CSO Strengthening  

 

Zimbabwe Institute works with Heads of Civil Society Coalitions and Networks who constitute the CSO Coordination Committee and facilitates efforts in advocacy around proposed Bills in Parliament. The work of engaging CSOs through the Heads of Civil Society Coalitions and Networks in participatory advocacy programmes is central to supporting the growth of a civic society with a unified agenda of building a democratic society. To date, the CSOs have drafted position papers which have been submitted to government as a response to the following Bills: Constitutional Amendment (No. 2) Bill, the Private Voluntary Organization, (PVO) Bill, and the Criminal Law Codification Reform Bill.

 

​Through the Heads of Civil Society Coalitions and Networks, CSOs are also providing input on the Structured Dialogue on Arrears Clearance and Debt Resolution and have made contributions to the three policy reform matrices on Governance, Economic and Land Tenure.

 

​ZI additionally facilitates meetings between CSOs and parliamentary portfolio committees to enable them to interact on issues of national interest. The objective is also to share recommendations with Parliamentary Portfolio Chairpersons for them to take to government when they champion engagement.  Most recent examples include work done by ZI and CSOs in 2021 on the Private Voluntary Bill which included the drafting and translation of the position paper into local languages. This was followed by a meeting called by Parliament and extended to the public for their input to the Bill. Further to this public engagement, ZI facilitated meetings with the Parliamentary Portfolio Committees on Justice, as well as the Ministry of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare to discuss the PVO Bill and find ways to mitigate its negative effects.  

 

Between 2016 and 2020, ZI worked with a CSO Consortium consisting of over 60 members on aligning legislation to the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Twenty-six position papers were developed which were submitted and used in policy level engagement and constitutional alignment.  

 

​Under the Consortium, ZI also supports CSOs in capacity building and seeks to strengthen application of research-based advocacy which uses sound methodology. The purpose of the training is to strengthen the skills base of CSOs to ensure that they remain relevant.