A potentially violent election is looming in Zimbabwe and those who are sceptical about the likelihood of peaceful change can point to obvious examples in Zimbabwean history to support their pessimism. But whatever happens at the top, for peace to last it will have to be based on trust at the bottom. Local peacebuilding organisations are key to achieving this.
This report presents the analysis and recommendations of Zimbabwean civil society activists that emerged from a practitioner workshop (called a ‘Peace Exchange’ in this report) which took place in Harare in April 2017.
21 peacebuilding organisations from across the country participated in the Peace Exchange, which was co-hosted by Peace Direct and Envision Zimbabwe Women’s Trust. The selection of participating organisatons was based on previous civil society research and mapping conducted by Peace Direct at www.insightonconflict.org.
Participating organisations also surveyed more than 150 community volunteers and peace activists to gather local views on the current and future prospects for peace and these findings are also presented in the report.
