InfocusNews 05 August 2022
share more after our assessment,” said Malandu. “Our hope is that the Government will release more funds so that these projects are complete because our people have suffered so long, it’s been close to two years without access to water.”
Government urged to release funds for Tuli-Manyame Dam
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he Matabeleland South District Development Fund Provincial Coordinator Moment Malandu has called the Government to release funds that will help complete the Tuli- Manyange dam set to address the town’s perennial water problems. A majority of residents have gone for weeks without water and those with livestock are in fear that the water challenges may lead to the death of their animals. The completion of the construction of Tuli-Manyange Dam is expected to address the perennial water problems in Gwanda District. Once complete, the 35 million cubic metre-dam is expected to provide irrigation water for communities in Gwanda, which will
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boost food security. Tuli-Manyange Dam is expected to address the perennial water problems in Gwanda District. It is envisaged that once Tuli-Manyange Dam is complete, at least 2 000 hectares will be put under irrigation. The dam is also set to serve Vela, Guyu Business Centre, Ntalale Business Centre, Chelesa Business Centre, Sizhubane Barracks, Manama Mission and Business Centre, Sebasa and Mankonkoni irrigation schemes. “We’re going to assess progress at Gungwe Dam next week to do an assessment and then appeal for funding from the Government and the WASH sector. We’re aware of the problem and I’ll only be able to
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In an interview Zinzile Ndebele said the promise to have the dam complete was made a long time ago and the Government must own up. “We have been waiting for some time and sadly our livestock may not make it since we received low rainfall last time. Besides this, we also do not have water for everyday use which further exposes us to diseases since the only functional boreholes are located far from us,” said Ndebele. Aggy Mlambo said the water crisis was affecting a number of businesses in the centre as well. “We have struggled to have water for the past two years and currently we cannot even continue in some business transactions. I think ZINWA should treat this as a matter of urgency as everything will end up crumbling if nothing is done. We have been forced to pay for a service that is never there and the Government should intervene and ensure we have access to water, it’s very basic and essential,” she said.
InfocusNews Dr Tobias Guzura illustrated that, ‘there is need for Citizens to work together so as to achieve a common cause though Advocacy and lobbying. He further outlined that ‘citizen participation requires an informed citizen, empowered citizen and a citizen who is conscious of their rights and obligations.’
Citizens trained on advocacy and lobbying
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On the 27th of July 2022, Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) in collaboration with the Public Policy and Research Institute Zimbabwe (PPRIZ) conducted a training for 25 Local Participation Champions in Bulawayo. The training was designed with the aim to strengthen citizens ‘capacity to actively participate in public decision making and demand quality service delivery, call for improved public resource management and ensure that public officials are accountable to the people.
various social media tools they can use to engage other citizens so that they actively participate and deliberate on critical issues affecting them from the vantage point of their communities. During the training the facilitator,
The training also sought to provide citizens with information on the importance of citizen participation through sharing of concepts such as advocacy, lobbying, community mobilization, engaging election officials, knowing about the Commissions they can engage. The 25 participants who attended the Training were also taken through facebook.com/wildtrustzim |
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One of the participants stated that when advocating, it is not the magnitude of a campaign that matters but the impact of the campaign. Dr Guzura further concurred with the participant stating that the messaging of your campaign and the target audience matters. Furthermore, Dr Guzura elaborated that there is need for citizens to know the mandate of commissions that exist, inquire on the work of the Commissions, contribute to the work that they do and support their work by regularly engaging and working with each other so as to complement each other’s efforts.
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InfocusNews pose specific legislation, but rather informs the community at large how public policy decisions impact service provision. “Social media involvement demonstrates how social media gives people the power to hold authorities accountable and transparent” said one of the participants.
Umzingwane Residents Association Chairperson Gift Ndlela said “The duty bearers should always consult us before any decision is made. We as citizens should be on the forefront in all decisions that affects us as citizens”
During the activity, local participating champions were equipped with necessary tools and knowledge on how to input in policy making, take a leading role in advocacy issues and engage their duty bearers so as to demand people-oriented services delivery. “It is your right as citizens to self-organise and facilitate engagement with duty bearers because they represent you as citizens” said Busani Ncube. The training was guided by the training manual termed “Citizen Participation” Training Manual which was developed by CEEA project consortium partners who include Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD), Public Policy and Research Institute of Zimbabwe (PPRIZ), Community Podium, Gweru United Progressive Residents and Rate Payers Development Association (GUPRARDA), Youth Invest, Makokoba Development, DeSAZ and Esigodini Residents Association.
The facilitator also managed to unpack how citizens can use social media to advocate for improved decision-making processes reiterating the need to stay apolitical when advocating or lobbying for specific issues.
