Assessing Progress and Pitfalls of the Millennium Development Goals in Zimbabwe : A Critical Analysis

imbabwe adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at their inception in 2000 and it has trends of its progress in its attempt to attain these MDGs as indicated in progress reports since 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2015. In these reports optimistic trends are chiefly found in MDG2 on universal primary education which is Zimbabwe’s pride in Africa, MDG3 regarding gender parity in schools and MDG6 on HIV and AIDS. The country continues to face its biggest challenges in attaining MDG1 which is eliminating extreme poverty and hunger and MDG5 which is increase nurturing mortality, whereas all the objectives under these goals are dubious that would be attained at the cut-off date. It was unfortunate that, the inception of the MDGs coincided with the deepening of socioeconomic, political and environmental crisis in the country which made it very difficult for Zimbabwe to accomplish all of its MDGs. The focal motive of this study was to check the progress, policies, programmes and strategies which were in place to promote the attainment of the MDGs from 2000-2015 and other strategies or policies in place to attain the SDGs 2016-2030. This paper recommended that there is need for institutionalisation of SDGs that is aligning them with Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socioeconomic Transformation (ZimAsset) cluster; for instance, value accumulation and beneficiation, nourishment security, poverty extermination, social services and strengthening partnership with all stakeholders. The research uses intensive secondary data analysis from various sources including government gazette, journal articles, e-books, and government website, reports, published and unpublished


Introduction and Background
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a "set of time-bound targets agreed on by heads of state in 2000 after having a unified, galvanised and expanded efforts to help the world's poorest people", (McArthur 2013:1).After the Beijing Declaration and Millennium Summit, Zimbabwe adopted the MDGs at their inception in 2000 and it has trends of its progress in its attempt to attain these MDGs as indicated in progress reports since 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2015.In these reports progressive inclinations are chiefly seen in MDG2 on universal primary education which is Zimbabwe's pride in Africa, but the collapse of the economy during the years2007-2008 heavily disrupted the effort to achieve these MDGs.The country continues to face its biggest challenges in attaining MDG1 which is eliminating extreme poverty and hunger and MDG5 which is advancing maternal health among others.
It was however doubtful that all the targets under these goals would be achieved by the cut-off date of 2015.For Zimbabwe, it was unfortunate that the inception of the MDGs coincided with the deepening of socioeconomic and political crisis in the country, which made the accomplishment of the MDGs rather difficult.The hangover from 2000 to 2015 MDGs is continuing in the 2016 to 2030 SDGs as some of the challenges which led to the failure to the attainment of MDGs are still prevailing in this phase for instance, worsening of economic hardships and not respect for the rule of law which is very essential on attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).The relic can also be traced back to the 1980s and 90s when Zimbabwe adopted the Growth with Equity Strategy and Zimbabwe Transitional National Development Plan (ZTNDP) between 1982and 1985then the National Development Plan in 1986to 1990.All these programmes were aimed at reducing poverty and prioritising government expenditure on expansion of rural infrastructure, primary health care and education as well as socio-economic disparity among rural and urban population.These policies helped Zimbabwe to realise universal primary education as signalled by 86% enrolment rate (Kamyongo 2005:8).
Nevertheless, the period 1990 to 1995 witnessed a misfortune of economic turnaround perpetuated by floods and droughts which gave rise to poverty and inequality.This coincided with the failure to attain the fruits of Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) of 1987 when the government was encouraged to cut expenditure on social welfare such as subsidising primary health care and education as the real GDP Assessing Progress and Pitfalls of the Millennium Development Goals in Zimbabwe 575 growth was 1.5% and this was insufficient for creating more employment and reduce poverty, (UNDP Zimbabwe 2004:12).In an attempt to rectify the effects of ESAP, Zimbabwe came up with a home grown strategy the Zimbabwe Programme for Economic and Social Transformation (ZIMPREST) in 1998, which also did not yield any fruits as the economy continues dwindling.The situation was worsened by printing a lot of money to give war veterans and soldiers that had been deployed to Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997 and this fuelled inflation which later took its toll in 2008.
In 2001 the government propelled the Millennium Economic Recovery Programme (MERP) as another attempt to mend the economy which continued to decline and it was aggravated by the land reform programme which was not bearing fruits to address poverty.This programme suffered a still birth mainly because there were no funds to implement it as international donors has withdrawn their support after Zimbabwe defaulted on payment of external arrears, decrease in FID and assets freeze (McArthur 2013).Real GDP Growth % -8.2 -14.5 -13.9 -8.2 5.4 Per A combination of decline in net FDI as indicated in the 1995-2004and 2000-2009 KDI KDI figures above, high level of inflation perpetuated poverty and hunger as it wiped out people's savings and pensions in Zimbabwe.From MERP, there came the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset) which is running from 2013 to 2018.The Zim-Asset has the purpose of addressing poverty and economic meltdown.It is against this background that Zimbabwe struggled to meet MDGs as the hangover from the period before the MDGs is visible and even in the SDGs.

