Zimbabwe requires sustainable and inclusive financing models to shield vulnerable households from poverty, unemployment, and climate-related shocks, according to Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Advocate Mercy Dinha. Speaking at the Social Protection Conference in Bulawayo, Advocate Dinha urged a shift in how the nation mobilizes and allocates resources for social assistance, warning that growing needs and limited public finances are putting pressure on existing support systems. The deputy minister cautioned against treating social protection merely as an expense incurred when people fall into hardship, framing it instead as an investment in national development.
Shifting Perceptions of Social Protection
Addressing delegates under the theme “Reimagining Social Protection Financing: Emerging Challenges, Fiscal Constraints, Shifting Trends, and Strategic Opportunities,” Advocate Dinha argued that safety nets must transcend basic poverty relief. She described social protection as an essential instrument for social justice, economic stability, human capital development, and national transformation. Households across Southern Africa face economic uncertainty, persistent poverty, inequality, food insecurity, and rising living costs alongside climate-related disasters. Children require adequate nutrition and education access, young people need employment opportunities, and older persons, people with disabilities, and vulnerable families depend on dependable support systems.
Advocate Dinha Calls for Diversified Financing Arrangements
Governments operate under difficult fiscal conditions marked by competing spending priorities, debt-servicing obligations, constrained domestic revenues, and unpredictable development assistance. These factors limit resources available for social protection even as climate emergencies, food insecurity and economic shocks drive up demand. Dismissing both the abandonment of vulnerable populations and expanding programmes without due regard to the resources required to sustain them, Advocate Dinha called for diversified, transparent, and nationally owned financing arrangements. These models rely on partnerships involving the private sector, development agencies, civil society, faith-based organisations, and communities, anchored by clear national priorities, defined responsibilities and measurable outcomes.
HON DINHA CALLS FOR PROTECTION OF CHILDREN, EMPOWERMENT OF YOUTH AND DIGNITY FOR THE ELDERLY.BULAWAYO: Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Hon. Mercy Dinha, has officially opened the 2026 International Annual SASPEN Conference in Bulawayo, calling for… pic.twitter.com/9A9MdPJgBs
Zimbabwe Must Integrate Cash Assistance with Social Support
Zimbabwe must adopt a more integrated approach that connects cash assistance and social insurance with healthcare, education, employment services and other forms of social support tailored to different life stages. While young people benefit from support linked to vocational training, entrepreneurship and employment opportunities, older persons and individuals with profound disabilities require long-term assistance that acknowledges financial independence may not be immediately attainable. Concurrently, the deputy minister stressed the need for stronger systems to respond to climate-related emergencies, including enhanced early-warning systems, contingency financing, and coordination between social protection agencies and disaster management institutions to protect communities from droughts, floods, and cyclones.
The Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare @mpslswzim Hon Mercy Dinha @DinhamercyHon is set to open the Zimbabwe Social Protection Week which is under way in Bulawayo pic.twitter.com/6WvhkVKlXp
