BackgroundFounded by a group of leading women in 2008, Envision takes a holistic approach to support peaceful conflict transformation and the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality.
ReachEnvision Zimbabwe has delivered conflict transformation training and dialogue engagements to women, police services, traditional leaders and other community leadership and stakeholders.
ImpactEnvision not only reduced incidences of reported violence and domestic abuse, but also transformed the role of women in conflict resolution and in their communities.
Envision Zimbabwe Women’s Trust is a local conflict transformation, women’s rights and development organisation. Founded by a group of leading women in 2008, the organisation takes a holistic approach to support peaceful conflict transformation and the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality.
Based in Harare, but with operations throughout the country in urban and rural areas, Envision’s mission is to work with women and men in Zimbabwe to facilitate the development of safe communities where girls’ and women’s rights are promoted and protected.
Acknowledging the nexus between development, conflict and security, Envision, works from the premise that all change and development involves conflict caused by a shift in the balance of power within communities and between genders. The organisation’s interventions utilise conflict transformation techniques to address some of the long-standing challenges that primarily women and girls have been facing in Zimbabwe. Envision takes a community-driven collaborative approach focusing on pressing issues identified by the communities. Projects are continuously monitored and evaluated, identifying project gaps and altering implementation accordingly.
Since its independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has experienced low-intensity conflict marked by periods of escalation and political violence often triggered by elections. Conflict today remains rooted in disputes over national power and economic hardship. In 2019, Zimbabwe faced its worst economic crisis in a decade, with basic necessities becoming inaccessible for many, while a militarised state cracked down on civil society organisations.
Envision recognised the need to tackle the causes of conflict from the ground up, and its work has evolved to meet community needs. In the last two years in partnership with Peace Direct, Envision Zimbabwe has delivered conflict transformation training and dialogue engagements to women, police services, traditional leaders and other community leadership and stakeholders. For example, Envision worked with traditional leaders to ensure that they utilise conflict transformation techniques in their traditional courts, and to include women in decision-making in all community processes at the community level.
Envision not only reduced incidences of reported violence and domestic abuse, but also transformed the role of women in conflict resolution and in their communities. Women have had increased power in their households as they began to be viewed as equal partners.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Envision Zimbabwe worked closely with community leaders in Hurungwe District in Mashonaland West Province of Zimbabwe to utilise conflict transformation techniques to address sexual and gender-based violence that affected Zimbabwean society amid lockdowns imposed by authorities. Envision also worked closely with security services to ensure that the rights of citizens were protected as they enforced the COVID rules.
Learn more about Envision Zimbabwe Women’s Trust on their website: https://envisionzimbabwe.org/
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