Harare, (New Ziana) – Government on Thursday launched translated versions of the country’s economic blueprint, the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1) as it seeks to encourage greater involvement of local communities.

Zimbabwe in November last year launched the NDS 1, 2021 to 2025, as its new ambitious economic development plan, which is targeting a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of five percent a year to catapult the country into an upper middle income economy in 10 years.

The plan, a successor to the Transitional Stabilisation Programme, runs under the theme, “Towards a prosperous and empowered upper middle income society by 2030.”

Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube said the blueprint was translated into 14 local languages as a means to better engage the people, who are the drivers of development.

“In the spirit of leaving no-one and no-place behind, the translated versions will ensure greater interaction between Policy and stakeholders, during the NDS1 implementation period,” Ncube said at the launch.

“This connectivity of policy with the ordinary people, does not only mean that policy will be better understood by all, but also that we as policy makers begin a process where we are comfortable getting feedback from the people directly, in local languages.”

The blueprint was translated into Shona, Ndebele, Tonga, Ndau, Chewa, Chibarwe, Kalanga, Nambya, Venda, Shangani, Sotho, Tswana, Xhosa and Koisan.

Zimbabwe officially recognises 16 languages including English.

Ncube said there were plans to translate the blueprint into Braille and an audio book for the visually impaired as well as an e-book for those with auditory challenges.

Zimbabwe is expecting its economy to rebound this year with 7.4 percent GDP on the back of deeper economic reforms, improved agricultural perfomance, recovery from climate and Covid-19 shocks, and global business upturn.
New Ziana