Citizens were also educated about advocacy and lobbying in an effort to inform and raise awareness of issues facing the community and the need of aligning public policy to address the need among politicians and the general public.
Umzingwane residents capacitated on civic engagement
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omen’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) in partnership with Public Policy Research Institute for Zimbabwe (PPRIZ) conducted a citizen participation training which focused on capacitating citizens with necessary information to actively participate in developmental issues and civic engagement in their communities. Speaking during the engagement Busani Ncube who was also the Facilitator said “It takes knowledgeable, organized, engaged, and nonviolent citizen participation to ensure that government genuinely serves the public interest.” “The term citizen has a political connotation that indicates a particular kind of interaction between the populace and the government” said Ncube
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The right to take part in decisions that influence the welfare of the public is one of the rights and duties that citizens have. Participation drives democratic and socioeconomic progress and is a crucial means of empowering citizens, in addition to having inherent democratic worth.
“Advocacy does not endorse or op-
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Opportunities & Scholarships CLIFF-GRADS FELLOWSHIP
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he Climate, Food and Farming, Global Research Alliance Development Scholarships (CLIFFGRADS) Programme invites applications from PHD students from developing countries for short term scientific training and research on the measurement, modelling and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, or carbon storage in agricul-
tural systems relevant to developing countries. Grants of $12,000 USD will be awarded to PhD students from developing countries for research stays that will be completed before the end of 2024.
Eligibility Criteria Individuals applying for the Programme must be citizens of developing countries , be undertaking their PhD in a University in a developing country and must not have previously been awarded a CLIFF-GRADS grant.
C l i c k H e r e To A p p l y
Applications for 2023/2024 Chevening Scholarships are now open!
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hevening is the UK government’s international scholarships programme. Funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
Office and partner organisations, we offer awards to study in the UK
C l i c k H e r e To A p p l y security, nutrition, gastronomy and more to facilitate agrifood systems transformation. This year’s special award is centered around the 2022 theme: Healthy Diets. Healthy Planet.
Call for entries WFF 2022: Submit your short film
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ow is the time to submit your short film! WFF is looking for inspiring stories, both fiction and non-fiction, that will trigger a positive impact in the areas of food facebook.com/wildtrustzim |
for one year on a fully funded master’s degree course.
For this short film competition, the WFF is looking for filmmakers who will: raise awareness of, and create greater interest in, issues relating to agrifood systems, such as food security, healthy diets, planet friendly agriculture, food supply chain imperfections, food loss and waste, sustainable packaging, the impact of the agrifood sector on people’s lives, sustainable socio-economic development and more; promote new and innovative solutions to address the challenges facing agrifood systems; and/or celebrate the work of inspiring
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people who, from farm to fork, participate in making healthy food available on everyone’s plates. Who can take part The call is open to aspiring and established filmmakers aged 18 to 40 years old from any nationality upon acceptance of the Terms and Conditions. Rules and regulations Submission dates and deadlines: Submissions will be accepted from 18:00 (CEST) on Friday, 27 May 2022 until 18:00 (CEST) on Monday, 29 August 2022. Film eligibility (content and format): Submissions (either fiction or documentary) should be between 5 and 30 minutes long and are limited to one per individual entrant. In
Opportunities & Scholarships addition, they should have a focus on agrifood systems. Films submitted must be a final, edited product; sound-mixed, colour-graded and optimized for online streaming. Rough cuts are not accepted. Films shot with smartphones are accepted. Film eligibility (production): You must own all the rights to the film. Films accepted can be either:
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original productions developed for this competition, or existing productions made between 2019 and 2022. Film eligibility (language): Films in English or in original language with mandatory English subtitles are accepted.
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Where to submit: Films should be submitted through the FilmFreeway WFF Film Competition website in the following format: 720p H264 mp4. If your film is selected you will be requested to submit a high-definition file.
C l i c k H e r e To A p p l y
2022 Photo Contest
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hrough photography, you can be part of something big: helping save our planet.
Share your photos that show the world the beauty of biodiversity,
the value of ecosystems and the resilience of people. Enter your wildlife, landscape and other nature photos in this contest from August 1 through August 31, 2022.
