At Envision, we understand that conflict is a normal part of life, however violence is not. That’s why we are working to make peace the go-to when disagreements arise, rather than aggression and violence.
Our Conflict Transformation (CT) programme aims to change the way people deal with conflict at all levels of society. We know that change starts with the individual, and that when individuals change their mindset we see an undeniable ripple effect across communities and society as a whole.
The CT programme uses a multi-faceted approach to change the way communities and structures deal with conflict, by starting with the individual. This approach includes the police services, traditional leaders, and ordinary members of the community, and begins with facilitating interaction within divided communities, including the holding of dialogue engagement meetings.
Work with the police force
Since 2010, we have been partnering with the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) in working to end a culture of violence at both the national and community levels in Zimbabwe. We have conducted various trainings and dialogue for the police services, including through the Police Women’s Network. In addition, and as way of improving relations between the police and communities they serve, we have been working at creating platforms for closer cooperation between the police, traditional leaders and communities.
Work with traditional leaders
Elections are turbulent times in Zimbabwe, leading to the abuse of power and authority, and the manipulation of votes. Our work with Traditional Leaders aims to ensure they are acting as custodians of peace in their communities, and this is particularly important around election periods.
In the lead up to the 2018 elections, 90 Traditional Leaders participated in a workshop, which covered topics such as leadership, women’s rights, gender and violence prevention during election periods. Focus group discussions showed that Traditional Leaders were encouraging their people to vote peacefully and not to perpetrate violence. Most notably, ther were no reports of violence and intimidation tactics during the elections in Hurungwe, yet surrounding neighbourhoods where Envision is not working reported significant levels of violence and intimidation.
“I am a village head, and I had experience in intimidating people during previous elections in support of certain political parties. We used to be asked to gather our people during voting and record names of those who voted, and then vote together with people from your village. However this time I did not gather my village to vote at the same time and record their names. I chose not to push people around. As leaders we have choices to make and I made my choice not to force people to go and vote under my watch so I can pass information to the politicians. We have to take back our power from politicians and not allow them to use us, we are the custodians of our land.” – Workshop participant
