A situation analysis of the social development fund

Abstract

The Government of Zimbabwe introduced the Social Development Fund (SDF) in 1991 in order to cushion the poor and vulnerable groups against the initial negative effects of the economic structural adjustment programme, especially frictional unemployment, cost recovery measures and the removal of subsidies. The SDF consists of two components, the Employment and Training Programme (ETP) and the Social Welfare Component. The Social Welfare Component consists of three schemes, namely food money, school fees and health service user fees. This study concentrates on the schemes under the Social Welfare Component of SDF and does not analyse the ETP. This study of the Social Welfare Component of the SDF was conducted from May to July 1993, relying on reviews of published and unpublished Government documents and interviews with key informants at headquarters, provincial, district and village levels.