C l i c k H e r e To A p p l y
2022 Call for Applications
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he Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund was established in 2012, with generous support from The ALBORADA Trust. The Fund supports pairs of researchers (post-doctoral level and above) from the University of Cambridge (or an affiliated institution such as the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, NIAB and British Antarctic Survey) and sub-Saharan African institutions, across all disciplines, to initiate and/or strengthen research collaborations. To date, more than 260 awards have been made, to enable Cambridge researchers to engage with African colleagues from 31 African countries. Some awardees have been able to use the preliminary facebook.com/wildtrustzim |
results from their seed fund / research collaboration to apply for and win significant funding (e.g. Royal Society/Leverhulme Awards, Global Challenges Research Fund, etc.). The Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund competitively awards grants of between £1,000 and £20,000, for: research costs (such as reagents, fieldwork and equipment) research-related travel between Cambridge and Africa (bearing in mind feasibility of travel due to COVID restrictions) conducting research training activities in Africa (e.g. setting up
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courses/workshops). Please read carefully the Terms & Conditions including eligibility criteria, before applying. Should you be successful in receiving a Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund award, then the types of award letters that would need to be signed by the Cambridge and African PI are shown here Particularly note that the ALBORADA Research Fund cannot pay for overheads, PI salaries, administration costs, bench fees or for researchers to attend conferences.
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Electoral Information Blitz is polling station based where one can only vote in the place where they are registered,” said Harris. “Therefore our request is a simple one, to have Section 73 of the Electoral Act amended and allow journalists, who will be on national duty covering the elections and electoral process an opportunity to also do postal voting.” Harris added that journalists do qualify for that opportunity as the work they do is essential.
Bulawayo Journalists petition Parly on postal voting
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ournalists have called on Parliamentarians to consider amending the Electoral Act to enable members of the Fourth Estate to do postal voting as they normally miss out while on national duty.
cies,” reads the petition.
The petition by Bulawayo-based Lulu Brenda Harris and Mandla Tshuma was handed to the Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda before being referred to the portfolio committee on justice, legal and parliamentary affairs.
“Currently the electoral law only allows postal voting for members of the security services, diplomats, and other government employees, including their spouses but excludes journalists, which we think discriminates against those who really want to vote but cannot due to the nature of their work.
It reads “The country’s laws only allow postal voting for members of the security services and other government employees (including their spouses) while turning a blind eye to media practitioners who during polls are deployed to cover elections outside their constituen-
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In an interview, Harris said the discriminatory nature of electoral laws has resulted in journalists failing to exercise their democratic right to vote in previous elections.
“Voting is everyone’s right but on Election day, deployments to various places, outside our constituencies robs some journalists of their chance and right to vote. As you are aware, voting in Zimbabwe
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“As you know, the government also declared journalists as essential service providers whose role of providing the information is very necessary,” added Harris. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) is on record calling for the extension of postal voting and special voting to cover other persons who are eligible to vote but are not presently within the categories stated in the law. “It is recommended that as a security measure, tamper-proof envelopes should be used in postal voting to prevent fraudulent activity. It is reasoned that just as the state has made special procedures for those who cannot be physically present on government business or because of duties on polling days it must also account for the voting rights of those who cannot be present for any other legitimate reason including but not limited to old age, physical incapacity or generally ill-health,” said ZESN.
Electoral Information Blitz satisfied with how the commission has captured them,” said Comm Mangwana. “Also, in a sample this big, if 50 percent were able to check their details, it means one in two registered voters were able to check the voters’ roll. This is very good considering the huge sample size of the population,” said Comm Mangwana.
Voters’ Roll has less than 1percent errors -ZEC
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HE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has said less than one percent errors were identified in the country’s voters’ roll during an inspection which came to an end last week.
the voters’ roll and ZEC said
ZEC conducted polling station-based voter inspection exercises from July 17 to July 26 ahead of ward and constituency delimitation later this year.
ZEC spokesperson commissioner Jasper Mangwana said the voters’ roll inspection figures were very impressive while the low number of errors confirms the credibility of the register.
The inspection exercise, done physically at verification centres that were set up by ZEC across the country or online, was meant to allow voters to check whether they were appearing on the roll and if their details were captured correctly. At least 2,9 million from the 5,8 million registered voters inspected
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In an update the electoral body said close to 790 000 registered voters physically visited the inspection centres while 2,1 million checked their registration details online.
“Delimitation Voters Roll inspection turnout was 50.03% with 2,904,253 voters out of 5,804,497 inspecting their details during the inspection period. As ZEC we are happy with voter inspection statistics considering that 50,03 percent of people who are registered as voters were able to inspect their registration details and were
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In preparation for the delimitation exercise and subsequent elections, ZEC conducted a voter registration blitz in February and April this year. The voter registration blitz was part of several pre-election activities that ZEC and other relevant stakeholders have lined up in preparation for the 2023 polls. Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (ZimSTAT) has revealed that Zimbabwe’s population has increased by 16.2% and now stands at 15.1 million people from the 13 million people in the last census in 2012. The 2022 census was the first digital census to be conducted in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) conducted the census from 21 to 30 April this year and was successfully conducted in spite of delays caused by COVID-19 movement restrictions. These statistics will inform the delimitation process and Matabeleland provinces are set to lose some of its constituencies due to low voter registration figures.
Electoral Information Blitz
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Electoral Information Blitz
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Electoral Information Blitz
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