Zimbabwe Protracted Relief Programme: Output to Purpose Review

The Zimbabwe Protracted Relief Programme began in mid-2004, with first Phase running for two years at a planned cost of £18M. It is designed to stabilise the food security and protect the livelihoods of poor and vulnerable households, particularly those affected by HIV/AIDS. The bulk of a wider range of activities help beneficiaries to increase their food production, and to provide home-based care (HBC) to the chronically ill. The Programme is being implemented through ten international NGOs, most of which work with local NGOs and community-based organisations. To help manage and monitor the Programme, a Technical Learning and Co-ordination Unit (TLC) has been established that handles most of the immediate business with the implementing partners (IP). UN agencies help provide technical co-ordination; while further technical services are supplied by the three international agricultural research centres (CG) present in Zimbabwe.

In the circumstances the PRP is a bold and imaginative effort to respond to the impacts of the ongoing crisis on the poor in Zimbabwe for which DFID Zimbabwe deserves credit. It would have been simpler to have done nothing more than respond passively to UN appeals for food aid and the like. From 05 to 23 September 2005 an Output to Purpose Review (OPR) of the PRP was carried out by a team of four, with specialists in livelihoods; social development; HIV/AIDS, home-based care (HBC) and nutrition; and, institutions and governance. This is their Report.