Cities in distress: Municipal Budgeting and Financial Management Survey Report

This report presents the findings of the Municipal Budgeting and Financial Management Survey conducted by the We Pay You Deliver (WPYD) Consortium. The consortium consists of 10 organisations namely Danish Church Aid, Combined Harare Residents Association, Harare Residents Trust, Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association, Habakkuk Trust, Women’s Institute for Leadership Development, Zimbabwe Women Resource Centre Network, United Mutare Residents and Ratepayers Trust, Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance and Diakonia. The aim of the survey was to understand local authority budgeting processes and suggest ways of increasing the participation of residents in the said process. The survey was conducted in five (5) cities namely Bulawayo, Harare, Gweru, Masvingo and Mutare. In terms of coverage, the survey covered 5 Wards per city (2 high density, 2 medium density and 1 low-density) meaning a total of 20 wards were covered during the survey. In total 5,284 respondents (3110 were women that is about 58.9%) participated in the survey conducted between April and June 2018. In addition, the survey team conducted in-depth interviews with finance staff from the following local authorities: Gweru, Harare, Bulawayo, and Masvingo. Interviews were also conducted with representatives of residents associations and civil society organisations in the consortium. For more the complete report click on the PDF below