GOAL 1: Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger
There are two main ministries which are dealing with MDG1 which are: Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and the Ministry of Agriculture in conjunction with other ministries they were working hand in glove in an attempt to attain this goal.
Zimbabwe is an agro-based economy which relies heavily on the cultivation of a variety of crops such maize, wheat, sorghum, nuts, beans, sweet potatoes and yams for food, cotton, tobacco and flowers for commercial purposes.Since the haphazard seizure of white commercial farms during land reform program which happen to coincide with the inception of the MDGs, Zimbabwe has been struggling to feed its population, (United

Assessing Progress and Pitfalls of the Millennium Development Goals in Zimbabwe 577
States Agency for International Development (USAID) 2014).Zimbabwe has changed from being the bread basket to a begging basket, as the country was known and used to be the bread basket of Southern Africa, having sufficient food for its population and surplus to sell to neighbouring countries.This status however become ancient history as Zimbabwe is now begging for food almost every year and depending on aid to feed its population since 2001.Even though Zimbabwe has experienced better economic growth rates in 2009 to 2012, which was an escalation from a GDP of - The year 2016 for Zimbabwe is the worst hard hit year by hunger which is induced by El Nino drought that is almost similar to the 1992 drought which left many domestic animals and some people dead.El Nino is a warming sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, which has wilted crops countrywide including some parts of Southern Africa, slowed economic growth and driven food prices higher" (Reuters Foundation 2016:1).More than a decade and half now, Zimbabwe, the once bread-basket of Southern Africa is failing to feed its teeming population.The nation is cap in hand, begging for the crumbs that fall 580 Africa's Public Service Delivery & Performance Review go a long in reducing poverty, returning moisture on the ground and cool the atmosphere.
Farmers must be encouraged to cultivate drought tolerant crops such as sorghum, beans and other short grain crops which can be harvest within the two months to improve food security.To those with access to manure must apply it in their fields to boost their yields.

GOAL 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Before independence, education in Zimbabwe was being provided in two categories which were: government for mainly white children and missionaries for indigenous people.The colonial masters were not happy with the type and level of education which was provided by missionaries as they saw it as a threat and they treaded in to regulate the type of education blacks were receiving.That is when they decided that black people should be taught and trained in occupations such as building, agricultural, mining, industrial and carpentry related fields to prepare them as labourers and not for white collar jobs (Kanyongo 2005:65).Then after independence it was inevitable to have reforms in the education system of Zimbabwe to make it more inclusive and to carter for those who could not make it for studying before and during the liberation struggle.
The first most vital reforms were the amalgamation of the distinct education system to remove abnormalities and injustice which was created by the white settlers so that education can be accessed by all.To achieve this, the government implemented a socialist approach, "Growth with Equity" so as to reimburse the imbalances in education and health for its citizens.In 2012 an Accelerated Action Plan (AAP) was developed to focus on addressing precisely the matter of primary school completion rates and quality of education.One of the main issues averting excellence of education is financial restrictions which have remained at the helm of every effort by government for quite some time.In 2006In , 2007 and 2008 the education system in Zimbabwe was on its knees as the political and economic turmoil turned upside-down with a lot of qualified teachers leaving the country in pursuit of greener pastures in neighbouring countries and abroad.This left a lot of public schools with less qualified teachers, while private schools maintained their staff but, they were charging exorbitant fees which were beyond the reach of many parents who were already languishing in abject poverty due to worsening economic doldrums.For tertiary studies there is the Zimbabwean Presidential Scholarship which mainly targets disadvantaged potential students to study at universities both locally and abroad, Strive Musiiwa Econet's Scholarships and other NGOs who are also offering scholarships for students to study both locally and abroad as well.All this effort has resulted in Zimbabwe making good progress in terms of MDG2.

