Zimbabwe News Update
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2 min read
The Zimbabwe Social Registry (ZISO), a national initiative to establish a comprehensive database supporting social protection programs, is now 85 percent complete, a senior official from the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare has revealed.
The Social Registry is a crucial tool for enhancing social protection, reducing poverty, and fostering inclusive development across Zimbabwe. It will serve as a unified data and information system to aid the planning, implementation, and monitoring of social protection and social development initiatives.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr Simon Masanga, described the new system as a game changer. “All information on social protection programs will be consolidated into one system,” he said.He explained that donors, development partners, and government departments will all contribute data to the system, which is being developed by a consultant firm based in Oman.
“We have come a long way in developing the software itself; it took us some time. We engaged a consultant, Synergy, based in Oman, and they have been working with us with support from the World Bank,” Mr Masanga said.Significant progress has been made, including the establishment of an inter-ministerial committee to oversee the system’s development.
A questionnaire has been designed to collect relevant information for the registry, with consensus that it comprehensively covers all necessary areas. The next step is to pilot the questionnaire in four or five districts, after which the collected data will be uploaded into the system.
Enumerators will gather information on demographics, education, employment, housing, land ownership, access to services, economic activities, and household vulnerabilities. This data will improve service delivery and support Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 goals.
Mr Masanga highlighted a remaining challenge: “The challenge that we have, and this is where the 15 percent remains, is where to house the servers. Some of the service providers are charging exorbitant amounts which are not sustainable, and we couldn’t service those fees. But we have negotiated with one of the service providers, working with our information and communication technology (ICT) department, and we feel the charges that are now on the table are very sustainable.”
He also revealed that the ministry has requested Treasury to extend the contract of the service provider who developed the system. “We require Synergy to be with us all the way through until we have operationalised the system,” he said, adding that this request has been approved.
