Description of selected partners:

Wadzanai Community Development Association is one of five voluntary community based organizations (CBO) that NPA works with. Wadzanai organises women in Chinamora communal lands. It operates with income generating groups in seven wards in Goromonzi district and promotes development, and community participation in which women take a meaningful leading role. Presently Wadzanai has a membership of 25 groups with 280 members. It maintains membership in Women’s Bureau, one of NPAs former partners. The other CBOs are located in Nyanga and Mutoko district, but their work and objectives are similar to Wadzanai.

The Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations was founded in 2002 by a group of 22 Informal Traders Associations who desired to have an apex body for this massive (80% of the Zimbabwean Economy) sector, which paradoxically had a weak voice and is vulnerable. The formation of this apex body was a result of a tripartite agreement between the ZCTU (Labour) EMCOZ (Business) and Ministry of Labour (Government) in response to the collapsing and shrinking formal structures as a result of economic restructuration policies. The objective was to harness these precarious operations and seek means and strategies that will facilitate mainstreaming of the Informal Economy with a view to empowering them socially and economically.

Zimbabwe Project Trust - ZimPro is a local Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) established in London in 1979 as an information centre for the war of liberation, which was taking place in Zimbabwe then. Upon independence in 1980, it relocated to Zimbabwe where it was locally registered in 1982. ZimPro’s long-term developmental objective is to contribute towards poverty eradication by promoting sustainable community based programmes. Although its major focus is on long-term development, it has been responding to emergencies since 1982 when the country experienced severe drought. In Matabeleland South it started humanitarian work providing supplementary feeding to primary schools in 2002.  Our partnership dates back to more than 20 years.

Zimrights is a grassroots membership-based organisation founded in terms of constitution in 1991 and registered in 1993. Currently it has 6000 members countrywide. The organisation’s mission is to promote, protect and defend human rights in Zimbabwe through\gh networking, education programs, publications, legal aid and lobbying. The organisation has observer status with the African Commission on human and People’s Rights and affiliated to or member of other African and regional HR bodies. NPA’s cooperated with Zimrights 1995 until 1999 and re-established partnership in 2008.

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition is a conglomeration of more than 350 organisations that work in the domain of human rights, democracy and governance in Zimbabwe.  The Coalition was conceived in August 2001. It seeks to interrogate the policies of the current regime and to develop alternative policy formulation processes and policies. It also seeks to capacitate its member organisations and to cover the information gap. It intends to develop a road map to guide CS‘s work for the next four year.

Bulawayo Agenda was established in 2002. It is committed to providing a platform for different views of people through public meetings, workshops, seminars and conferences. They undertake their work by engaging debate on topical and current affairs and by engaging the media and civic society to promote public rights to fair and accurate information and freedom of expression.

Bulawayo Agenda has conducted various public meetings and conferences as a means of advocating for the upliftment of the voices of the citizens of Zimbabwe. They view dialogue as an instrumental tool for development.

The National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (NANGO) (PVO 221/68) is the umbrella coordinating body of over 1000 NGOs operating in Zimbabwe.  It is registered to coordinate, organize and promote the participation of NGOs in the social, economic and political development of children, men and women in Zimbabwe.  NANGO has over 45 years experience in advocacy, capacity building, mobilization for collective action and coordination of civil society organizations (CSOs) operating in Zimbabwe.

Youth Initiative for Democracy (YIDEZ) is a youth organisation that was founded in 2006 and motivated by the idea that young people are the custodians of good governance in any society and their full participation will transform those communities into peaceful free ones. Participation in YIDEZ context is based on community transformation through action. YIDEZ believes that participation of young people should go beyond just being seen at platforms created either by political parties or civil society.

Youth Achievement Soccer Development (YASD) is a non-profit making community based organisation which uses soccer as a medium to reach children with messages of self confidence, HIV prevention, awareness on child abuse and other child protection related activities. It was established in January 2005 and works primarily with disadvantaged children, predominantly those affected by Operation Murambatsvina. YASD is situated in Hatcliffe, one of the many deprived high-density suburbs in Harare, about 21km away from the City Centre.

Young Voices (YVN) in Zimbabwe is a NPA network of formal and informal groups of young people. Currently it consists of 6 members (Youth Ahead Zimbabwe, Rovambira, Hatcliffe, Kuwanzana, SHAPE and YODAT). It was established as a consequence of an NPA initiative prior to 2004.  YVN organised a national youth hearing in 2007 and participates in the regional youth hearing to take place in South Africa 28 November. 

Zimbabwe Women Lawyers for Human Rights (ZWLA) is a non-profit making membership organization that was founded by female lawyers in 1995 to assist women and children to access the justice delivery system.  ZWLA was active in lobbying for new inheritance laws that made the surviving spouse and children, the primary beneficiaries of an estate; the Sexual Offences Act that criminalised the wilful transmission of HIV as well as recognised marital rape; and in the enactment of the Domestic Violence Act, among other laws. 

Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) was established by a group of organizations (church and HR groups) in 2000 to document breaches of peace and provide peace building through a factual, dynamic and thematic ICP based Human Rights Monitoring system, disseminated to policy makers and stakeholders. Activities are research, documentation and information dissemination.

The Women’s Trust was established in 2000. It works to develop a critical mass of women who can articulate issues and effect changes in their organisations. The organisation also provides training that addresses organisational needs in terms of institutional capacity building for gender mainstreaming. They offer a process approach to gender training that includes follow up through monitoring and advice for greater impact.

Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) is a non-governmental organization with members in 11 of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries. Officially launched in September 1992, MISA focuses primarily on the need to promote free, independent and pluralistic media , as envisaged in the 1991 Windhoek Declaration. MISA seeks ways in which to promote the free flow of information and co-operation between media workers, as a principal means of nurturing democracy and human rights in Africa. NPA cooperates with its branch in Zimbabwe.