Challenges
However, limited funding in the form of scholarships and bursaries for tertiary studies has been the greatest debacle for students who finished their Ordinary and Advanced level

Recommendations
Primary education should be free to all children so that none would be left out of primary school based on financial constraints.More schools both primary and secondary should be constructed and electrified to embrace science and technology especially in rural areas to avert long distance walking for children and people with disabilities as this at times contribute to school dropouts.
The welfare of teachers should be improved for instance, giving them housing and transport allowances so that they get motivated, work with enthusiasm and this will help them to relate well with pupils.All teachers should be properly trained so as to ensure better quality of education is obtained.Regularly review the curriculum at all levels that is 584 Africa's Public Service Delivery & Performance Review from primary, secondary and tertiary institutions so as to edify it and add novel relevant material which reflect the needs of the children and the country at large moving with changes in the state-of-the-art technology.
Incentivise innovators who harness resource readily available to come up with something that help the country, for instance that National University of Science and Technology (NUST) student who managed to make use of plastics and other chemicals to come up with diesel, such students must be incentivised so as to motivate them and provide them with necessary equipment.Embrace technology through STEM from primary to tertiary level so as to lay a strong foundation in children and boost the harnessing of technology to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of public good and services towards SDGs.

GOAL 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
A number of studies have indicated that women constitute the majority of poor people worldwide and about 70% women of world's populace are underprivileged (Noreen 2012) as cited in (Mutanana and Bukaliya 2015:1).In some cases women's attempts to move out

Africa's Public Service Delivery & Performance Review
The good news for Zimbabwe is that gender equality at primary and secondary school levels has been attained, as well as in tertiary institutions.The enrolment, attendance and completion rates have been attained on gender parity at primary and secondary levels respectively.Gender parity is also on literacy rates which clearly show that there is great improvement in promoting gender parity plus women empowerment (Hunda 2016).
Regardless of the progress made to date, admission gender discrepancies remains noticeable at tertiary level, though this is progressively being enhanced, predominantly bearing in mind that associates with gender parity in high schools are going on to the tertiary level.The involvement of women in decision-making positions across sectors requires greater effort to be made.

Challenges
Zimbabwe have good policies on gender and women empowerment but they are mainly on paper than real action this is attributed to the fact that there are still more men at the implementation stage who have a tendency of overlooking some policy aspects which impact negatively on development and empowerment of women.

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Too much patriarchal mentality is resulting in men resisting to have women in decisionmaking and influential positions.Some religious and cultural aspects are causing women to be reluctant to take the lead on gender and women empowerment matters especially in rural areas (USAID 2014).
The political land scape of Zimbabwe was not even for women to be involved in active politics, but it is gradually improving as witnessed by numerous activities and human rights groups comprising of more women.Resources are not distributed fairly because women do not have access and control over resources such land, cattle and other assets which be used as collateral to obtain bank loans.Women are not in decision making positions more especially in rural areas.GBV culture and child marriages are major constraints on women empowerment due to lack of enforcement of most of the pieces of legislation are in place to empower women.

Recommendations
There is need for active participation of both men and women on gender issues and the empowerment of women.Women empowerment must not be seen as a zero-sum where gains for women spontaneously entail setback for men, but rather it should be seen as transformational process which leads to sustainable socioeconomic development programmes and projects as well as viewing women as equal partners.Awareness campaigns are needed to encourage women and men to participate in programmes and projects that empower them.The study highly recommends men to give permission to women to participate in all spheres of government including politics, businesses and social cohesion so that they will be in decision making positions, they can have equitable access and control over resources.There is need for funding of women empowerment programmes, then do monitoring and evaluation to check success in the implementation of such programmes.out that the education level and socioeconomic status of the mother results in lesser death rates for children.Generally there is improvement on Immunisation coverage of all six child killer diseases, but the obtaining of treatment is very costly and the limited access to safe consumable water and improved hygiene are the chief hindrances to lessen under-five and new-born death rates (United Nations Zimbabwe 2012:9).

Challenges
Due to further financial constraints the budget apportionment to the health segment dropped from 8% in 2000 to 4.2% in 2005, to 3% in 2008, then rose to 10% in 2013 before dropping again to 8% in 2014 (Kwari 2015:1).This contributed to a failure by Zimbabwe to attain the MDG 3 by 2015 though there are some significant improvements made.Some religious and traditional beliefs are a stumbling block for attaining MGD4 as they do not permit their children to be immunised with modern drugs.

