ZPT Scope of Work
Zimbabwe is a country that has been experiencing intermittent violent conflicts since pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial times. The beginning of the 21st century saw the country experiencing heightened conflicts that range from ethnic, political, socio-economic to environmental injustices. Violent conflict destroys livelihoods as it seriously undermines the foundations of sustainable development. Violent conflict destroys lives, assets, infrastructure, ecosystems and social and economic capacities. It disrupts communities, leaving traumatised victims in situations requiring long-term, high investments to support reconstruction and rehabilitation. The global economic cost of violence in 2013 was estimated at US$9.8 trillion.
Several United Nations Resolutions, African Union charters and even Southern African Development Community protocols have been passed to proclaim the pre-eminence of peaceful societies for a progressive world. There is no lack of international agreements, official statements, reports and commitments pledging support for the principle of conflict prevention.
ZPT acknowledges and appreciates the peacebuilding work by many other Civil Society Organisations working in Zimbabwe but we firmly believe that there is still more to be done if the voices of the grassroots are to be heard. Some organisations work at the community level, others at the national level. However, the majority of them seem to focus on post –conflict reconstruction and more needs to be done on preventive action. There is need to blend the two to ensure that preventive action and transformative action are given due consideration as a way of nipping violent conflict in the bud. That is exactly the niche that the ZPT seeks to occupy.
With this in mind, the ZPT 5-year strategic plan is conceptually grounded in the need to promote active grassroots participation in peace processes whilst also ensuring the accommodation of cross-cutting issues like gender, human rights, development and culture.
