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Zimbabwe

LESSON

Lesson Learned: Advocating for Community Radio in Zimbabwe

Currently, there are no existing national platforms such as conferences and symposia. which provide annual or bi-annual spaces to amplify the voices of Community Radio Initiatives.
Project Partner
Amnesty International Zimbabwe
Project Description
The project will advocate for licensing community radio institutions in Zimbabwe. This will be achieved by means of: (a) coordinated civil society stakeholders and citizens advocacy and petitioning the Government and its related institutions through a united and strong effort; (b) policy and regulatory review and reform of community broadcasting and the process required for licensing; and (c) developing the capacity of 10 target community radio institutions (CRIs) for licensing.
Evaluation Date
December 2020
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Advocating for Community Radio in Zimbabwe

Community Radio Initiatives cannot survive in isolation and detached from broader national structure. It is critical that they foster memoranda of agreement with journalism training universities to sharpen their capacity and benefit from exchanges.
Project Partner
Amnesty International Zimbabwe
Project Description
The project will advocate for licensing community radio institutions in Zimbabwe. This will be achieved by means of: (a) coordinated civil society stakeholders and citizens advocacy and petitioning the Government and its related institutions through a united and strong effort; (b) policy and regulatory review and reform of community broadcasting and the process required for licensing; and (c) developing the capacity of 10 target community radio institutions (CRIs) for licensing.
Evaluation Date
December 2020
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Advocating for Community Radio in Zimbabwe

Human rights education remains a pertinent area for intervention in Zimbabwe, and community radio is a critical tool for pursuing this noble cause. The Zimbabwean government takes advantage of limited rights knowledge among marginalized communities for political expedience.
Project Partner
Amnesty International Zimbabwe
Project Description
The project will advocate for licensing community radio institutions in Zimbabwe. This will be achieved by means of: (a) coordinated civil society stakeholders and citizens advocacy and petitioning the Government and its related institutions through a united and strong effort; (b) policy and regulatory review and reform of community broadcasting and the process required for licensing; and (c) developing the capacity of 10 target community radio institutions (CRIs) for licensing.
Evaluation Date
December 2020
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Advocating for Community Radio in Zimbabwe

During field visits, it was clear that the role of Community Radio Initiatives as bearers of local languages, identities, and cultures is crucial for the growth and recognition of Community Radio Initiatives. Branding can help improve their visibility. With little visible branding, community buy-in might not be as high as that which could be possible.
Project Partner
Amnesty International Zimbabwe
Project Description
The project will advocate for licensing community radio institutions in Zimbabwe. This will be achieved by means of: (a) coordinated civil society stakeholders and citizens advocacy and petitioning the Government and its related institutions through a united and strong effort; (b) policy and regulatory review and reform of community broadcasting and the process required for licensing; and (c) developing the capacity of 10 target community radio institutions (CRIs) for licensing.
Evaluation Date
December 2020
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Promoting Human Rights through Providing Access to Information for Marginalized Women in Zimbabwe

It is important to note that the project benefited from the perceived neutrality of UNDEF as a UN agency donor. In the sensitive context of Zimbabwe in relation to the media, the grantee noted that the fact that the project was funded by a UN agency helped local authority accept it and even buy into it.
Project Partner
Media Centre
Project Description
The project had four objectives: to increase and improve gender-sensitive media coverage of issues affecting women in marginalized communities, in traditional/mainstream media in Zimbabwe; to create tools and use non-traditional media to disseminate and exchange information; to increase the capacity of marginalized women to use social media to access human rights information and freely express themselves on political, social, economic and cultural issues; and to increase marginalized women’s participation in policy dialogues and decision-making in target communities. The project was implemented in 10 communities across Zimbabwe and was designed to benefit over 7,000 women through activities including training of citizens journalists, and professional journalists in gender-sensitive reporting; the production of phone-in radio programmes; mentoring of student journalists; and use of Internet-based platforms for sharing information. The project was based on a good analysis of the gender inequalities faced by marginalized women in relation to access to information, awareness of their rights and exercise of political participation. Nevertheless, the project’s relevance was marred by its overambitious design and a lack of prioritization among its various objectives and approaches.
Evaluation Date
November 2015
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Promoting Human Rights through Providing Access to Information for Marginalized Women in Zimbabwe

The project’s planned SMS platform was overtaken by the use of social networks, partly because more participating women had access to smartphones than was originally expected at project planning stage, and partly because of usage costs: text messaging was significantly more expensive than the data subscription allowing access to the Internet and the use of WhatsApp and Facebook.
Project Partner
Media Centre
Project Description
The project had four objectives: to increase and improve gender-sensitive media coverage of issues affecting women in marginalized communities, in traditional/mainstream media in Zimbabwe; to create tools and use non-traditional media to disseminate and exchange information; to increase the capacity of marginalized women to use social media to access human rights information and freely express themselves on political, social, economic and cultural issues; and to increase marginalized women’s participation in policy dialogues and decision-making in target communities. The project was implemented in 10 communities across Zimbabwe and was designed to benefit over 7,000 women through activities including training of citizens journalists, and professional journalists in gender-sensitive reporting; the production of phone-in radio programmes; mentoring of student journalists; and use of Internet-based platforms for sharing information. The project was based on a good analysis of the gender inequalities faced by marginalized women in relation to access to information, awareness of their rights and exercise of political participation. Nevertheless, the project’s relevance was marred by its overambitious design and a lack of prioritization among its various objectives and approaches.
Evaluation Date
November 2015
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Promoting Human Rights through Providing Access to Information for Marginalized Women in Zimbabwe

