Zimbabwe - Leadership for Results - The Case of Performance Contracts Implementation

Introduction
Both academic writers on development and MfDR practitioners, are agreeable that good leadership is a pre-requisite to achieve development results. Leaders define results by understanding the needs and problems of their clients. They must continually ask and answer the question of what their clients want before they decide how to meet the needs and address the problems. Without a results focus, calibration of leadership becomes extremely difficult and attainment of results a pipedream. This paper gives a synoptic view of what the Government of Zimbabwe is doing to ensure leadership for results through the Integrated Results Based Management System (IRBM).

Political Leadership for Results
Political leaders who are the drivers of policy in developing countries face monumental challenges as they work to deliver on promises they make to the electorate and their countries’ residents and citizens on improved services.

The challenge of leading for results has been acutely experienced in Zimbabwe, being a transition state operating under an All Inclusive Government (AIG) following the effecting of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) of September 2008. Due to political instability and the debilitating effects of economic sanctions government capacity to deliver critical programmes and projects had been severely eroded, and institutions were made weak. The AIG is faced with the daunting task of meeting the population’s urgent needs in terms of restoration of basic social services, economic recovery and growth, infrastructural development, constitutional reform and guaranteeing of people’s rights and freedoms.

For better coordination and implementation of Cabinet decisions and government policies, Ministries are grouped into sectors that work with various Cabinet Committees and Ministers take leading roles in ensuring that inter-ministerial policy issues are implemented and report on progress to Cabinet. Each Sector develops its Vision, Mission, Key Results Areas, Strategic Goals and Objectives with the desired results, i.e. outcomes and outputs. This leadership initiative is crucial for the government in its large-scale reform effort. The reporting is done using monitoring and evaluation dashboards focussing on the achievement of outcomes, outputs and budget utilisation versus planned targets.

Administrative Leadership through Performance Contracts
To ensure that the priorities identified by the Sectors and Ministries are executed in a results- oriented manner and get funding, all Ministries prepare and submit Integrated Performance Agreements to the Ministry of Finance which then allocates resources to support the identified programmes, projects and outputs in line with Results Based Budgeting (RBB) principles. Each Ministry’s Integrated Performance Agreement is informed by and must contribute to the achievement of Key Result Areas, goals and objectives as well as the predetermined results (outcomes and outputs) for the Sector under which it falls.

Beginning 2010, the Government of Zimbabwe geared up the implementation of RBM by introducing Performance Contracts for Heads of Ministries (Permanent Secretaries). These Performance Contracts are signed between each Head of Ministry and the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet who is also the Head of the Civil Service. The introduction of Performance Contracts was done after learning from regional best practices and the Government of Zimbabwe benefitted very much from the experiences of the Governments of Kenya and Rwanda in November 2009, Permanent Secretaries and senior officials from the government of Zimbabwe visited the two countries. Meetings were held with Mr Richard E. Ndubai, Permanent Secretary, Performance Contracting (Office of the Prime Minister) Kenya, as well as several Permanent Secretaries of the Government of Rwanda.
The Performance Contracts are freely negotiated performance covenants between the Government and the respective Ministry which clearly specify the intentions, obligations and responsibilities of the contracting parties.

Regarding the evaluation of the performance contracts, the parameters for performance evaluation are founded on performance area outlined below.

A. Fulfilment of the Ministry Integrated Performance Agreement - To ensure that each Ministry delivers its mandate whose outcomes and outputs can be measured and contextualized by taking account of the citizen/customer’s needs and expectations.

B. Service Delivery Standards- To address each Ministry’s responsibility in providing specific services to its clients/customers. As such citizens and clients/customers expect that the quality of services delivered meets their expectations and is commensurate to international best practice

C. Management of Resources and Organisational Development - To address issues of internal efficiency and effectiveness, organizational learning and growth and competitiveness through various Ministry initiatives. Such measures ensure the citizens and clients/customers receive value for money and enjoy services that meet international best practice as well measures to be undertaken to improve staff motivation and research and development.

D. State Enterprises, Parastatals and Local Authorities Re-engineering- To address issues of inefficiency and poor performance through reform of State Enterprises, and Parastatals (including Tertiary Institutions and Public Universities) and local authorities.

E. Cross-cutting Government priorities- To address issues of interest to both Government and the nation which arise from time to time and require the attention of all Government agencies.

The evaluation of the performance of public agencies entails the rating of actual achievements against performance targets negotiated and agreed upon at the beginning of the year.




Conclusion
By virtue of membership and participation in the AfCoP on MfDR, the Government of Zimbabwe has bolstered the implementation of its Integrated Results Based Management System (IRBM) through better leadership for results as well as knowledge sharing with the Governments of Kenya and Rwanda in the implementation of results oriented performance contracting systems.

The writer, Rwakurumbira Munyaradzi works for the Modernisation Department in the Government of Zimbabwe. He is an active member of the African Community of Practice on MfDR and the Zimbabwe Community of Practice on MfDR.