Recommendations
The figure below is a jack of all trades in the sense that, it encourages gender equality and empower women which is MDG 3, escalating the accessibility of Family Planning As a result of lesser rates of attended births and exorbitant prices of health care together with economic hardships there has been a rise to loss of lives by mothers even now.

Challenges
Some religious and traditional beliefs are a hindrance to the achievement of MGD5.Due to these beliefs some husbands do not permit their wives to use birth control mechanisms as well as to give birth in clinics and hospital with modern drugs, for instance Johan Marange religious sect do not allow their women to take Family Planning (FP) contraceptives and force children of around 9-13 to get married and most of these children will be still doing their primary studies.Budget constraints as indicated in MDG4.This is a setback as some women cannot afford to pay maternal bills, lessened turnout of expectant mothers at antenatal clinics because of related charges or distance to clinics and the failure by some women to choose health reproductive concerns.This affected adversely the health sector which covers child mortality, maternal health and as well as fighting HIV/AIDS, (Amal and Fernandez 2010).Despite efforts from various aids coming from donors, deepening of economic hardships and liquidity crunch is a biggest barrier especially in 2014 and 2015.

Recommendations
There is need for awareness campaigning for such traditions and religious beliefs for them to permit their women to use birth control mechanisms as well as to give birth in clinics and hospitals with modern drugs so as to improve maternal health.By improving maternal health it will ultimately result in reducing child mortality which in turn leads to fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and additional ailments and the attainment of universal primary education, it is imperative to deal with maternal health which is the cornerstone in achievement of MDGs 4, 5 and 6.Zimbabwe mainly because the HIV pervasiveness amongst women is at 18% while for men its 12%.More so, for 15-24 year olds the prevalence rate is 5.5% as of 2011, once more much greater in women at 7.8% compared to men (3.6%) of the same age group (World Fit for Children 2010).In broad-spectrum, people with better socioeconomic and education prominence have lesser HIV prevalence, this can be attributed to the fact that those who are poor may not have even received the basic education on HIV and they are vulnerable to the extent of resorting to prostitution as a way of earning a living.
The HIV prevalence rate has some geographical heterogeneity in it for instance, as of

Challenges
The deepening of economic hardships is the major stumbling block to attain this MDG6 as some people mainly the youth who are supposed to be at school are mainly found in danger of HIV/AIDS especially women as they try to find their ends means by engaging into prostitution thereby escalating the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate.The quest of fighting HIV and AIDS precisely has been "bitter-sweet" as witnessed by an escalation instead of a decline in the amount of new HIV infections in other areas within Zimbabwe (Dube, 2014).

Recommendations
Sustainable safe drinking water and sanitation is needed to curb all water borne diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, malaria and bilharzia.More awareness campaigns for combating HIV/AIDS are needed across the country especially in mining areas and institutions of higher learning because that's where young and energetic people are converging and exposed to the pandemic.There is need to discourage traditional ways of remarrying a family member whose partner died due HIV/AIDS or any other disease.

GOAL 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
To make sure that environmental sustainability can be tracked three targets were set which are: developing sustainable programmes and policies, reducing the percentage of people deprived of basic sanitation, nontoxic water to drink and enhancing 1,000,000 slum inhabitants, housing conditions in high density and peril urban areas by 2020.Six core indicators were put in place as well check if the country will be driving in the right direction and these are: percentage of land covered by woodland, protected land to preserve biodiversity, amount of persons with justifiable access to better-quality water source, sanitation plus annually check units of houses produced (UNDP Zimbabwe 2004:51).
National Policy on Domestic Water Supply and Sanitation was enacted to address safe drinking water for both rural and urban households, with the help of WHO and UNICEF, many boreholes drilled and water treatment plans were constructed.According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) the proportion of rural households with access to safe water Assessing Progress and Pitfalls of the Millennium Development Goals in Zimbabwe 595 declined from 75.1% in 1999 to 66.5% in 2004, then to 64% in 2009, then to 59% in 2014.
Though there was a decline in the percentage of households without safe water, this was not enough to meet the target. In

Challenges
Lack of policy consistence has ruined the effort to preserve the environment for instance, there are exemptions which allow companies to pollute while others are restricted and such conflicting pieces of legislation make it difficult to implement environmental

Recommendations
There is need for clearly defined stringent policies which regulate all activities whether mining, farming, hunting or any land use and then be consistence in the implementation and enforcement of these policies and to root out corruption which is fuelling poaching other environmental degradation activities which are detrimental to fauna and flora.