The project did not fully reflect on the strategic implications of supporting citizen journalists or bloggers. In at least some locations, professional journalists perceived citizen journalists as competitors, and there were reciprocal accusations of plagiarism and misuse of images, pitting bloggers/citizen journalists against professional journalists. The concerns expressed on both sides were made sharpened by the very precarious economic situation of many journalists, professional and citizen alike.
Project Partner
Media Centre
Project Description
The project had four objectives: to increase and improve gender-sensitive media coverage of issues affecting women in marginalized communities, in traditional/mainstream media in Zimbabwe; to create tools and use non-traditional media to disseminate and exchange information; to increase the capacity of marginalized women to use social media to access human rights information and freely express themselves on political, social, economic and cultural issues; and to increase marginalized women’s participation in policy dialogues and decision-making in target communities. The project was implemented in 10 communities across Zimbabwe and was designed to benefit over 7,000 women through activities including training of citizens journalists, and professional journalists in gender-sensitive reporting; the production of phone-in radio programmes; mentoring of student journalists; and use of Internet-based platforms for sharing information. The project was based on a good analysis of the gender inequalities faced by marginalized women in relation to access to information, awareness of their rights and exercise of political participation. Nevertheless, the project’s relevance was marred by its overambitious design and a lack of prioritization among its various objectives and approaches.
Evaluation Date
November 2015
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Promoting Human Rights through Providing Access to Information for Marginalized Women in Zimbabwe

The project document did not explicitly prioritize the identified needs from the point of view of marginalized women. As a result, despite the sound analysis, the project’s relevance was hampered by a tendency to spread activities too thinly across a broad range of issues. The project was trying to address many different problems, all genuine concerns, but ones that could not all be addressed effectively on the project’s financial resources.
Project Partner
Media Centre
Project Description
The project had four objectives: to increase and improve gender-sensitive media coverage of issues affecting women in marginalized communities, in traditional/mainstream media in Zimbabwe; to create tools and use non-traditional media to disseminate and exchange information; to increase the capacity of marginalized women to use social media to access human rights information and freely express themselves on political, social, economic and cultural issues; and to increase marginalized women’s participation in policy dialogues and decision-making in target communities. The project was implemented in 10 communities across Zimbabwe and was designed to benefit over 7,000 women through activities including training of citizens journalists, and professional journalists in gender-sensitive reporting; the production of phone-in radio programmes; mentoring of student journalists; and use of Internet-based platforms for sharing information. The project was based on a good analysis of the gender inequalities faced by marginalized women in relation to access to information, awareness of their rights and exercise of political participation. Nevertheless, the project’s relevance was marred by its overambitious design and a lack of prioritization among its various objectives and approaches.
Evaluation Date
November 2015
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Promoting Human Rights through Providing Access to Information for Marginalized Women in Zimbabwe

The grantee presented the project as a partnership with three other NGOs and a private commercial radio station. The partners clearly brought added value to the proposal because they had long-standing experience working with women in the project areas. However, the partners had been insufficiently involved in the design of the project, and that they were presented with a set of activities to implement but had had little say in defining the project’s strategy.
Project Partner
Media Centre
Project Description
The project had four objectives: to increase and improve gender-sensitive media coverage of issues affecting women in marginalized communities, in traditional/mainstream media in Zimbabwe; to create tools and use non-traditional media to disseminate and exchange information; to increase the capacity of marginalized women to use social media to access human rights information and freely express themselves on political, social, economic and cultural issues; and to increase marginalized women’s participation in policy dialogues and decision-making in target communities. The project was implemented in 10 communities across Zimbabwe and was designed to benefit over 7,000 women through activities including training of citizens journalists, and professional journalists in gender-sensitive reporting; the production of phone-in radio programmes; mentoring of student journalists; and use of Internet-based platforms for sharing information. The project was based on a good analysis of the gender inequalities faced by marginalized women in relation to access to information, awareness of their rights and exercise of political participation. Nevertheless, the project’s relevance was marred by its overambitious design and a lack of prioritization among its various objectives and approaches.
Evaluation Date
November 2015
Theme
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Promoting Human Rights through Providing Access to Information for Marginalized Women in Zimbabwe

The project design lacked clarity of purpose and prioritization: it was not clear whether the grantee’s intention was to improve gender sensitivity in reporting, to give a bigger role to women in the media, or to encourage alternative, more gender-sensitive channels of information.
Project Partner
Media Centre
Project Description
The project had four objectives: to increase and improve gender-sensitive media coverage of issues affecting women in marginalized communities, in traditional/mainstream media in Zimbabwe; to create tools and use non-traditional media to disseminate and exchange information; to increase the capacity of marginalized women to use social media to access human rights information and freely express themselves on political, social, economic and cultural issues; and to increase marginalized women’s participation in policy dialogues and decision-making in target communities. The project was implemented in 10 communities across Zimbabwe and was designed to benefit over 7,000 women through activities including training of citizens journalists, and professional journalists in gender-sensitive reporting; the production of phone-in radio programmes; mentoring of student journalists; and use of Internet-based platforms for sharing information. The project was based on a good analysis of the gender inequalities faced by marginalized women in relation to access to information, awareness of their rights and exercise of political participation. Nevertheless, the project’s relevance was marred by its overambitious design and a lack of prioritization among its various objectives and approaches.
Evaluation Date
November 2015
Theme
Country