1. Programme Identification Details:
| GTF Number | 88 |
| Short Title of Programme | Enfranchising People With Disabilities to exercise their constitutional right to vote and facilitating their inclusion in governance systems. |
| Name of Lead Institution | National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH) |
| Start date | 12/11/2008 |
| End date | 31/12/2013 |
| Brief Summary of Programme: | A five year programme seeking to secure the inclusion of people with disabilities (PWDs) in Zimbabwe’s governance systems through their participation in all elections, run for local and parliamentary elections in their respective constituencies, advocating for polling stations accessibility to people with disabilities (PWDs) and are able to vote secretly and independently. The programme aims at ensuring proportional representation of PWDs in parliament and other decision making bodies, a quota system in employment, lobby for the creation of a disability ministry, enactment and implementation of conducive disability legislation by the government. At the moment most PWDs do not vote, and are apprehensive about the indignity of being assisted by a stranger.
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| List all countries where activities have taken place in the past (i.e. where activities are not currently taking place) | N/A |
| List all countries where activities have taken or will take place | Zimbabwe
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| List all countries where activities are planned for the future (but where there are no activities currently) | N/A |
| Target groups and wider beneficiaries | Over a hundred thousand people with disabilities in Zimbabwe are expected to benefit from this programme
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| Person who prepared this report | Fambaineni Innocent Magweva
Disability Technical Advisor NASCOH 93 Greendale Avenue, Greendale Harare Zimbabwe Tel +263 4 2900041/ 776 291 4449 Email. oakwoodmining@gmail.com |
2. List of Acronyms
ADF African Development Foundation
COPAC Constitution Parliamentary Select Committee
CSOs Civil Society Organisations
DFID (UK Government) Department for International Development
DWSO Disabled Women Support Organisation
DPOs Disabled People’s Organizations
GTF Governance and Transparency Fund
IFES International Foundation for Electoral Systems
ICT Information, Communication and Technology
JJA Jairos Jiri Association
M&E Monitoring and Evaluation
MOU Memorandum of Understanding
MOV Means of Verification
MP Member of Parliament
MTR Mid- Term Review
NCA National Consultative Assembly
NASCOH National Association of Societies for Care of the Handicapped
NGOs Non- Governmental Organizations
PWDs People with Disabilities
USAID United States Agency for International Development
WGI Worldwide Governance Indicators
ZAVH Zimbabwe Association of Visually Impaired
ZEC Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
ZESN Zimbabwe Election Support Network
ZILGA Zimbabwe Local Government Association
ZIMNAD Zimbabwe National Association of the Deaf
ZIMNAMH Zimbabwe National Association for Mental Health
ZNLB Zimbabwe National League of the Blind
ZPHCA Zimbabwe Parents of Handicapped Children Association
3. Executive Summary
The fourth annual report covers activities during the period from March 1 April 2011 to 31 March, 2012.
The five year programme on “Enfranchising People with Disabilities to exercise their constitutional right to vote and facilitating their inclusion in governance systems” intends to achieve the following by the end of the funding period;
- Strengthened member organizations which are responsive to the needs of people with disabilities and a strong and vibrant disability movement which is able to make the government responsive and accountable to the needs of people with disabilities.
- Produce disability friendly legislation including the national constitution, national disability policy and Acts of parliament which have direct bearing on the lives of people with disabilities, especially those dealing with issues of accessibility.
- To have at least 400 election observers with disabilities who will monitor all coming national and local elections
- For people with disabilities to be able to vote in local and national elections
- For people with disabilities to be appointed to positions of authority, elected or nominated as Councilors, Members of Parliament.