Recommendations
Zimbabwe must embrace state-of-the-art technology and increase its networking with the global world to market itself and enhance ease of access to information and communicate with potential FDIs and global markets as well.Political stability and clear policy consistence are crucial for global partnership and development of the country because no one wants to business and invest their money where there is no rule of law, stability and guarantee for safety of their property.

OVERALL CHALLENGES OF MDGs
The major challenge Zimbabwe is experiencing is eliminating extreme poverty and hunger as it is continuously facing food shortages year in and year out caused by recurring Assessing Progress and Pitfalls of the Millennium Development Goals in Zimbabwe 599

OVERALL RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE MDGs-SDGs
There is need for institutionalisation of SDGs that is aligning them or put them in school curriculums from primary, secondary to tertiary institutions so as to increase their dissemination and comprehensiveness to all citizens.For beginners, there was no grassroots consultation when these goals were set out which made implementation very difficult.Therefore, if people are anticipated to do something concerning execution of targets their voice is important from the onset.A different approach should be adopted when dealing with SDGs that is a change from a marathon way of putting into practice to a stage by stage type, methodically type of execution.Instead of competing with each other in a marathon manner, countries should learn from each other on how each country is progressing and help each other.
Indigenous and specific policies on SDGs are a key for national development, for instance aligning the SDGs with the much touted Zim-Asset 2013-2018 cluster such as value addition on raw materials that Zimbabwe is producing for instance, establishing a diamond polishing plant will create employment and adding value to the diamonds sold outside the country and beneficiation, poverty eradication, food security, nutrition, and social services are crucial at nation level.Therefore, the SDGs for Zimbabwe must be linked with Zim-Asset so as to reinforce determinations being made to date and also continuing with the journey to 2030.
There is need for political will to strengthen partnership with all stakeholders for instance, civil service, businesses, NGO, government, Human Rights groups, donors and so on for the SDGs to be achieved because in as much as the government is at the centre of the journey, the government does not have the resources to stir everything into motion, but through partnerships it will go a long way as some have brilliant ideas, experience, expertise, energy and other resources which are necessary to achieve SDGs by 2030.If there is no political will, it will remain a widening crevasse between the promise and the reality of the Zim-Asset and the attainment of SDGs, which were embraced with so much enthusiasm at the time of their release, such promises merely become guarantees when their authors can be held accountable.
Transparency and accountability is need in the manner in which SDGs are driven.The GoZ have to fight the scourge of corruption at all levels so as to curb maladministration of funds and other resources that are not channelled towards the attainment of the SDGs, 600 Africa's Public Service Delivery & Performance Review but rather towards personal egocentric motives and self-enrichment by government officials and politicians.
There is need for consistence on policies and their alignment with the new constitutions and respect the rule of law so as to boost investor confidence and other well-wishers who want to help Zimbabwe to achieve its SDGs.There is need for strong monitoring and evaluation system in place to keep track of how projects and programmes are operating.

Are there any differences between MDGs and SDGs?
The reality is that it is just a repetition of aspects but only strategies may call a difference.
Poverty, hunger, health, education, gender, water and sanitation, global partnership issues are amongst the repeated concepts.However, SDGs digs deep into climate, energy, human settlements and other as stand-alone issues.SDGs goes up to 17 starting with: "no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace and justice strong institutions and lastly, partnerships for the goals" (Clark 2015).
The other notable difference is that SDGs were broken down into small components which may make it easier to institutionalise them into all levels of our societies and some of the SDGs can be developed into modules and in co-operate them into our education system and teach them in schools at all levels.

