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Zimbabwe

Agricultural infrastructure improvements and increased community capacity to manage shocks may help address vulnerability to droughts and macroeconomic shocks in rural Zimbabwe.

Overview

Zimbabwe is vulnerable to droughts, the effects of which in recent years have been exacerbated by macroeconomic issues. The Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund, a major new partnership between the national government and several international organizations, aims to build resilience to shocks and stresses and protect development gains by increasing community capacity, applying evidence to policy making, and increasing the effectiveness of disaster response.

Risk Environment

Zimbabwe has experienced severe El Nino-induced droughts in recent years that have resulted in successive crop failures. The country’s significant macroeconomic issues have deepened the impact, as remittances fell as a result of the devaluation of the South African rand, and a nationwide cash shortage meant that workers weren’t being paid and the Grain Management Board was late in paying farmers. Formal financial institutions dramatically cut back on providing credit to farmers and livestock owners, making it more difficult to cope with the effects of the drought and mitigate against future shocks.

Resilience Approach

The Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund, a partnership between the Government of Zimbabwe and several international development organizations, aims to build resilience to shocks and stresses and protect development gains by focusing on three key areas:

  • applying evidence to policy making 
  • improving absorptive, adaptive, and transformative capacities of communities
  • timely and cost effective responses to emergencies 

The Fund also supports national surveys that inform resilience programming. Improving agricultural infrastructure, especially related to drought, and improving communities’ ability to manage disaster through empowerment and training are priorities for strengthening resilience in Zimbabwe.

More About Zimbabwe

Risk Profile

Zimbabwe Resilience Factsheet

17 Jun 2022 - USAID

Zimbabwe’s development progress depends on the productivity of its natural resources, principally land, water and wildlife. Yet Zimbabwe’s food, forests and wildlife are in steep decline.

View Resource
Risk Profile

Climate risk profile: Zimbabwe

12 Feb 2021 - ATLAS - Adaptation Thought Leadership and Assessments

This profile provides an overview of climate risks in Zimbabwe, including how climate variability and change is likely to impact five key sectors in the country: agriculture, livestock, human health, water resources...

View Resource
Assessment

Zimbabwe Resilience Research Report

27 Aug 2019 - Organizational Authors: TANGO International, USAID Center for Resilience , USAID/Harare, Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) under the Resilience Evaluation, Analysis and Learning Award , Authors: Martin, S., Mueller, M., Nelson, S., Mupeyi

This study adapted a USAID/TANGO resilience analysis framework to use with secondary datasets. The goals were to describe the relationships between resilience capacity and well-being outcomes in the face of a drought...

View Resource
Assessment

Zimbabwe Resilience Research Report - Final

20 Aug 2019 - Organizational Author: TANGO International under the Resilience Evaluation, Analysis and Learning Award , Martin, S. , Mueller, M. , Nelson, S. , Mupeyiwa, J. , Taylor, J. , Griffin, T.

This study documents the detrimental effects of prolonged drought in four provinces of Zimbabwe. The data cover 2013-2016: two years prior to the onset of the drought and two years during the drought.

View Resource
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