- Government departments, Councils & CSOs provide PWDs with material and support services
In order to fulfill the said programme outputs the programme activities during the period under review were centred on sourcing for additional funding for capacity building of NASCOH member organizations and engaging 26 urban councils. NASCOH got three hundred thousand dollars from USAID for strengthening the capacities of Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) in Zimbabwe to enhance participation of people with disabilities in USAID-funded and societal activities. NASCOH increased the number of organizations from seven benefitting from the GTF programme to fifteen who now benefit from the capacity building programme. In addition, during the period under review NASCOH was supported by ICCO with thirty thousand dollars to mainstream disability and ensure disability representation and inclusion of people with disabilities (PWDs) in all council activities, introduction of special interest councillors with disabilities and the Minister of Labour and Social Services to sign and ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which provides a road map for the inclusion of disability in all areas of human endeavour. More information on these programmes is given in this report under the Progress toward sustainability.
Other major activities conducted during the period under review included extending the programme to seven new districts of Umzingwane, Zaka, Mudzi, Bindura, Chegutu, Goromonzi and Mutare rural, election observer workshops, which brought the total of PWDs trained under the programme to date to 323, a media-disability sensitisation workshop, disability sensitization workshop for district elections officers of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), the country’s sole elections management body, distribution of assistive devices including wheelchairs, catheters, crutches and urine bags, training workshop with political parties. In the seven new districts, with the assistance of district elections officers from ZEC a considerable number of two thousand one hundred (2100) people with disabilities received voter education, bringing the total to over nine thousand people with disabilities who have received voter education since the inception of the programme. The programme also engaged the registrar general’s district offices who issued birth certificates and national Identity documents to two hundred and fifty-one people with disabilities in the new districts. Voter registration campaigns also continued in the new districts and by the close of the financial year a few hundred (331) people with disabilities were registered as voters.
Disability sensitization of key stakeholders at district levels also took a centre stage in the seven new districts. Chief among these was engagement of , seven rural district councils, other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) funded by USAID, churches, business persons, community leaders such as councilors, chiefs, headmen, village heads and families of people with disabilities and political parties to include a sizeable number of people with disabilities, in their activities. Disability sensitization also targeted, employment bodies and twenty six Urban Councils. The commemoration of the International Day of the Disabled took place in all the programme areas and beyond.
As a result of the cordial relations that NASCOH has managed to cultivate with the media through the GTF programme, most of these events received extensive coverage in the local press during the period under review.
The weekly radio programme ‘Seka urema wafa’ which profiles disability issues and concerns was on the air every week for the 52 weeks of the year. The live phone-in radio programme, which is aired on ‘National FM’ every Saturday from 6.30pm to 7.00pm, focuses on cross cutting disability issues that impinge on the participation of people with disabilities in all spheres of life, including issues of inclusion the country’s governance systems.
4. Programme Management
No change since last report.
5. Working with implementing partners
No change since last report.
6. Risk Assessment
Risk Assessment Table
| Risk | Potential impact | Probability | Mitigation measures |
| Risk 1.Political Uncertainty | Medium- there are widening differences in the inclusive government . | Medium | Working with all political parties in the inclusive government |
| Risk 2. Early elections | High -The country is still to heal from the 2008 general elections which were characterised by violence. The country has already started to experience political violence in some areas. | Medium |
Lobbying together with other civil society organisations for elections to be held when there is a new constitution and when conditions are conducive for the holding of credible elections |
| Risk 3 The Government of National Unit (GNU) may collapse
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High- ZANU PF has threatened to end the GPA before implementation of the roadmap to free and fair elections | Medium – Of late the security chiefs have joined the political arena supporting ZANU PF | Civil society organisations (CSOs) continue to lobby the principals of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), the facilitator President Zuma and SADC
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| Risk 4 Possibility of Deregistration of some NGOs and curtailing of activities | High- in the event it happens | Medium- a provincial governor recently banned many NGOs which were said to have not registered with the governor’s office. | NASCOH encourages its member organizations to seek clearance and register with the relevant government departments before starting operating in the area. |
| Risk 5 |
7. M & E Arrangements
There have not been any significant changes, to the M & E arrangements and M&E personnel, resources and activities continued to be assigned during the period according to the specifications of the Inception Report. The most up-to-date M&E operational plan is included as annex — of this report.