Lesson learnt from the MDGs which can be used to achieve SDGs
There is need for political stability in the country which promotes a business friendly environment which will in turn attract FDIs to promote economic growth.There is need for strong trade relations with other nations to have access to their markets and they have access to Zimbabwe for economic growth to be realised, not to operate in isolation from the international community.SDGs should be institutionalised from national to provincial to district to constituency and to schools so that all levels of the society are aware of what are SDGs so that they participate whole heartedly in their attainment.Zimbabwe should desist from relying on rainfall for crop cultivation, but should rather invest in harvesting water through the construction of dams and other forms of reserving water for irrigation purpose so as to plough different crops throughout the year so that it can address the issue of extreme poverty.This further breaking down of SDGs makes it easier

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. From bread basket to begging basket

Figure 4 :
Figure 4: Enrolment and Completion who have the potential to further their studies.Economic hardships resulted in unemployment, worsening poverty and hunger, loss of experienced teachers and lecturers between 2006 and 2009 as they left the country in search of greener pastures in neighbouring states and abroad.A lot of schools in rural areas do not have electricity which makes it difficult to embrace science and technology, this demotivates teachers to go and work in rural areas as well as denying chance to rural students to exploit technology and other science subjects.There are still marginalised schools in areas such as Binga where learners attend the classes under trees and sitting on stones, some on the ground and with limited textbooks as well.
of poverty are hindered by exclusion from decision making positions based on cultural identity, gendered social structure especially in rural areas.The empowerment of women is further thwarted by marginalisation and imperilled under patriarch control and this is a worldwide challenge since the mediaeval era.IFAD (2012) pointed out that universally, and with rare exemptions rural women are far inferior that rural men, and urban women and men compared to each MDG pointer for which data are existing.It is against this background that the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) signed numerous agreements and protocols on gender associated matters, indicating its commitment on women empowerment programmes in its attempt to meet the set targets which are: reduce gender inequality in primary and secondary education by 2005 and at all education echelons by 2015 and escalating women's involvement in parliament by 30%, in civil service positions by 40% in 2005 and a balance of 50-50 by 2015 preferably, (UNDP Zimbabwe 2004:29).Zimbabwe is involved in several international conventions such as Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDEW) (1991), the Beijing Declaration on the Platform for Action (1995), the Convention on Civil and Political Rights (CCCPR), the Equal Remuneration Convention and so on.Then at regional level, Zimbabwe Assessing Progress and Pitfalls of the Millennium Development Goals in Zimbabwe 585 has endorsed the convention to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women, the Solemn Declaration on Gender and Equality in Africa 2004, (Ushewokunze 2012), and the Zimbabwe National Gender Policy of 2004 complimented GoZ's actions and commitment at international human rights framework.More so, several laws have also been enacted that support women empowerment and participation in active politics at national level.There are a lot of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) against women and girls in Zimbabwe, (Lupick 2014) but so far the empowerment of women has been made through legislative frameworks to tackle this violence in the public and the private scope among them being: the Children's Act, the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, the Criminal Evidence and Procedure Act, the Domestic Violence Act (2007) among others.These pieces of legislation are also supported by the Victim Friendly Unit department which is a section formed within the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to combat violence against women and children and it is working together with department of Social Services.In 2013 Zimbabwe adopted a new Constitution which is widely accredited for its strong commitment on gender equality issues on socioeconomic and political developments in relation to the Zimbabwe National Gender Policy.The GoZ on top of these legal frameworks, has established plug-ins and approaches, such as the 4Ps (Prevention, Protection, Participation and Programme) operation zero leniency to GBV (2012-2015) and to achieve this there is need for multi-sectorial, effective and coordinated response (UNDP Zimbabwe 2015).To this end, through the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development which was pioneered by Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Zimbabwe has managed to have an average of 25% women representation in public service institutions and 35% in Parliament as of 2013 general elections.This means Zimbabwe met its target 2005 of 30% but dismally failed to meet its 2015 target of 50-50, (USAID 2014).Be that as it may, Zimbabwe has witnessed the ascendance of the then Vice President Dr Joyce Mujuru in 2004 who was the first woman in Zimbabwe to be promoted to the second highest office in the country, other notable female cabinet minister are Muchinguri-Kashiri who is the Minister of Environment, Water, Climate and Wildlife, Dr Olivia Muchena who was the Minister of Higher and Tertiary, Science and Technology Development in 2014, Mrs Sithembise Nyoni who is the Minister for Small to Medium Micro Enterprises and many more who are deputy ministers, judges and assistant commissioners.
However, further affirmative action to encourage gender egalitarianism in upper positions is essential.In 2011 there were only 21% of women managers in the private sector and the proportion of female Parliamentarians has continued as it was after 2008 elections at 14% and 24% for the Lower House and Upper House of Assembly respectively.The proportion of female in rural and female in urban councillors remained constant at 14% (UNDP Zimbabwe 2015).The UN Women Zimbabwe supports the GoZ through the Joint Programme for Gender Equity (JPGE) which is being funded by the Government of Sweden to accomplish gender parity and women's empowerment using four pillars which are: Pillar 1: Combating all practices of GBV Pillar 2: Women's political involvement and impact Pillar 3: Women's economic empowerment and working conditions Pillar 4: National accountability on gender equality and women's empowerment.These four pillars are directed at stimulating a comprehensive women's empowerment and gender equality through underlining how intertwined they are and through tactical interpolations at policy level (ILO 2015).Furthermore, GoZ entered into partnerships with agencies from UNDP, ILO and NGOs with their experience and expertise in the implementation of these pillars positive results are expected.

