The Zimbabwe Reconstruction Fund (ZIMREF) is a country-specific multi-donor trust fund that was approved by the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank in May 2014 and is expected to run until December 2023. ZIMREF seeks to contribute to the strengthening of Zimbabwe’s systems for reconstruction and development with a focus on stabilization and reform, development and poverty alleviation.
ZIMREF is the key instrument for the World Bank’s engagement and for supporting the implementation of the Government’s National Development Strategy 1 (2021-2025). ZIMREF’s development partners include the European Union, the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sweden), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (Switzerland), the Norwegian Aid Agency (Norway), the State and Peacebuilding Fund (SPF), and the Canadian government. These partners have provided a total of US$51 million to ZIMREF since its establishment. The Canadian government became a donor to ZIMREF in 2020.
ZIMREF supports both recipient-executed, Bank-executed and Hybrid projects under its four programmatic windows, namely, (1) Private Sector productivity and competitiveness; (2) Governance, efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditure; (3) Strengthening livelihoods and resilience; and (4) Analytical and advisory work.
The projects currently operational for ZIMREF are:
- Zimbabwe Recovery and Resilience Program
- Piloting social protection and WASH interventions to keep adolescent girls in school in Zimbabwe
Ongoing Technical Assistance includes:
- Business Environment, Financial Sector and Investment Policy TA (Bank-executed);
- Capital Budgeting TA (Bank-executed);
- Poverty Monitoring and Evaluation TA (Hybrid implementation);
- Climate Change TA (Bank-executed);
Closed ZIMREF Projects include:
- Zimbabwe National Water Project
- Public Procurement Mordenisation Project
- Results Based Budgeting (Health component)
- Public Financial Management Enhancement Project