8. Log frame Changes
The Mid Term Review (MTR) which ended in May 2011 recommended that an additional capability output be added to the Log frame and output 3.7 was added and approved. All the other outputs remain the same.
9. Emerging impact on governance and transparency
See Annex A9
10. Cross-cutting issues
This section describes how the programme is targeting people with disabilities and the positive and negative impacts in relation to PWDs.
As a result of the programme ZEC with the assistance of NASCOH developed voter education material which are accessible by all disabilities including the hearing (Deaf people) and visually impaired (Blind people). These voter education materials were pilot tested by ZEC with the assistance of NASCOH sub -grantees in the two districts of Mutare rural and Gwanda rural. ZEC has prepared material to be flighted on billboards, television and newspapers on the rights to vote by people with disabilities. ZEC is becoming inclusive, capable to provide services and responsive to the needs of people with disabilities and during the period under review, PWDs have continued to get identity documents and voter education.
The engagement of USAID funded partners to include the participation of people with disabilities in USAID funded programmes saw USAID funded partners including DPOs in their programme designs and implementation.
One of the major impacts of the programme was the setting up of the disability and advocacy committees at ward level in which PWDs now have a structure for articulating their needs and making input into development programmes. In all the project sites there are examples of sub grantees taking action to influence local authorities and service providers. In all the sites there had been approval to nominate a PWD as a special interest councilor.
NASCOH developed disability policy guidelines for the 26 urban councils and
this will result in improved services to PWDs by urban authorities. All the urban authorities indicated that they were happy with the documents and supportive of the need to foster disability inclusion within local councils. Urban councils in Zimbabwe are gradually opening up new vistas for disability inclusion as evidenced by the invitations extended to NASCOH to the annual Town Clerks Forum. In addition, every housing director in the local councils is aware of the ‘priority rating system’ that takes into account the special needs of people with disabilities, women and orphans and vulnerable children in the housing system and people with disabilities should register with the housing department to access housing services.
In the aspects of election observation over 323 PWDs have been trained to date as election observers. This is an increase from 77 elections observers who observed the 2008 general elections.
11. Progress towards sustainability
The programme has improved the capacities of both NASCOH and the sub grantees, which is demonstrated by the ability of the sub grantees to lobby and engage rural district councils and the ability of NASCOH to lobby ZEC, Urban councils and major funders like USAID for the inclusion of PWDs. First NASCOH’s capacity has improved greatly. NASCOH coordinated programmes which benefitted fifteen of its members during the period under review. Leaders and managers from these organisations received training in strategic management, leadership, governance, financial, programme, human resources management and resources mobilisation from consultants hired by NASCOH. Before this programme no NASCOH member organisations benefitted from NASCOH activities. The capacity building of sub grantees has resulted in some of the sub grantees like ZPHCA getting funding from African Development Foundation (ADF) to the tune of $250 000. During the period under review the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) agreed to fund NASCOH to work with ZEC and make all polling stations in Bulawayo and Harare accessible to PWDs.
The programme has built the capacity of sub grantees for advocacy on the rights of PWDs. In all the areas the sub grantees had taken action to ensure inclusion of PWDs. A major impact was the setting up of the disability and advocacy committees at ward level in which PWDs now have a structure for articulating their needs and making input into development programmes. In all the project sites there are examples of sub grantees taking action to influence local authorities and service providers.
Local authorities have indicated their willingness to include a budget line for PWDs in the next financial year, which is another important step in mainstreaming disability. It is envisaged that all local authorities in all the programme areas will have budgets for PWDs and continue to provide services even after the GTF programme has ended.
The setting up of Disability Ward Committees in all programme areas and the incorporation of a representative of PWDs from the Disability Committees into the Ward Development Committees ensures that the views of PWDs are heard at ward development meetings and is an effective way of mainstreaming disability into development. The Ward Disability Committees which have received training on lobbying, advocacy and disability rights from sub grantees continued lobbying local leaders such as councilors, chiefs and schools development committees for inclusion of PWDs in all spheres of the community. In the new districts the lobbying by the Disability Committees has mostly been done with the assistance of the sub grantees while in the old districts the disability ward committees continued lobbying without help of sub grantees. The presence of special interest councilors in the old districts also strengthened the disability committees. This demonstrates that the disability committees will continue to function after the expiry of the GTF programme. The involvement of community leaders, MPs, councilors, political parties and business people in the programme has enhanced its sustainability. Politicians want numbers and PWDs provide a niche for candidates who want to win elections.
