The UN Relief and Recovery Unit (RRU) was established by UNDP in October 2001 to assist in the co-ordination of the international response to a worsening food security and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. The RRU works under the leadership of the UN Resident/Humanitarian Co-ordinator.

One of the first tasks of the RRU was to assist with the response of the UN Country Team to the emergency in Zimbabwe by co-ordinating the Humanitarian Assistance and Recovery Plan (HARP). The HARP was established in December 2001 and was the first co-ordinated action by the UN Country Team to work collectively in dealing with the impact of the emergency in Zimbabwe.For much of 2002, the RRU had a staff of three programme people. Their work was concentrated on the following areas:

• Monitoring and co-ordinating the work of the UN Country Team programmes within the HARP.
• Providing a fortnightly Humanitarian Situation Report.
• Facilitating the relationship between the humanitarian community and the government to enhance the shared understanding of the emergency and to ease operational problems.
• Donor and NGO liaison.
• Co-ordinating the UN Country Team response for the July Consolidated Appeal (CAP) and the CAP mid year review, including the tracking of donations.
• Assisting the UN Country Team in contingency planning.
• Co-ordination of vulnerability assessments on behalf of the UNCT.
• Programme development for internally displaced people.

In November 2002, OCHA appointed a senior adviser to co-ordinate the humanitarian interventions and information in regards to internally displaced people.