The Zimbabwe Human Development Report 1998, a copy of which is with the Financial Gazette , says corruption within the structures of the government has become a matter for national concern.
Corruption is of increasing concern in Zimbabwe.
The report was financed by the United Nations Development Programme and produced in consultation with the government by the University of Zimbabwe's Institute of Development Studies and the Poverty Reduction Forum. The report, which gives human development comparisons between provinces, rural and urban areas, will provide policy-makers with an analysis of the situation and help the government to target the poor in efforts to end poverty. In some cases social programmes to alleviate poverty among the poor collapsed as some well-connected individuals siphoned out or diverted the funds to sustain other schemes that benefited the already wealthy sections of the society, it said. The report said the key to reducing high poverty lay in agricultural and food production policies, strategies and programmes that were based on consultation and collaboration with stakeholders, together with a growth of jobs in both formal and informal sectors. The worst affected households were those headed by women, largely because the majority of them had limited access to and control of resources such as land, education, health, skills, employment opportunities and many other crucial resource bases.