In addition to the inclusion of disability in the ZEC’s five year strategic plan ZEC developed voter education material targeting PWDs. This is a clear sign that ZEC will continue with voter education to PWDs after the end of the funding period. The alterations to polling booths and polling stations to allow easier access by PWDs, increase in the number of polling stations to accommodate PWDs, preparing ballot papers in Braille will increase the sustainability of the programme.
NASCOH has continued to collaborate and network with other organisations such as the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), Zimbabwe Local Government Association (ZILGA) through meetings and information sharing workshops. NASCOH is a key partner in ZESN’s country strategy on elections and sits on the ZESN cluster on election observation.
12. Innovation
Cognisant of the fact that lack of capacity is the major impediment that prevents PWDs from spearheading their inclusion in society, NASCOH has embarked on a complementary programme with USAID to build the capacities of Disabled Persons Organisations (DPOs) in vital programme areas in order to improve their Leadership and Governance, Strategic Management, Project Management, Financial Management, and fundraising and resource mobilisation capacities. 15 DPOs including the 7 consortia members in the gtf programme are benefiting from this two year project and this is designed to boost their capacity for programme implementation and ensuring disability inclusion. The engagement of local authorities on disability representation and service delivery provision is now at an advanced stage with the local authorities and NASCOH being on the verge of signing memoranda of understanding and acceding to a disability services provision policy, a development which is bound to uplift the welfare and livelihoods of PWDs for eternity.
13. Learning from GTF
The government is fully aware of the ability of civil society to influence the international arena over issues of governance or transparency and the pariah status that accrues from national, regional and international censure resulting from non –observance of these principles. Resultantly, while the regime will fulminate and threaten to ban NGOs from operating, it has so far refrained from doing so, mindful of the consequences. The moral of the story is that as long as civil society continues to operate within reasonable parameters in exercising its watchdog role over transparency and governance, the regime will refrain from blatant lack of governance and transparency and will try to avoid the ire of the international community by taking drastic action against civil society. Significant social change in the programme resides in that PWDs are now empowered ,they are now ready to vote and be voted for; society, and vital stakeholders like ZEC have demonstrated their willingness to ensure access to the electoral process for PWDs
Civil society’s engagement with the state has been a mixture of confrontation and conciliation while with non-state actors, it has been that of collaboration, partnerships and network in order to harness the full benefit of the synergies and symbiosis that come from integrated governance and transparency efforts. Non-state actors are generally pro-peace, and pro human rights and therefore standard approaches need little or no adaptation at all to work in the furtherance of governance. The conciliatory and inclusive problem solving approaches that characterise the current inclusive dispensation is testimony to the fact that misunderstandings and prejudices are at the root of conflict and fragility and can be solved by honest and studious engagement.
ZEC, which has increased its understanding of disability through disability trainings, has also increased its capacity to extend electoral rights to PWDs as evidenced by the formulation of a memorandum of understanding with NASCOH. Government has also demonstrated its commitment to disability inclusion by annulling of legislation providing for visually impaired persons to be assisted to vote by the presiding officer, election officers and the police. Access to justice by PWDs has been enhanced by the appointment of PWDs as chiefs and headmen at local level.
Environmental governance is an aspect that has been minimally addressed by the programme and more needs to be done in this regard. While the issue of corruption is one that PWDs are exposed to in their human rights trainings when they interface with NASCOH’s programme officers, clear cut strategies for corruption reduction was not a major focus of this programme. The programme however focused on the transparent use of the resources available for programme implementation.
