10 Jun 2018

The Executive Director of the National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (NANGO), Leonard Mandishara attended the Budget Transparency Stakeholders’ Workshop in South Sudan from 6 to 11 June 2018.

As part of his presentation, Mandishara highlighted challenges encountered in Zimbabwe seeing as the Open Budget Survey (OBS) is a new process in the country. 

With regards to budget transparency in Zimbabwe there has been limited cooperation from the key institutions, ignorance of the process and what it measures, lack of appreciation of the key facets of the survey, government peer reviewer response low and produced documents were not shared publicly.

As a result, out of 100 Zimbabwe’s score was 20, 35 and 23 in 2012, 2015 and 2017 OBS, respectively.

According to analyses by NANGO, the significant drop in 2017 compared to 2015 was due to comprehensiveness of Executive Budget Document, failure to publish other documents such as Citizen Budget and Year End Report and late posting of documents on government websites.  

Mandishara asserted that following the mentioned issues, NANGO and UNICEF engaged the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development in view to improve budget transparency.

“Positive relationship and collaboration between stakeholders is key for improved OBS, government departments, parliament, supreme audit and civil society as well as the researcher,” said the NANGO executive director.

He added that commitment by all key government institutions is now very high, reform matrix was developed to address gaps, personnel with appropriate experience were attached to the process and NANGO was tasked to continuously engage institutions. 

Civil Society can further contribute to government budget reforms as researchers, through collaborations, playing the watchdog role on budget processes, build capacity of key government institutions and lead the sensitization process, engage consistently throughout the entire budget process, liaise with the tasked researcher, educate the public on budget processes to raise the demand side as well as carry out analysis of the budget to inform policy makers.

3 Jun 2018

National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO), Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) on 31 May and 1 June 2018 capacitated 80 representatives from Masvingo and Manicaland civil society organisations, respectively, on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) processes.

Representatives of Masvingo CSOs concurred that with regards to issues of national interest like human rights it is important for civil society organisations to speak with one voice. CSOs were urged to meaningfully participate in the UPR process, mobilize and ensure wide participation of key stakeholders during national consultations, ensure that government identifies all relevant stakeholders and partners with them, collaborate and monitor independent commissions and raise awareness, monitor and audit compliance by government with the UPR recommendations among other equally imperative roles.

The leadership from Manicaland appreciated the fact that CSOs are directly in touch with community members who are often the victims of human rights violations. Through this direct contact these CSOs are best positioned to express the concerns of citizens. Civil society was urged to take advantage of their position and produce a shadow report for lobby and advocacy and to make contributions through reporting on the state of human rights in their communities.

As part of their watchdog role, CSOs will mobilise and ensure wide participation of key stakeholders such as marginalized groups which include people with disabilities, youth, children and women at various UPR consultations.

During the trainings organisations from NANGO’s children, youth, women, disability, economic, humanitarian, human rights, arts and culture as well as land and environment, health, HIV and AIDS clusters identified roles that they can play with regards to the UPR process and seeing to the implementation of recommendations made by other states.

With support from the United Nations Country Teams, the government analyzed and clustered recommendations, with a view of identifying priority issues and coming up with a National Plan of Action (NPA) for the implementation of the recommendations. The NPA distributes tasks among government ministries and departments and identifies the lead ministry or department for each action while stakeholders identify their role and come up with activities to support the implementation of the recommendations

Government and stakeholders adopted the NPA for the implementation of the UPR recommendations and created a monitoring mechanism, the UPR Steering Committee. The UPR Steering Committee is composed of government and stakeholder representatives, including CSOs. NANGO, the NGO Forum and ZLHR sit in the steering committee.

NANGO is mandated by its membership to coordinate the activities of NGOs, represent the NGO sector and strengthen the voice of NGOs in Zimbabwe. NANGO has taken on board the strategic objective of strengthening the voice of NGOs which speaks to the organisation’s role as the representative institution of the sector to government, the private sector and other stakeholders. In due course the conceptualisation of this mandate has metamorphosed in response to the demand for NANGO to operate at the helm of civil society through the coordination of various civil society responses to emerging issues in Zimbabwe. While playing the role of coordinating, NANGO does not only represent the interests of the NGO sector but also mobilises the sector to speak on critical issues and in speaking to formulate consensus based pragmatic responses to emerging issues.

3 Jun 2018

On Africa Day Nqobile Masuku Foundation donated wheelchairs, 100 crutches and 120 white canes to people with disabilities in Bulawayo.

