The Program Management Department’s overall mandate is to empower women economically, politically and socially. The main thrust for the Department is economic empowerment because studies have indicated that political and social empowerment is achievable only when they are preceded by economic empowerment. Thus the department executes programmes and strategies for women’s economic and social empowerment.

The aim of the Gender Department is to create a gender just society in which men, women, boys and girls enjoy equity, contribute and benefit as equal partners in the development of the country. With the help of the gender policy, Government aims to eradicate gender discrimination and inequalities in all spheres of life and development. through a number of women empowerment projects, funded by the ministry whilst support was given for gender mainstreaming activities through the provision of requisite services to address the plight of victims of gender based violence.

The Community Development Department`s mandate is to promote effective and meaningful empowerment of communities for sustainable development. The Department focuses on empowering communities to be self-reliant, self-sustaining, resilient and prosperous. It aims at tackling and eradicating all forms of poverty, eliminating the obtaining dependency syndrome in our communities who have relied on hand outs for their survival and this is done through capacity building to participate in sustainable and inclusive development initiatives. In order to achieve this, the Department mobilises communities and development actors to participate in various economic and social programmes aimed at alleviating the cycle of poverty.

The overall outcome for the SME development Key Result Area (KRA) is to increase income and growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). It is achieved through various intervention strategies which include entrepreneurship and business management training, providing business advisory and
support services to enhance entrepreneurial capacity, facilitating linkages between MSMEs and large enterprises, providing access to finance, markets, workspace as well as designing, coordinating and implementation of specific projects in collaboration with development partners.

The Department has two sections namely Finance and Administration. The Finance Section is responsible for coordinating budget preparations and mobilization of resources, processing payments, providing financial reports and responding to audit queries. Its activities are regulated by the Finance Act (23.04), Public Finance Management Act (22.19), Treasury Instructions 2019 as amended, Treasury Circulars, Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act (22:23), the Appropriation Act and Accounting Officers Instructions and Circulars. The Administration Section provides material resources and services to the Ministry with a view of contributing to service delivery of the Ministry. The year 2020 was a very difficult one for the Department. Most planned projects were adversely affected by the effects of COVID 19 pandemic and runaway inflation. Prices were frequently rising to unprecedented levels thereby hampering progress across all aspects of the Ministry’s operations.

Functions of Finance and Administration Department

• Provide financial and administrative support services;
• Financial Reporting;
• Transport Management;
• Asset Management;
• Provision of Office Accommodation;
• Stores Management and
• Provision of Communication Services.
• Implementing financial policies in the Ministry;
• Preparing the annual budget for the Ministry through co-coordinating the preparation of estimates of revenue and expenditure in line with classification of fiscal data complying with Government Financial Statistics Manual 2014 and Program Based Budgeting as adopted by Treasury;
• Coordinating the implementation of the budget of the Ministry;
• Mobilizing resources for funding the budgetary requirements of the Ministry
• Managing the Ministry’s creditors and other obligations and developing a framework of debt control and as well as debtors for the Ministry;
• Consolidating the annual appropriation accounts and other financial statements of the Ministry in a format determined by the Nationals Accounting Standards Board (NASB) and in line with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS);
• Ensuring compliance with IPSAS prescribed and published by the NASB and as guided by Treasury from time to time;
• Ensuring proper management and control of, and accounting for the finances of the Ministry and its entities in order to promote efficient and effective use of the budgetary resources;
• Maintaining proper accounts and other records in respect of the Ministry ,the public funds accounts administered by the Ministry;
• Providing the Treasury with information which it may require to carry out its responsibilities under the Constitution and the PFMA;
• Reporting regularly to the National Assembly on the implementation of the annual budget, quarterly reports and the annual reports; and
• Taking any other action to further the implementation of the PFMA in relation to the Ministry.
• Fleet Management for the Ministry
• Management of Assets for the Ministry in terms of maintenance and disposal in line with PFMA and regulations.
• Preparation of assets returns and schedules for IPSAS and GFSM 2014 adoption
• Management of inventories including the receiving of goods and services offered to the Ministry by suppliers
• Office accommodation and housing for the Ministry requirements
• Offering logistics in terms of events management

Human Resources Department
The Human Resources Department is responsible for all the Human Resources function of the Ministry from Recruitment and Selection,
Induction, Employee Development, Human Resources Planning, Performance Management, Promotions, Industrial Relations to Termination.
Headed by a Director, the department comprises of three sections namely Human Resources, Records management and Information Technology.
The Department has staff stationed at Head Office, Provincial offices as well as District offices that manages staff records for  staff
members in the Ministry.