Lobby and media-based pro-poor budgeting advocacy, undertaken within the framework of NASCOH’s mother bodies, NANGO and CiZC, and by NASCOH itself has resulted in disability being allocated progressively higher budgets over the years. PWDs, who have been exposed to the budgeting process by NANGO and the Zimbabwe Women Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN) through their gender sensitive budget monitoring trainings and workshops, increasingly attend pre-budget meetings and this has enhanced their ability to monitor the process. On access to public services, NASCOH has engaged urban councils to ensure service provision delivery to PWDs in all areas including access to market stalls, business stands, residential accommodation, health, information, employment. The strengthening of Government decision making and service delivery can only be assessed in the broader context of all programmes being undertaken in the country that have multifaceted impact on decentralisation of government decision making and service delivery. Intervention strategies which are most influential in breaking down barriers to the marginalised and discriminated voices like those of women and PWDs are many and varied, but the ones which succeed best are the ones that come from the marginalised and discriminated themselves, and ones that are grounded on meaningful participatory consultation and empirical research.
The period under review has been characterized by a concerted push by ZANU PF towards holding elections in 2012 without full implementation of the provisions of the Global Political Agreement, a resurgence of violence, a crackdown on civil society as evidenced by the illegal banning of NGO activity in the early part of the year, and systemic and endemic abuse of human rights across the board. In response, broad civil society coalitions like Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) and the National Association of Societies for Non Governmental Organisations (NANGO), the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum and the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) put out numerous statements in the independent press, outlining its demands and requisites for a free and fair election, deploring the resurgent violence, and the crackdown on civil society and the concomitant human rights abuses. Through such statements and articles, civic society was able to keep national, regional, and international attention riveted on Zimbabwe. NASCOH is affiliated to CiZC, NANGO and ZESN. Civil society demands for upholding of human rights and democratic values and principles continue to strike a responsive chord in the independent media, and this has not gone down well with the ZANU PF party, which has sought to stifle this alliance. Meanwhile, even publications which have little space for social issues, like the Daily News and NewsDay, and serious financial papers like the Financial Gazette, and Zimbabwe Independent, which previously eschewed coverage of disability issues, continue to routinely publish human rights issues on disability. June 16, The Day of the African Child, which this year ran under the theme:”The Rights of Children with Disabilities; the duty to Protect, Respect, Promote and Fulfill” received extensive coverage in all the nation’s publications, including the electronic media, before, during and after the day. Annual Disability-Media workshops continue to reinforce the partnerships with the press and keep the press focused on disability issues while the ongoing weekly radio programme “Seka urema wafa” which airs on National FM every Saturday from 18.30 .19.00 hrs helps to raise vital awareness and keep the nation focused on disability issues. Through media advocacy and strategic highlighting of pertinent disability issues in the press, NASCOH has now been able to put disability on the agenda of the press resulting in both public and independent press focusing on marginalisation and inclusion issues of PWDs. NASCOH’s communication strategy is grounded on the use of multiple and complementary channels of communication to ensure optimum knowledge management and information sharing.
Guidelines for Annexes to your Annual Report
The following sections describe the content required in each of the annexes to your Annual Report. Where necessary, annexes may use MS-Excel or MS-Word Format. If your annexes are comprised of separate electronic files, please ensure that they are collated within a single ZIP file. As stated on page 3 in the outset to this document, the required Annexes for your Annual Report include:
Annex A1 – Achievement Rating Scale
Annex A2 – Most up-to-date Approved Programme Logframe
Annex A3 – Annual Financial Report
Annex A4 – Material produced during reporting period
Annex A5 – Web Update for your programme
Annex A6 – Annual Work Plan for following year
Annex A7 – Local Partners List
Annex A8 – Contacts List
Annex A9 – Short Articles about the emerging impact of your programme
Annex B1 – Detailed Programme Budget for all project years
Annex B2 – Sensitive Information
Annex C1 – Any Outstanding Issues
Annex B2 – Sensitive Information
None
Annex C1 – Any Outstanding Issues from previous reports
No outstanding issues