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Zimbabwe strives to ensure mainstreaming its national development plans with Agenda 2063, Mr. Willard Manungo, the Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet has said.
He made the remarks during the Agenda 2063 Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan (2024-2033): Knowledge; Data and Technical Expertise Needs Scoping Exercise at the AUDA-NEPAD workshop running from 3-7 March 2025 at the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Stakeholders have come together as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), and the African Union (AU) to mark the commencement of the Data, Knowledge, and Technical needs consultations for the successful domestication and implementation of the continent’s economic blueprint – the Agenda 2063 Second Ten Year Implementation Plan (2024-2033).
The Agenda 2063 Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan is aimed at ensuring that all African member states achieve middle-income status. It epitomises the sheer resilience of the African economies as they continue to grow.
This is also against the backdrop of the abundant natural resource endowments that buttress and fortify our continent’s development trajectory.
“Zimbabwe is playing its part by aligning our National Development Strategies to the Agenda 2063 Second Year Implementation Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is to ensure Zimbabwe makes its contribution to the achievement of the two agendas. Pursuant to this, Zimbabwe strives to ensure the mainstreaming of its national development Plans with the Continental Agenda 2063.
“In this regard, the Office of the President and Cabinet is providing the necessary policy guidance, in the formulation of the national development priorities, taking cognisance of the need to align with the continental development aspirations of the Africa We Want, as encapsulated under our Vision 2030, the SADC 2050, Africa Agenda 2063 and the global Sustainable Development Goals,” Mr. Manungo said.
Florence Nazare, the AUDA-NEPAD’s Head of Knowledge Capitalisation and Management, weighed in, emphasizing that at the heart of the African economic blueprint, the Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan, lies the commitment to create a robust and resilient African middle-income economy by Heads of States and Governments that should meet the development needs of Africa’s citizenry.
She said the AUDA-NEPAD and other Regional Economic Communities like SADC, and COMESA play an instrumental role in guaranteeing the implementation of development policies within Members States.
In his presentation on “Lessons from Asia and Prospects for Africa,” Prof Ereck Chakauya, the Manager for AUDA-NEPAD’s Southern Africa Network for Biosciences (SanBio), highlighted the need to address the multifaceted challenges faced by Africa as a continent, such as creating employment, managing conflicts, and modernising infrastructure.
Dr. Meluleki Zikhali, the Seedco Plant Breeder, who was representing the private sector, said governments must attract investment, and close the gap in technological and scientific advancements, required to catch up with higher-income economies.
This was buttressed by Simal Amor, COMESA’s Chief Strategic Planning, Research, and Policy Harmonization Officer who called for the harnessing of knowledge, data, expertise, strategic planning, effective coordination of the accelerated attainment of Agenda 2063 and its Second Ten Year Implementation Plan.
