Evaluation of WFP Zimbabwe Country Strategic Plan 2022–2026

Zimbabwe has high levels of income inequality, with 38 percent of total population living in poverty and 35 percent of urban population being food insecure. 57 percent of rural households are food insecure during lean season. Zimbabwe hosts 22,000 refugees and asylum seekers from southern and eastern Africa, including 13,000 residing in the Tongogara Refugee Settlement. Refugees remain highly dependent on food assistance due to legal restrictions on their movement and employment.

What worked – or didn’t – and why?

The evaluation found that WFP was strategically positioned in Zimbabwe as a key enabler of humanitarian assistance, with its role in direct delivery becoming increasingly complementary as the scaling up of government-led assistance progressed. 

WFP assistance improved the food security of targeted populations, but refugees remained vulnerable and livelihoods and food security gains for rural communities were short-term and localized. Reconciling vulnerability-based targeting, access to complex contexts and operational independence was sometimes challenging. WFP guaranteed safety and protection at distribution sites.

Looking ahead, WFP’s added value will be increasingly focused on working through and supporting national systems.

What should WFP do? 

The evaluation makes three main recommendations: 

1. Shift WFP’s crisis response role away from large-scale humanitarian delivery during predictable seasonal emergencies to a focus on strengthening nationally led systems for social protection and crisis response, while retaining the ability to deliver direct assistance during extreme emergencies that exceed government response capacity; 
2. Concentrate rural and urban resilience programming on interventions with demonstrated effectiveness and sustainability, supported by proactive integration with partner and government systems; and
3. Support the institutionalization of evidence-based targeting and social protection systems within government frameworks while ensuring that WFP maintains the operational independence to determine and deliver needs-based assistance.