ZIMCODD Binga Makes Strides Towards Public Resource Management awar
eness
By Delicious Mathuthu
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) is making strides towards raising awareness among communities on the need for active participation in public resource management in Binga.
ZIMCODD, through its Social and Economic Justice Ambassadors (SEJAs) and Community Resources Monitoring Agents (CORAs) has been conducting awareness meetings, including community radio listening clubs, under Binga District where key issues to do with active participation in management processes of local resources are raised.
Speaking to Kwedu News on Tuesday (28 March 2023) one of the SEJAs operating under Binga District, Laina Dube, says the meetings have been fruitful as more residents have taken interest in local budget making processes and working with authorities in monitoring their environments, unlike before.
“The Binga community nows feels accountable; the meetings are informative to the extent that everyone who participates now understands their role in the community.
“Some even continue talking about issues raised after meetings,” she said.
Having joined ZIMCODD in 2020 as a SEJA and CORA, Dube says the District has seen an increase in the number of subscribers to the organisation as new community members realise the essence of the awareness meetings.
She said members who have been working with ZIMCODD gave testimony to new participants on how they are equipped with the knowledge and lobby skills in one of the meetings held recently at Tusimpe Conference Centre in Binga Town.
“Before the ZIMCODD initiative the members had no idea about budget consultations, consulting the local Councilors, reporting issues to the police and even to (National) Parks, they were just people.
“Now they attend budget consultations and constantly interact with duty bearers in their areas,” Dube says.
She says other topics usually discussed include public finance management, tax and taxation.
After the Tusimpe meeting, Dube says 9 members paid their subscriptions to the organisation after understanding their drive towards citizen participation in public processes and events.
The trainings targets all members of the community, including women and youths.
Part of the key members driving the ZIMCODD awareness fight in the district, as Dube says, are Tashinga Zamba and Kudzwai Gokova.
Public Resource Management (PRM) is one of the key focus areas driven by ZIMCODD which seeks to promote prudent, accountable and transparent public resource management in Zimbabwe.
The organisation, on its website, says “there is a growing realisation of the need to promote prudent stewardship of public resources as an enabler of social and economic justice.
“ZIMCODD prioritises advocacy around prudent management and distribution of all public resources including revenues from different sources as well as all other public resources.”
The focus, as the organisation says, includes debt management, budget analysis, budget monitoring, constitutionalism along with advocacy for broader accountability from state enterprises to parastatals.