Scenario Mapping and Strategic Planning Report for the PVO Amendment Bill

The Private Voluntary Organisation Amendment Bill (hereinafter the “Amendment Bill”) was gazetted on 5 November 2021. Its memorandum stipulates three objectives of the Amendment Bill. Firstly, the Amendment Bill seeks to ensure Zimbabwe's compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8 regarding money laundering and terrorism financing. Secondly, the Amendment Bill aims to streamline administrative procedures for Private Voluntary Organisations (PVOs) to allow for efficient regulation and registration. Thirdly, the Amendment Bill aims to ensure that PVOs do not undertake political lobbying. Further to the initial Amendment Bill, on the 7th of June 2022, the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare submitted significant amendments to the gazetted 2021 Amendment Bill on the National Assembly Order Paper. A cursory analysis of the amendments reveal that when passed into law, this piece of legislation will present grim operational restrictions and challenges to all Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Zimbabwe working in different sectors. However, these challenges will differ depending on the current form of registration of the organisation, i.e., PVO, Trust or Common Law Universitas and depending on the focus of the work being carried out by the organisation. Consequently, CSOs are vulnerable and at risk of being deregistered and closed when the Amendment Bill is assented into law. Against this backdrop, this report also examines both amendments (those published on 5 November 2021 and amendments submitted on 7 June 2022) for purposes of ascertaining the likely implications of the amendments on different types of CSOs (i.e., Trusts, PVOs or Universitas). The report also recognises the operational challenges that will affect CSOs and therefore maps scenario and present recommendations for planning purposes. To read more, please download the attachment below: