LocationsHow mobile social services centres are changing lives in Zimbabwe
Reaching the last mile
May 11, 2026
Melody was just 10 when her childhood was cut short. Married off while still a child, she became a mother of twins before she could fully understand what that meant. By the time she was 14, she had been abandoned, left alone with her children in a remote village in Zimbabwe’s Mbire District, far from clinics, government offices or any formal support.
Every day was a struggle. Without birth certificates, Melody could not enrol her twins in social welfare programmes. Healthcare was hard to get. Legal protection felt distant and out of reach. In her community, distance was not just measured in kilometres, it was the line between being seen and being invisible.
“I struggled to get my twins enrolled for social welfare support. Without their birth certificates, I was worried about their future,” Melody said.
Her story reflects the reality faced by many women and girls in rural Zimbabwe, where gender‑based violence is driven by economic hardship, entrenched social norms, limited services and persistent gender inequality. For years, survivors in remote communities carried their trauma alone because help was simply too far away.
To close this gap, UNDP, together with national and development partners, introduced the Mobile One Stop Centre initiative, bringing essential services directly to underserved communities.
Service providers record cases during a Mobile One Stop Centre outreach, bringing legal, health and protection services closer to communities in rural Zimbabwe.
Photo: UNDP Zimbabwe/Anesu Freddy
From local pilot to national lifeline
The initiative started small, supported by UNDP’s core resources, the catalytic, flexible funding that enables rapid, need-driven action. Additional support was provided through the Spotlight Initiative, funded by the European Union to end violence against women and girls.
For the first time, services came to Melody and many others. Counsellors, legal officers, health workers, child protection teams and civil registry officials arrived together in one place, at the same time. The model was simple, but transformative.
“Now my twins can have the opportunities that I never had,” Melody said. “They can pursue their dreams and have a brighter future.”
The pilot proved what survivors like Melody knew; when systems work together, dignity is restored.
Community members gather at a Mobile One Stop Centre outreach, where survivors of gender‑based violence can access coordinated health, legal and protection services.
Photo: UNDP Zimbabwe/Anesu Freddy
A philanthropic partnership
The results attracted philanthropic support. Backed by the Judith Neilson Foundation, the initiative expanded across six provinces, reaching women and children who had never accessed justice, documentation or protection.
For Gertrude, another survivor, the centre was a lifeline after her partner destroyed her HIV medication. “For the first time,” she said, “I didn’t have to find money for the long journey. The centre came to where I am.”
In another case, Ropa, 9, arrived at a Mobile One Stop Centre with a quiet plea that revealed her sister’s forced child marriage and the family’s lack of documentation. As Charity, a Provincial Social Development Officer, recalled, “Ropa started crying during the interview. The holistic response--police, social services, health and legal aid protected her entire family.”
Today, Mobile One Stop Centres operate in six provinces with high rates of gender‑based violence and child marriage, reaching close to 10,000 people. In 2025 alone, more than 1,800 people accessed civil registration services, many of them women and girls excluded for years by violence, early marriage or poverty.
As another survivor, Jane, simply put it, “I knew I had rights, but I didn’t know where to get help. The Mobile One Stop Centre showed me the way.”
Nine‑year‑old Ropa speaks with service providers during a Mobile One Stop Centre outreach in rural Zimbabwe, helping connect her family to support services previously out of reach.
Photo: UNDP Zimbabwe/Anesu Freddy
Anchoring the model
To ensure these gains last, UNDP and national partners are embedding the model within national systems through the Integra Initiative, supported by flexible thematic funding via UNDP’s Funding Windows. The Integra Initiative moves the Mobile One Stop Centre model beyond coordinated outreach toward institutional consolidation. When a frontline officer records a case, it no longer sits in isolation. Clear referral pathways and shared standards ensure police, prosecutors, social workers and legal aid officers work from the same systems, reducing the risk that a survivor’s story is delayed, mishandled or forgotten.
Beyond Zimbabwe, the Integra initiative is also strengthening public services in Angola, Madagascar and Mongolia, supported by the contributions of Denmark, Luxembourg and the Republic of Korea.
A civil registry officer engages with community members during a Mobile One Stop Centre outreach in rural Zimbabwe, bringing civil registration and protection services closer to families in remote areas.
Photo: UNDP Zimbabwe/Anesu Freddy
A future where no one is too far away
The Mobile One Stop Centres are proof that justice does not have to be distant. What began as a small initiative, backed by UNDP’s core resources, is now a partnership-driven model operating nationally.
UNDP’s government partners’ resources laid the foundation, providing the flexible support needed to pilot and test the model. Philanthropic partners such as the Judith Neilson Foundation then made expansion possible, while flexible thematic funding reinforced national systems. Together, these pooled investments are restoring visibility to people long unseen and proving something powerful: no one should be too far away to be protected, heard, or counted.
Sustaining and scaling this progress will require continued partnerships and a renewed commitment from all who believe in leaving no one behind.
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