GOAL 4 :
Reduce Child MortalityThrough the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the MDGs 4, 5 and 6, Zimbabwe has embarked on a number of plug-ins that have witnessed the immunisation of children against numerous ailments as well as the setting up of neonatal care and maternal fees has been removed.Some of the causes of neonatal deaths on infants include: measles, malaria, diarrhoea, HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, injuries among others.From the figure below, HIV/AIDS is the leading infant killer as it is transferred from mother to child during 588 Africa's Public Service Delivery & Performance Review "pregnancy, childbirth and or breastfeeding" (WHO 2014) and it is not curable once it's in the child's body unlike other diseases which can be totally treated.The target is to lessen the under-five death ratio by two-thirds between 2000 and 2015 using pointers of deaths per 1000 live births as well as the proportion of malnourished and children immunised against measles (UNDP Zimbabwe 2004).

Figure 5 :
Figure 5: Causes of death in the under-five age group in Zimbabwe

GOAL 6 :
Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other DiseasesOne of the most serious public health problems is HIV/AIDS, but good progress has been made by Zimbabwe in the battle against this pandemic and this has been justified by declining rates of infection, children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and frequency among 15-24 year old pregnant women which were the targets as well as lessening the incidence of diarrhoeal, TB and malaria (UNDP Zimbabwe 2004:45).There are pieces of legislation which were enacted with regard to HIV/AIDS these are: "National HIV and AIDS Policy of 2000 and the Statutory Instrument (SI 202) of 1998 which prohibits HIV screening for the purpose of employment and the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act 23 of 2004 which makes it a crime for a person who knows that he or she has HIV to infect another, even between wife and husband" (Kerina, Babill and Muller, 2013:9).The National AIDS Trust Fund (also called AIDS Levy) which entails collection of 3% of all taxable individuals and corporates incomes to fund HIV/AIDS programmes, such Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) and other HIV/AIDS related campaigns.The Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS) (2011), states that 15% of Zimbabwean grown-ups aged 15-49 years are infected with HIV, which is a three-point drop from 18% in 2007 (Cholewka 2008).HIV/AIDS is viewed as a feminised endemic in figure of informed cases of tuberculosis has likewise dwindled, "dropping from a peak of 782 per 100, 000 people in 2007 to 633 per 100, 000 people in 2010" (UNDP Zimbabwe 2015:17).Cases of Cholera outbreak were reported in 2008 and it claimed 4 282 lives and this was the first time since the annual report in 1998, but it was controlled with some interventions from World Health Organisation (WHO), (Ahmed, Bardham, Iqbal and Mazumder 2011).Another disease which threatened Zimbabwe was the outbreak of typhoid in 2010 which was the first to happen for over 40 years, two additional outbursts happened in 2011 as well as 2012, though they were minor cases.Averting these and other diarrhoeal ailments needs acquaintance to personal hygiene practices, sound sanitation and safe drinking water.
Small towns with mining activities are the most areas that are experiencing an escalation 594 Africa's Public Service Delivery & Performance Review of HIV/AIDS for instance around Great Zimbabwe University where illegal gold panning is taking place and the miners easily mingle with university students who are desperate for money.Another example is Zvishavane where one of the biggest mining companies such as Shabanie has shutdown leaving thousands unemployed people who embark on illegal mining thereby creating a suitable environment for young girls to venture into prostitution for them to earn a living and some prostitutes come from Bulawayo targeting those illegal miners.The general accessibility of essential medicines at public health hospitals and clinics has improved meaningfully between 2010 and 2014; nevertheless, availability of vital medicines on a sustainable foundation continues to be a challenge due to poor performance of the economy and the country depend profoundly on supplies from donors (Hunda 2016).The uptake of voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) is being hindered by stigmatisation of those who are HIV/AIDS positive(Kerina, Babill and Muller, 2013).