The Executive Director of the Foundation, Nqobani Masuku, said he had always been moved by those people with disabilities who seemed to be neglected in societies and his dream was to help them so that they can actively and meaningfully participate in community development.

He said, “The reason we are donating wheelchairs, crutches and white canes is to allow people with disabilities to be active people in society and for them to be able to move from one place to another without any difficulties.”

The event was graced by the Minister of State for Bulawayo Province, Angelina Masuku who complimented the work of Nqobile Masuku Foundation stating that it was admirable for them to intervene in helping people with disability.

“We have to learn from this organisation that giving to the less fortunate is an important thing to do in our societies. We have to learn from their work that they are doing considering the difficulties in our country”, said Masuku.

The Mpopoma-Pelandaba Member of Parliament, Joe Tshuma was in support of the goodwill expressed by the Foundation as he praised their work. He applauded the organisation for taking such a drastic measure in helping the deprived in our societies.

“What Nqobani Masuku Foundation has done is very commendable and we should all be inspired, it is good to help people who are underprivileged,” Tshuma said.

The Councillor of Ward 13 Pelandaba, Lot Siziba was also at the Youth Arena and he described the work of Nqobani Foundation as masterclass.

Siziba said, “It is pure masterclass to see a young man such as Nqobani and his team do such amazing work. We would like to thank also Maternity and Newly Born Care and Mamio for assisting the foundation make this event a success.”

In addition, Anorld Munyikwa, a board member of the Bulawayo Disabled Development Trust thanked the foundation for helping his organisation’s beneficiaries.

One of the beneficiaries is a 11-year-old boy, Olert Nyoni, who has had to be carried by his mother Pretty Nyoni as they could not afford anything to aid his mobility.

Nyoni told NANGO Western Region staff that Olert has struggled to assosciate with his peers because he cannot play with other kids. She said she has always been pained to see the limitations that come with her son’s condition.

“Olert has been on a wheelchair for six years and he has never walked on his own because I could not afford to buy him crutches. We will always remember this moment because now he can learn to walk on his own,” Nyoni said.

Olert is among people with disabilities who benefited from the genorisity of Nqobile Masuku Foundation at Youth Arena Centre in Pelandaba.

According to the beneficiaries at the event, the donation of assistive and mobility devices by the Foundation has come as a divine intervention to them as they were facing challenges of moving around without assistance from their loved ones.

Siphathisiwe Nyathi, from Lobengula has had to be guided by her daughter at all times and was very grateful to receive a white cane as it allows to move around independently.

Nyathi commended the donation saying it was a breakthrough for visually impaired members of society and a big relief to many beneficiaries who could not afford these mobility devices.

A man who identified himself as Dixon Mudimba said words could not express his happiness after he was given a pair crutches, replacing his wooden hand-made cane.

By Lovejoy Phiri, NANGO Western Region

24 May 2018

Thirty-two representatives from government ministries and departments, members of the UPR steering committee, independent commissions, traditional leaders, parliamentarians, civil society organisations, labour and business, diplomatic community, United Nations Country Team and permanent secretaries of ministries leading implementation of cluster recommendations met at Crowne Plaza in Harare for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) stakeholders consultative meeting.  

The UPR is a human rights mechanism adopted by the United Nations (UN) to review the implementation of human rights in all the UN Member States once every four years. The UPR is a state driven process that provides the opportunity for each state to identify key human rights issues and challenges as well as to periodically declare what actions it has taken to improve human rights situations and fulfil human rights obligations.

Zimbabwe’s first review was contemplated in 2010 while the cycle started in 2011 and the final adoption of the recommendations was in March 2012.  The second cycle began in November 2016 and it was completed on 26 March 2017. Zimbabwe was given 260 recommendations and out of these, 151 were accepted while 103 were noted. 6 recommendations were partially supported and regarded as not a priority by the government.

The meeting concurred that strategic priorities towards improved promotion, respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights in Zimbabwe should include prioritisation of National Plan Action, disseminating tools to allow stakeholders to track implementations of the recommendations, effective coordination between stakeholders in the implementation of the UPR recommendations to avoid duplication and address funding challenges, spreading reach of UPR consultations to include rural areas, organising of more technical informal meetings between quarterly meetings in order to take stock of implementation as well as broadening implementation of recommendations and interrogating those that were not accepted.

Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) pledged to include UPR recommendations in their workplan and also to encourage ministries to take part in implementing recommendations. The meeting noted that there is need to hold wide consultations in a bid to achieve total abolishment of the death penalty. It was also stated that there is need to speed up realignment of key legislations and prepare explanatory circulars. Other prominent issues that the workshop brought out were strengthening the fight against impunity, registering and licensing community radio stations to enhance engagement of the nation in UPR processes, allocating adequate resources from the national budget for the UPR and regular monitoring of the UPR by stakeholders.

The various stakeholders that were present resolved three next steps. The steps are forging better coordination mechanisms in implementing the UPR processes, continuous holding of periodic meetings and encouraging donours to support implementation of the UPR recommendations.

Human Rights NGO Forum, National Association of Non-Governmental Organisation (NANGO) and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human rights (ZLHR) will be facilitating capacity building workshops for civil society organisations and community based organisations on the universal periodic review. The workshops will be held in Gweru, Bulawayo, Masvingo and Mutare from Tuesday to Friday next week, respectively.

The objectives of the workshops are to capacitate CSOs and CBOs to participate in the monitoring and implementation of accepted recommendations, to develop partnerships that help in coordination of better compiling of shadow reports and to Come up with a framework of preparing a report for the next cycle.

24 May 2018

The National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) commends the Zimbabwean government through the Ministry of Health and Child Care for acknowledging the essentiality of sunscreen lotions for people with albinism.

People with albinism have extremely sensitive skin and therefore need sunscreen lotion to protect them from ultraviolet rays of the sun. Unfortunately, import duty put on skin care products required by people with albinism makes the prices beyond the reach of many.

The Albino Trust Zimbabwe is lobbying for removal of import duty on sunscreen lotions used by people with albinism, however, ZIMRA is adamant in its claims that sunscreen lotion is a cosmetic not an essential drug.

To circumvent this barrier, Albino Trust Zimbabwe Director, Bruce Nyoni, has engaged a dermatologist and pharmacist to assist the organisation in manufacturing good quality sunscreen lotion that will be affordable to all people with albinism.

Nyoni told NANGO that most people with albinism are unemployed and some of them may not be qualified for formal employment as they fail to continue their education due to visual impairment.

Nyoni toured a sunscreen manufacturing plant in South Africa where he discovered that the end product is worth approximately US$2 whereas in Zimbabwe the same product is sold at an exorbitant price of $20 to $23. He also alleged that in the black market poor quality lotion is put in expensive containers and sold to unknowing people with albinism.

According to Nyoni the product that his organisation intends to manufacture will be tailor made to suit Zimbabwean weather as opposed to lotions that are imported from the diaspora which may not be effective under the Zimbabwean weather. 

The Albino Trust Zimbabwe feels that its pleas for consideration of sunscreen lotion as an essential drug have landed on deaf ears and have therefore come to the decision to raise funds and make a sunscreen lotion that will be affordable especially to Zimbabwean rural children with albinism.

The Albino Trust Zimbabwe is a youth led organisation that advocates for the rights and welfare of people with albinism. It helps people with albinism by sourcing and providing essentials such as sunscreen lotions, sunglasses, food and clothing items. The organisation has had campaigns for inclusion and access to education as well as against discrimination and stigma.

24 May 2018

The National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) stands in solidarity with six Zambian civil society members and activists that who are being charged with disobeying lawful orders after they held a protest last September demanding public accountability from their national government.

NANGO asserts that budgetary processes must prioritise betterment of the lives of ordinary people and also values transparency and accountability and commends any institution that holds public officials to account.

Through the peaceful protest, the six activists were demanding that the full public resource management processes that led to the purchase of the 42 fire trucks by the Zambian Ministry of Local Government at a cost of 42 million US dollars, be open to public scrutiny. The protest was held on the day that the then Minister of Finance, Felix Mutati, was presenting Zambia’s 2018 National Budget.

Under the Joint Action for Accountability in Zambia, Zambian civil society organisations issued a statement asserting that budgetary choice making and procurement process of the fire engines was imprudent and a form of mismanagement of public resources.

NANGO recommends that in order to improve macroeconomic policy formulation and implementation processes all governments should put in place platforms for participation by ordinary citizens like pre-budget consultations by both parliament and the Ministry of Finance.

NANGO is a non-party political, non-profit making organisation and non-denominational official coordinating body of NGOs in Zimbabwe. NANGO values participation. diversity, non-discrimination, equity, equality, engagement as well as transparency and accountability.

