Zimbabwe’s Pandemic Fund Project: What It Means for NGOs
By News

Zimbabwe has launched a USD 14.33 million Pandemic Fund project to strengthen disease surveillance, laboratory testing and emergency response across human, animal and environmental health. Led by the government and implemented with the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UNICEF, the project matters because it combines grant money with large domestic and partner commitments, and because much of its work is planned at community level, where outbreaks are often first noticed.

What has been announced

The launch was reported in late October, and an AfDB press release carried by fundsforNGOs on 4 November set out further detail. The project is built around a One Health approach, reflecting the fact that many pathogens with pandemic potential emerge where human, animal and environmental health meet.

The funding goes beyond the headline grant. According to 263Chat, republished by allAfrica, total funding and co-investment comes to about USD 155 million, including roughly USD 49 million in partner co-financing and USD 91.8 million in government commitments. Zimbabwe is also due to receive about USD 2.49 million from a USD 35.8 million regional grant covering eight countries, which is implemented by the World Health Organization. NewsDay put the combined value of the two projects at USD 16.82 million.

The sources differ slightly on timing: the AfDB material describes a three-year initiative running from 2026 to 2028, while 263Chat reported that the national grant runs until 2029.

Planned activities include:

  • wider event-based, environmental, community-based and cross-border surveillance, using digital tools, automated weather stations and social listening;
  • five public health emergency operations centres;
  • upgrades to 25 laboratories, five national and 20 subnational, covering diagnostics, antimicrobial resistance testing, genomic sequencing and biosafety;
  • training for more than 10,000 professionals in areas such as integrated disease surveillance, emergency preparedness and risk communication;
  • annual simulation exercises and stronger risk assessments at points of entry;
  • community-led monitoring and multilingual awareness campaigns expected to reach up to two million people.

Why it matters for the sector

Health and Child Care Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora linked the investment to recent experience, saying that past cholera outbreaks and recurring measles cases showed the need for surveillance and rapid intervention. He also said Zimbabwe had approved an Ebola preparedness contingency fund, though no confirmed cases had been recorded in the country at the time of the launch. In the AfDB material, he described public health protection as a “national development imperative”.

Etona Ekole, UNICEF’s Zimbabwe Representative, said preparedness must go beyond technical infrastructure and place communities, particularly children and other vulnerable groups, at the centre of national systems. AfDB Country Manager Eyerusalem Fasika described the grant as a shift “from reactive containment to proactive protection”. Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe said councils are critical to environmental health, community-based surveillance and risk communication.

That emphasis on local structures is relevant to civil society. The published material does not set out specific allocations or grants for NGOs, so organisations should not assume direct funding. However, community engagement, risk communication and community-led monitoring are all named components, and these are areas in which many local organisations already work. Those interested should follow announcements from the implementing agencies and the Ministry of Health and Child Care.

What this means for NGO job seekers

The sources do not announce recruitment numbers, and a project of this type may be delivered largely through existing government and agency staff. Even so, its design shows which skills are likely to be valued in health security work:

  • Surveillance and data. Epidemiology, integrated disease surveillance, data analysis and digital health reporting are central to the project’s plans.
  • Laboratory systems. Biosafety, quality management, antimicrobial resistance testing and genomics all feature in the planned upgrades.
  • Risk communication and community engagement. Practitioners who can run feedback systems and communicate in several local languages will have relevant experience, especially given the multilingual campaigns planned.
  • One Health collaboration. Professionals with experience across veterinary, environmental and public health can stand out by showing how they have worked across sectors.
  • Grant and partnership management. Co-financed projects involving several agencies call for strong coordination, monitoring and reporting.

Short courses, supervised field experience and clear evidence of results in a CV can all help you move into this field. Look through NGO jobs in Zimbabwe, explore other markets on our NGO jobs by country page, or browse all current vacancies. You can also use our career resources to prepare your applications.

Sources