Civic
Education Programme Activities
The CRD’s civic education program is conducted through
rural and urban workshops, public meetings, community exchange
programs and seminars where communities are educated and
trained on the following 5 thematic areas;
I.
Human Rights and good governance
Traditional leaders, councillors, youth, women, pastors
among other community leaders are trained on leadership
vis-à-vis qualities of a good leader, roles of a
leader in development and good governance.read
more
II. Civil and political rights
Since 2006 the CRD has conducted several workshops in Rural
Manicaland aimed at educating the communities on their civil
and political rights. read
more
III.
Conflict Resolution and Conflict Management
Despite the existing community mechanisms of resolving conflicts
such as public forums, indigenous knowledge systems and
other traditional strategies of resolving conflicts people
have inadequate understanding of the dynamics of conflicts
and conflict resolution mechanisms hence the need to educate
them.read
more
IV.
Peace building
Sustainable peace cannot be achieved in communities if there
is no community development.CRD has realized over the years
that the amalgamation of community developmental projects
and peace building is key in achieving social transformation
to bring about sustainable development.Comunity development
in Zimbabwe since independence has seen considerable progress
in education, health and sanitation but little has been
done to reduce poverty in the communities.read
more
V.
Gender mainstreaming and women issues
Zimbabwe
is largely a patriarchal and masculine society. As a result
there is the oppression of women by men due to cultural,
religious and other social constructs. One mechanism to
promote the rights of women is to empower them through women
centred community development.read
more
Target
Groups
I. Traditional leaders
The constitution of Zimbabwe through the Traditional Leaders
Act {Chapter 29:17}provide for the appointment of village
heads, headmen and chiefs; to provide for the establishment
of a council of chiefs and villages, ward and provincial
assemblies and to define their functions. One of the critical
functions of the traditional leaders as provided by the
act is to uphold the cultural values in the communities
under their jurisdiction and to administer the needs of
those communities in the interest of good governance. The
emergence of strong opposition political parties in Zimbabwe
from the late 1990s set the tone for political competition
in the country and the institution of traditional leaders
was not spared mainly because of their strategic positions
and influence in Zimbabwe’s communal lands. General
elections that have taken place in the country between 2000
and 2008 have seen the institution of traditional leaders
taking centre stage in most political activities in the
rural communities. Traditional leaders remain of paramount
importance in rural communities despite the fact that the
majority of them have joined active politics yet they are
supposed to be apolitical. It is imperative that they are
de-educated and then equipped with leadership skills. The
civic education program equips community leaders with knowledge
and skills of using every opportunity to promote peace,
tolerance, civil and political rights.
II. Women
The civic education project is also very relevant to the
needs and constrains of women. Women and children suffer
the most during political upheavals in Zimbabwe. They form
the bulk of internally displaced people and usually they
have nowhere to seek help. They also lack knowledge of what
is happening around them and how to take legal action against
the perpetrators of violence and intimidation against them.
Women suffer all kinds of violence, (a) direct violence
through beatings, torture and rape, (b) structural violence
through death of women due to denial of opportunities, education,
representation, treatment and resources and (c) cultural
violence through unfair practices against women that are
part of culture and yet disable women from enjoying civil
and political rights. Thus women are some of the beneficiaries
of our civic education program.
III.
Youth
Over 50 percent of Zimbabwe’s youth are unemployed.
In a bid to sustain a living most youth have turned to illegal
artisanal mining and others have become instruments of political
violence for rival political groups and engage in all forms
of violence and destruction against the aspirations of their
communities. This civic education program is also relevant
to the needs and constrains of youths as it equips them
with knowledge that reduces their chances of being recruited
to perpetrate political violence. Rural youths rarely attend
workshops that promote human rights and peaceful co-existence.
Political parties in Zimbabwe have done little to stop the
abuse of youths during elections. Despite the negative role
being played by youths during elections and even between
elections, their influence in society cannot be overemphasized.
This action transforms their energy to something positive.
Instead youths are encouraged to promote peace, tolerance
and inter-party dialogue at local level during the civic
education program. Equipping people with peace building
tools and knowledge of civil and political rights when they
are still young can also lead to cultural peace and long
term stability as they grow to become peace-loving senior
citizens.