, she added: "I am particularly humbled by how the team has managed to pull through, despite the challenging operating environment. I have no doubt we will continue to change the lives of the communities we serve in Zimbabwe."
 
The capacity building work related to supporting the local authorities to effectively engage their citizens on:

• improving local governance;
• agreeing development and service delivery priorities;
• achieving sustainable budgeting;
• improving financial management; and
• enhancing local economic development.

The support from CLGF has impacted the local authorities and embedded a culture of good governance. Councils are now reaching out more to their citizens and stakeholders, particularly those that are vulnerable and have rarely had a voice or been heard. The focus on improved financial management and local economic development is making the local authorities more sustainable and increasing service delivery and infrastructure development.

CLGF worked closely with each of the nine local authorities, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, the two local government associations (LGAs) - UCAZ and ARDCZ. The project was designed by CLGF in consultation with the councils, LGAs and Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, which then successfully attracted the financial support of the European Union (EU) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (formerly DFID.)

The project is a deliberate intervention, aimed at contributing to the transformation of local authorities in terms of taking leadership for the socioeconomic development of the areas under their jurisdiction. 

CLGF modus operandi - working locally

CLGF Secretary-General Dr Greg Munro said: “This is very impressive and I would like to thank everyone for their dedication, commitment and hard work - Leopold, Elizabeth and Shumirai. It is results like this that make me particularly proud of the CLGF modus operandi: which is to work with, and through communities, local governments and organisations on development projects and programmes."
 
Programme Manager, Mr Leopold Bhoroma said: “The situation is tough for local government and communities everywhere, especially with the added challenges of a major pandemic. But we will continue to make that extra effort to ensure that CLGF becomes the trusted and preferred local government development partner for Zimbabwe.”

Increased transparency and accountability

One of the local authorities, Buhera RDC, has successfully improved local development through increased partnership with the community to undertake a range of projects. The communities donated both financial resources and labour for the implementation of agreed local projects. This participatory approach also improved revenue mobilisation because there is now more transparency and accountability, so much so that people are willing to pay a development levy as they now know what their resources are being used for.