Zimbabwe Civil Society Fund - Phase II

Results achieved as of the end of the project (December 2013) include: (1) Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have increased interaction of parliamentarians and community members including children which strengthened their direct influence in issues that affect children and improved recognition of children's rights among parliamentarians this led to more informed decisions on laws and policies affecting children; (2) a gender equality audit of the draft constitution contributed to improving the outcomes of the final draft constitution with respect to integrating gender equality 90% of women constitution-making concerns were adopted into the new constitution; (3) CSOs promoted freedom of expression and the right to information by demanding reform and creating space in media for independent players and through the distribution of newsletters (4) CSOs improved community awareness by collaborating with community media activists that gather and disseminate news at monthly community feedback meetings on national issues; (5) public meetings and partnerships with local CSOs contributed to the inclusion of explicit constitutional guarantees on access to information of expression and freedom of expression in the draft constitution; (6) CSO education and training led to an increase in the political capacity of the San community to demand the recognition of their language and other social and cultural rights. The advocacy ensured that the San language is one of the officially recognized languages in the new Constitution; and (7) training workshops and consultative meetings between CSOs and stakeholders ahead of the referendum led to high levels of voter turnout among all stakeholders in the in the referendum contributing to a higher voter turnout of 3 480 047.