Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of the Zimbabwe Diaspora Directorate for Increased Diaspora Engagement

The overall objective of the proposed project is to contribute towards an increased contribution of the Zimbabwean diaspora in the socio-economic recovery and development of Zimbabwe. In order to realise this objective, the project aims to strengthen the Government of Zimbabwe’s institutional capacity to fully coordinate diaspora affairs and mobilize the Zimbabwean diaspora. The project also seeks to support a structured mechanism to generate data on the Zimbabwean diaspora through a diaspora mapping and profiling survey in targeted countries. The project’s expected outcomes are (i) The Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) has improved capacity to coordinate, mobilize and engage with the Zimbabwean diaspora and (ii) The GoZ has access and utilizes sex disaggregated data on the size, geographic dispersion, skills profile and investment preferences of the Zimbabwean diaspora.

Key activities to be undertaken to realise the above results include: 1) provision of technical assistance support to the Zimbabwe Diaspora Directorate (ZDD); 2) conducting a diaspora mapping and profiling survey in South Africa, United Kingdom and United States of America; 3) conducting a national diaspora participation needs and capacity assessment; and, 4) conducting diaspora engagement meetings in the United States of America and Botswana.

The proposed project seeks to provide co-funding to a European Union project, “Promoting Migration Governance in Zimbabwe (PMGZ)” which seeks to contribute to the establishment of a migration governance framework (policy, institutional and legislative) in Zimbabwe to support state actors to manage migration in dialogue with non-state actors and in a migrant centred, gender sensitive, rights based and development oriented manner.