The Zimbabwe Initiative
Zimbabwe

Project Team

Partners

• The Rotary Foundation
• Various church groups (approximately 80% of Zimbabweans are affiliated with some congregation)1
• The Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (about 200 church organizations)
• Zimbabwe Council of Churches
• Catholic Commission for Peace and Justice
• Legal Resource Center
• Zimbabwe Commission for Peace and Justice
• Parliamentarians Forum for Zimbabwe
• African peace and Conflict Network, Nova Southeastern University
• African Center for Dispute Settlement (Barney Jordan)
• Organization of Rural African People, Western Zimbabwe (Dumi Nyoni)
• Zimbabwe Progress Fund, Harare (Rose Mazuia)
  
  

Executive Summary

After the civil wars in Zimbabwe that lasted over 20 years ended in 1980, Robert Mugabe, current President of Zimbabwe, emerged as the nation’s leader. To this day, the country is in dire humanitarian and economic crisis, currently facing unstable banking system, widespread food shortages and cholera outbreaks.

Launched in February 2009 after 8 months of development, The Zimbabwe Initiative seeks to assist civil society in Zimbabwe with preparing for a peaceful transition and developing internal capacity for solving the most pressing humanitarian challenges.

The Initiative comprises of 3 individual yet interconnected programmatic stages that will be implemented over a three-year period in cooperation with local, national and international organizations that are present in the regionsequential stages:

1. Development of a Civil Society Network to facilitate and enhance communication
2. Conflict Resolution Training Program to train core stakeholder groups in mediation and facilitation skills
   
3. Public Dialogue/Consensus-Building Program to stimulate constructive dialogue at the local level

The Project Team is in need of assistance with research and fundraising. To join or find out more about this initiative, please contact Sharon Maier. 

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