regulation policies.Conflicting interests among cabinet ministries for example, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate, the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality and the Ministry of Agricultural, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement, the Ministry of Energy and Power, the Ministry of Just, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, all these ministries' interpretations of the some sections of the Constitution and other policies boggles people's minds and often result in bad blood among government officials who are supposed to work together harmoniously to build Zimbabwe (UNDP 2012).Slum dwellers and illegal structures are increasing due to uncontrolled urban expansion as a result of rural-urban migration.
droughts, political instability and economic doldrums (Feeny and Clarke 2009).There is still unbalanced scale at tertiary level where very limited women equated to men are enrolling, eventually resulting in under-representation of women at decision-making points.Lack of involvement of ordinary citizens has resulted in failure to achieve some of the MDGs because MDGs have been extensively communicated at extraordinary summits with actual rare decision-makers alleging to represent major sections of the nation.The MDGs were set in 2000 but execution commenced later due to numerous problems among them being: resources constraints, the need to bring in line local policies with MDGs for strong execution for instance the MERP and MDGs in 2001.Corruption and mismanagement of funds is a major challenge, this was vindicated by Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZMRA) when they said Zimbabwe approximately lost US$2 billion to corruption only between 2013 and 2015 as well as the disappearance of untraceable US$15 billion from diamond revenue as point out by President Robert Mugabe recently and no one has been arrested or investigated.There is serious lack of accountability which has crippled all efforts to do better in reviving the economy.All the money could have been used to achieve the MDGs if it was used properly.Over and above all, once again Zimbabwe is seeing the hangover of economic hardships from the late 1990s, 2000s and 2015-16 into the SDGs which makes it more difficult to start tackling SDGs from 2016 to 2030.
Assessing Progress and Pitfalls of the Millennium Development Goals in Zimbabwe 593 2005 the GoZ launched Operation Restore Order (Murambatsvina) which was meant to clean up towns by removing illegal structures and slump dwellers.This operation evoked mixed feelings among different stakeholders: urban planners and city council viewed this as a way to create clean and sustainable towns.Human rights activists viewed this as inhuman and barbaric action for demolishing people's houses.In 2006 there was Operation Garikai/Hlalani kuhle as a way of coming up with sustainable urban settlement with basic sanitation and nontoxic water to drink, though this operation worked, the country was way below the 2010 safe sanitation target of 61% and 73% by 2015 (Mid-Decade Progress Report Zimbabwe 2002-2006).As of 2009 to 2015, Zimbabwe has witnessed uncontrolled mushrooming urban slums all over small towns and big cities through housing cooperatives further putting pressure on the demand for clean water, sanitation and electricity on municipalities.In some cases government responded by bulldozing completed houses in a similar way they did during Operation Restore Order of 2005.These poachers are getting cyanide from illegal gold miners as well as rifles from government's secrete and soldiers as witnessed the implication of several government officials in these poaching deals.The Save Valley conservancy was further ruined in 2011 when 25 senior ZANU-PF were granted leases on this park in the name of "wildlife-based land reform" measures to empower indigenous black Zimbabweans and they started killing wild animals uncontrollable crippling the once heralded as one of the world's most notable conservation success stories(Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime.2016).The situation is getting by day as the economy and unemployment is worsening.
Assessing Progress and Pitfalls of the Millennium Development Goals in Zimbabwe 597The inception of MDGs coincided with Zimbabwe's worsening affairs with the global community on the grounds of human rights abuse, rule of law, and default on its external debts, land reform which led to the shift from look Western to look East policy and political instability which took its toll in 2008.In as much as Zimbabwe's Ministry of Finance and Economic Development is working tirelessly to mend relations with the international community and has made progress in addressing the debt outcropping projected at US$7.1 billion unsettled to bilateral and multilateral allies which is crucial for opening growth aid, political tensions and unpredictability of government policies remains a stumbling block as the much needed FDIs adopted a wait and see approach from a distance of which it is high time to engaging meritoriously with donor community so as to improve the yield of investment and assistance (Hunda 2015).