Story by Panashe Nagoli
GOVERNMENT is developing the Zimbabwe Social Registry (ZISO), a national database aimed at improving the identification of households eligible for social assistance and strengthening the country’s social protection systems.
For years, social welfare programmes and safety nets were implemented and monitored through decentralised systems, which resulted in several challenges.
The introduction of ZISO is expected to address these challenges by creating a unified data system for planning, implementing and monitoring social development programmes across the country.
Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Honourable Edgar Moyo said the registry will improve the selection process for beneficiaries of social assistance programmes, including the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM).
“We are developing what we call a social registry, in short what we call ZISO, and this is a database created to identify households that qualify for social assistance. This is going to be used as part of the mechanism to identify BEAM beneficiaries so that we can improve selection and we think in no time we will be done.”
The ZISO system will also improve fairness and transparency in targeting, reducing duplication and leakages and will be rolled out across the country’s 65 districts to ensure resources and social assistance reach the families that need them most.
“This is meant to improve our targeting and also to avoid a situation of double dipping where undeserving people benefit, and those that are deserving benefit more than once,” the Minister noted.
Public Governance Expert Dr Tawanda Zinyama said the move is a step in the right direction in terms of widening government’s safety net for citizens.
“In terms of social protection programmes, there had been a myriad of challenges owing to the decentralisation of implementation, but this registry now solves that, and not only that, it actually widens the safety nets, ensuring that families that need protection get the things,” he said.
Now Pillar seven of the NDS2 emphasises the need for Social Development, Gender Equality and Social Protection, a key pillar aimed at reducing poverty, economic insecurity and vulnerability to shocks such as climate change.
As such, the move has been widely recognised as a long overdue shock-responsive social protection system.