10 May 2018

The National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) has identified 30 members of parliament that make contributions regarding child development during parliamentary debates. Of these, five will be honored as Child Champions for the year 2017.

NANGO commends key individuals from parliament who have shown immense interest in child development. Through the Child Friendly National Budget Initiative (CFNBI), NANGO intends to advocate and lobby for more child friendly budget initiatives, inform the consigned child champions on the unexploited points of the Children Ten-Point Plan Plus and equip child champions with relevant knowledge and information in order for them to continue with effective lobby and advocacy for child friendly budgeting.

NANGO envisions a Zimbabwe where there is continued effective lobbying and advocacy for child friendly budget initiative by members of parliament and an enhanced child friendly budget in 2019 as a result of effective lobbying and advocacy.

Parliamentarians have a critical role of advancing child development and they can only do this effectively if they are sensitive to child issues. National assembly debates, which are sensitive to the development issues of children, are paramount in pushing for reforms that are critical in creating a nation providing children an opportunity to attain their full capacities.

With this in mind, NANGO with support from Save the Children and UNICEF, has been implementing the CFNBI whose main objective is to increase the level of and spaces for child participation in democratic development processes mainly policy planning and budgeting.

The CFNBI has been lobbying for increased public-sector investment in child friendly sectors such as education, health, child protection and social safety among others. Members of parliament were engaged by NANGO in a bid to sensitise and lobby them to champion child friendly policies and expenditures seeing as parliamentarians play the role of providing oversight on policy and legislative development as well as public expenditure management. The engagement process involved building the capacity and sensitization of parliamentarians so that they can effectively debate and lobby for the progressive realization of child rights.

Being an implementing partner of the CFNBI, NANGO facilitated the development of the Ten-Point Plan Plus with consultation from junior parliamentarians and counselors. The document is a lobbying and advocacy tool for children inclusivity in policy issues. The tool also includes issues specifically for and by children with disability. The Children Ten-Point Plan was used as a tool to influence the 2018 National Budget with specific issues towards child focused development. NANGO coordinated a post budget review with junior parliamentarians and it is pleasing to note that some of the issues raised or presented in the Children Ten-Point Plus were incorporated in the 2018 National budget.

Currently, child development issues are fragmented within various ministries coordinating piecemeal child development issues. These ministries include the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Ministry of Health and Child Care and Ministry of Home Affairs amongst others. Lack of a clear institutional framework that can act as a one stop shop for child development issues creates gaps which Parliament should address as they carry out their work.

Senior Social Policy, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Onias Munamati, (right) posing next to 

one of the child champions, Shamva South MP, Joseph Mapiki.   

10 May 2018

Harare civil society organisations that came together at a multi-stakeholder Conflict Management, Resolution and Transformation training that was hosted by the Non-State Actors Alliance (NSAA) identified socio-economic and political factors currently affecting Zimbabwe as probable factors of causing conflict.

Participants cited cash shortages, high unemployment rate, informal sector, escalating poverty levels and gender based violence as socio-economic factors that often cause conflict in communities. 

With regards to cash shortages, representatives of civil society said the root cause includes corruption, closure of companies, lack of political will, lack of confidence in the banking system and lack of foreign direct investment.

On the other hand, impending elections, just ended primary election, noting of voter registration slip serial numbers and splitting of main opposition political party were stated as examples of political conflict.

Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (ZIMCET) Coordinator, Michelle Duma, informed attendants that when there is conflict, people often see the world differently. The experiences, cultures, religions, sense of identity, perceptions, and beliefs of each individual or group help shape how the person or group feels and acts in the conflict.

“The frustration or denial of human needs and human rights leads to conflictual behaviour, a sense of trauma, and violence. Conflict occurs when people seek to satisfy their own needs at the expense of others. Some people believe that they have the right to meet their own needs at the expense of others,” she said.

Duma added that “For most people in response to conflict fighting is often the first instinct. There is an element of physical abuse and feelings being hurt needs not met, rights being violated and the need for total victory by involved parties causes violence to spread when it starts. Those watching tend to take sides and others join in depending on their interests.”

The meeting noted that as part of conflict management, resolution and transformation, peace building initiatives need to be intensified as conflict in communities often worsens during election periods. community members use the time to settle scores and seek vengeance for past offences.