IT Section
The information technology section in our Ministry is responsible for the computer architecture, hardware, software and networking of computers in
the Ministry. In networking, the IT section evaluate, install, troubleshoot and repair the Ministry’s network hardware and software. The section also
provides support to computer users. 

Functions of the IT section:
 Helpdesk
 Systems Engineering
 Network Engineering
 Application Management
 System Administration
 Network Administration
 Project Management
 IT Management
 Planning
 Database Administration
 Lifecycle Management
 Security

Records and Information Management Unit
The main functions of records and information unit are classification, physical control and provision of storage of Ministry’s records and
information.
The other functions are
(a) Receiving, opening, date stamping and sending of mail.
(b) Placing correspondence on the relevant subject file
(c) Classification of incoming and outgoing mail.
(d) Opening new files where necessary
(e) Indexing files for later reference.
(f) Distributing files to respective officers.
(g) Dispatch of incoming and outgoing mail.
(h) Filing correspondence on relevant files for future reference.
(i) Compiling of the master and running file.
(j) Disposal of files no longer active according to the standing
instructions to the National Records Centre (National Archives) for
preservation purpose.

N.B. These files deposited at the National Records can be recalled
when required.

The Legal Services Department within the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development provides legal services to Ministry`s departments and Ministry’s stakeholders.

In an effort to carry out its mission and vision, the Legal Department has set the following goals ;

• • To examine legal processes and identify issues for court processes.
  • To provide sound legal advice to the Ministry and its stakeholders.
  • Drafting various legal documents and legislation that will positively impact the overall wellbeing of the Ministry.
  • To facilitate provision of effective legal representation for the Ministry in national and international matters.
  • To advise Ministry and its stakeholders on the interpretation of legal instruments.
  • To examine and draft Ministry contracts and advise on the legal implications of such contracts thereof.
  • To assist in the conduct of disciplinary matters.
  • To attend, advise and represent Ministry at national and international conferences /workshops /seminars and meetings.
  • Ensure that advice is rendered to clients within a period not exceeding (1) one week unless complexity of the documents or negotiations thereof requires otherwise.

The Strategic Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation is a specialised cross cutting Department responsible for strategic planning, coordination of policy formulation, monitoring implementation of Ministry’s programmes, projects through collecting, analysing information, producing reports and recommendations to assist timely and informed decision making  to ensure accountability and improved service delivery.

The process is guided by the National Monitoring and Evaluation Policy and Guidelines. Monitoring and Evaluation is a critical tool for tracking implementation, forward looking strategic positioning, and organisational learning and for improvement service delivery and sound management.

• Spearhead the review and alignment of the Strategic purpose of the Ministry with national development imperatives and vision 2030, Devolution.
• Oversee the preparation of the Ministry’s Strategic Plan.
• Coordinate policy formulation and implementation in the Ministry
• Enhance policy formulation, and implementation through research.
• Spearhead the evaluation of the Ministry’s projects and programmes.
• Develop strategic tools for use by the Ministry’ in strategic thinking, planning and implementation.
• Oversee the development of aligned and integrated Department plans.
• Coordinate the production of Monitoring and Evaluation reports and make presentations based on findings.
• Superintend over the development of appropriate monitoring and evaluation system in the Ministry.
• Conduct market research, provide current data on changes taking place in the environment with specific attention to the economic, political and technologies trends in the environment.
• Coordinate and monitor the implementation of the Rapid Results Initiative Projects.
• To ensure that Ministry programmes are comply and align to International, Regional and National instruments and policies such as CEDAW, AU Protocol, SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, SDGs, The Constitution of Zimbabwe,NDS1, Vision 2030, National Gender Policy.