SERVICES: National Platforms
Zimbabwe
Context: The Zimbabwe Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) 2020, outlined clear community engagement and accountability (CEA) response strategies for all clusters, and committed OCHA to promoting more joined up approaches to CEA beyond cluster-specific measures as part of overall coordination and common services provision including in common feedback and complaints mechanisms. In response to the COVID-19, CDAC began a collective initiative in Zimbabwe to strengthen CCE/AAP through improved coordination and the rapid collation, generation and dissemination of health messaging related to COVID-19, relevant to humanitarian settings, grounded on a strong evidence base. A National Community Engagement and Accountability Coordinator was hosted by OCHA in Harare. Following wide stakeholder consultations, a CEA Technical Working Group was established in Zimbabwe linked to Inter-Cluster Coordination Group
Government links: The CEA WG supported the work of the Government-led RCCE.
Leads/Chairs/Co-Chairs: National NGO Musasa and INGO World Vision co-chair the WG
National and international actors involved: The WG comprises CEA focal point persons nominated by each of the clusters. They provide the bridge across the clusters and technical support to RCCE pillar of the COVID-19 response. The clusters are Food Security; Nutrition; Health plus its sub-cluster of Reproductive Health; Protection plus its sub-clusters of Child Protection and Gender Based Violence (GBV); Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH); Shelter/Camp Coordination and Camp Management; and Education. The ICCG leads the planning, coordination, and reporting of activities across humanitarian response.
Donors: Funding to CDAC Network via the H2H Global COVID-19 Humanitarian Support Package
Opportunities and challenges: The inclusion of a CDAC CEA coordinator embedded in OCHA was an important opportunity to increase awareness and prioritise CEA in the humanitarian response beyond the COVID-19 response. During the Coordinator’s deployment, a number of strategic achievements were possible: mapping of existing complaints and feedback mechanisms to have a better understanding of the local context and guides on what to adopt and to improve on; technical support for the review of training materials for the capacity building for health promotion officers and environmental health technicians; improved links between COVID risk communication and a wider than health CEA response; integration of community engagement and accountability analysis and measures into Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) and 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Zimbabwe to improve accountability to affected people. The absence of a CEA Coordinator role in the HRP 2021 has limited opportunities to maintain the Coordinator position in Zimbabwe as funding has not been possible to date. The longer term need to fill the WG Coordinator position has not been resolved.