3 May 2018

Fifteen female arts leaders from Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Swaziland and Zimbabwe have said there is need to strengthen advocacy in order to bring out issues affecting women in the creative sector.

The diverse group of women agreed that in order to develop the creative industry, the sector should have broader representation and have a mandate that will serve the interests of the entire sector. They said this is reliant on effective advocacy.

Maxim Murungweni, the Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children Programmes Manager, encouraged the women in arts leadership to improve their advocacy strategies.

“Advocacy is a structured process, it’s different from campaigning and activism. Women in arts are raising genuine issues but if they do not know who to direct their concerns to they won’t get desired solutions,” said Murungweni.

He emphasised that arts leaders should not waste their time on people that do not have the power to influence decisions.

The female leaders in arts and culture were also enlightened on the importance of advocacy communication and the importance of improving the visibility of their organisations.

Nokholo Mhluzani, the Senior Communications and Visibility Officer at NANGO, informed the female leaders on the importance of matching advocacy strategies to communication tactics.

“There is a lot of advocacy out there and creators need to establish how they add to the landscape. There is need to figure out how communication of those in the creative industry adds value,” she said.

Mhluzani reminded the female leaders that women already receive very low print and broadcast media coverage so they need to embrace cyber space and use it to grow their brands.

Florence Mukanga-Majachani, an artist and independent researcher, said “In developing women in the arts there is need to consult them. If development goes ahead of culture it will fail, disregarding women is counterproductive.”

Mukanga-Majachani further went to quote the Agenda 2063 which calls for “An Africa where development is people driven, unleashing the potential of women and youth.”

She highlighted how the Agenda 2063 calls on African countries to value the input of women and youth.

Zimbabwe Arterial Network hosted the three-day intensive workshop targeting emerging and established arts leaders within non-profit cultural organisations and private enterprises at the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA).

The female artists were trained under the Non-State Actors Alliance (NSAA) which has a mandate of downstream training of non-state actors and NANGO members. NANGO has an arts and culture sector and envisions a time when the government and other stakeholders will recognise arts and culture as positive and effective vehicles for national development.

Maxim Murungweni presenting on advocacy

The Zimbabwe Economic Policy Analysis and Research Unit (ZEPARU) is undertaking a study on assessment of the macroeconomic policy formulation and implementation processes in Zimbabwe. The study’s main objective is to assess the current economic policy making and implementation processes.

NANGO, as a critical stakeholder in the macroeconomic policy formulation and implementation processes, made a presentation on the need to raise awareness and increase public participation in policy formulation, avail key policy documents to the public and strengthen oversight institutions.

The Corruption Perception Index indicates that Zimbabwe scored of 22 points out of a hundred and ranks 157 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries. It must be appreciated that public participation and transparency in macroeconomic policy formulation and implementation can help improve credibility of government.

NANGO recommends that in order to improve macroeconomic policy formulation and implementation processes the government should put in place platforms for participation by ordinary citizens like pre-budget consultations by both parliament and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Empowerment.

Platforms for dialogue should allow for participation of marginalised groups, venues should be accessible for people with disabilities, dates should accommodate children in schools and policy makers should access the hard to reach areas all in the spirit of leaving no one behind. Notices should be given in time and sufficient information on the objectives of the meeting should be communicated so that citizens prepare themselves.

Parliament and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Empowerment should utilize social media and feedback from website postings to get real time input from citizens.

The Zimbabwean government should also increase availability of key policy documents to the public. Websites should be used as a platform for publishing information. There should also be mechanisms and partnerships that enable reach to remote areas.

Information should be packaged in a way that is citizen friendly and can be understood by the general public as with citizen budgets. The information should be published in time for citizens to add their input in the process. Government is discouraged from publishing the proposed budget document after it has been approved.

NANGO also noted that the auditor general and parliament’s capacity to play its oversight role in the macroeconomic policy formulation and implementation should be enhanced. There is need to identify best practices in ensuring that the auditor general’s office is independent from the government. Another strategy that NANGO recommended as a way of strengthening oversight institutions is identifying challenges, even within current legislation, being faced by the auditor general’s office in playing its oversight role effectively.

The inception workshop for the study was held at Holiday Inn Hotel on 17 April 2018 and its purpose was to raise awareness and to gather insights of key players on how the study can address challenges in the macroeconomic policy formulation and implementation processes in Zimbabwe. The study to be conducted by ZEPARU is funded by the African Capacity Building Foundation.