Global Institutional Role to Promote Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in Zimbabwe

Introduction

It is widely known that global institutions play a vital role in promoting socio-economic transformations around the world (Fleiss, 2021). In this regard, it is salient to observe that accountable, effective, efficient, and inclusive institutions can contribute significantly when it comes to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is supported by the fact that many governments are working towards achieving inclusive development agenda (Fleiss, 2021; Pineda, Valencia, & Andrian, 2020; World Bank, 2013). In an attempt to achieve this important agenda, many countries are guided by the SDGs. One of these crucial sustainable development goals is SDG16 (“Goal 16 aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”) (United Nations, 2015). More interestingly, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development captures the prime importance of institutions in achieving sustainable development. There is no doubt about the importance of institutions in sustainable development given that sustainable development must be inclusive in nature (Fleiss, 2021; Meuleman & Niestroy, 2015, United Nations, 2016a). Every stakeholder has a special role to play when it comes to inclusive development.

In pursuit of inclusive development, there is a growing consensus on the fact that nobody must lag behind. This means that inclusive sustainable development should not exclude the marginalized people in the community such as women, youths, elderly people, poor people, and disabled people. With this in mind, it is in the public domain that the global institutions such as International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, United Nations (UN), World Trade Organization (WTO), and International Labour Organisation (ILO) are driving and promoting the agenda of making inclusive development a reality in many countries across the world (Fleiss, 2021; Pineda et al., 2020). Notably, the contribution of these global institutions is hotly debated in the current development discourse. This debate provides the basis for expanding our understanding of the role of global institutions, especially from developing countries' perspectives. However, very little is known about the role of global institutions in promoting the achievement of SGDs in Zimbabwe especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic (Humphrey, 2020; Pineda et al., 2020). Therefore, this study aims to examine the role of global institutions in promoting the achievement of SDGs in Zimbabwe.

Global institutions' contribution or impact on development is ardently contested but in the 21^st century, only a few doubt their contribution to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) among other developmental initiatives. This research seeks to enquire about the contribution of global institutions in promoting the achievement of sustainable development in Zimbabwe. There is no doubt that the Zimbabwean government is facing numerous challenges such as high poverty levels and a sharp increase in youth unemployment (Dzingirai, 2020). Extended arrears of the country on external debt makes it impossible to access more financing despite the expression of interests by the government's commitment to reengagement with external sources of finance or the international community. The first step would be to clear the outstanding and long overdue arrears with the World Bank, IMF, European Investment Bank, and the African Development Bank among other lenders. However, IDA & IMF (2020) reported that there is no consensus concerning the roadmap to debt clearance sustainability and the probable reconciliation creditor agreement (World Bank, 2020; IFA & IMF 2020). The objectives of this study are to capture the worldwide practices and controversies related to global institutions and sustainable development goals, to assess the challenges faced by global institutions in promoting inclusive development, to examine the development challenges faced by global institutions during the global pandemic, and to analyze the contribution of global institutions to inclusive sustainable development in Zimbabwe as well as to ascertain the role of global institutions in promoting the achievement of SDGs in Zimbabwe.