Zimbabwe has targeted national poverty reduction as a national priority on its path towards achieving Upper Middle-Income status by the year 2030. Already before the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing socioeconomic crises, the country faced challenges with chronic poverty, with children disproportionately represented among the poor.
The Social Policy Research Institute (SPRI Global) is currently supporting UNICEF Zimbabwe in carrying out a national study on the multiple and overlapping deprivations of children in Zimbabwe. The study employs the UNICEF Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis methodology, and aims to complement existing, income-based measures of poverty in the country. This study is a follow-up to Zimbabwe’s first MODA study and report, published in 2016, which was also carried out with the support of SPRI Global researchers. The 2016 study greatly informed the development of an Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (2016-2018) for Zimbabwe, to support the Government’s efforts in fighting poverty and ensuring inclusive growth, guided by the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation national development plan.
This updated study, carried out in 2021 based on 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey data, is expected to be one of the key inputs into the development of Zimbabwe’s first Five-Year National Development Plan (2021-2025) and National Policy Framework to Reduce Child Poverty. The work is also expected to inform and provide advice for the Situation Analysis for Children and Women, as well as inform planning and programming in areas around multidimensional child poverty and Public Finance For Children (PF4C) issues.
About MODA
The MODA tool, developed by UNICEF, provides a comprehensive analysis of the multidimensional nature of child poverty and deprivation, sensitive to the needs and rights of children at different stages of their life cycle. The MODA methodology takes the child as the unit of analysis and unpacks the extent of overlap between different dimensions of deprivation, as well as the depth and severity of deprivation faced by children across different sub-groups and sub-populations. Click here to view our extensive portfolio of research projects on child poverty and deprivation measurement using this tool.