When you spend more than five years getting bashed from all sides with election campaign rhetoric it gets difficult to believe every word, which comes out a politician’s mouth. Politicians’ now use every occasion as an opportunity for electioneering. Forgive me for thinking the same on the recent announcement by our out-going Honorable Minister of Tourism who seized the occasion at the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly to show some love for Disneyland.

Just yesterday the President warned of a tit for tat with the West for imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe and today we wake up to hear promises of building Disneyland in Victoria Falls. This is just too comical. It’s hardly a month after the harmonized elections and urban dwellers are in a ‘fix’ as they have resorted to shallow wells as sources of water. Who would want to come to a cholera-ridden country? Neither would residents opt for a theme park over service delivery. As highlighted by the Minister yesterday, Mickey Mouse comes with a price tag of US$300 million and if this money can be put to service delivery before Mickey it will go a long way in fulfilling elections promises.

Sometimes the stuff Zimbabweans believe can blow you away, and some have opined that the nature of our politics has made this the land of wild conspiracy theories.

I was in Mbare over the weekend where I witnessed long queues of people waiting their turn to get water from water points scattered around the area near Rufaro Stadium.

I was told there hadn’t been water since Thursday last week, and one commented, and I am not sure whether it was innocuous banter or he meant it, that the people were being punished for voting for Zanu PF.

I looked him straight in the eye and couldn’t make anything of his expression whether he was “joking” yet in a place where Zanu PF won “resoundingly” I was persuaded take his word for it.

I didn’t ask him who was doing the punishing, but considering what Zanu PF has always peddled, there were no prizes for guessing, yet the fact that someone actually believed it was in itself telling about the kind of people we have become, the kind of politics we have embraced where people are apparently incapable of thinking for themselves and will believe all sorts of canards spun by the revolutionary party.

“Amid reports of election rigging and continuing human rights abuses, Zimbabwe is the last country that should be legitimised by a UN summit of any kind. The notion that the UN should spin this country as a lovely tourist destination is, frankly, sickening.” Hillel Neuer, head of the Geneva-based group, UN Watch

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Project Lawyer: Local NGO
Deadline: 26 August 2013

Location: Bulawayo

A vacancy has arisen in a local NGO for the post of a Project Lawyer based in Bulawayo.

Required personal information is as follows:
-Degree in Law
-Registered Legal Practitioner with at least one year experience in civil and criminal litigation
-Strong background in project and financial management
-Good communication skills, co – ordination, monitoring and evaluation skills
-Computer skills (PowerPoint, word etc)
-Should be fluent in Ndebele
-A valid driver’s licence is a must.

To apply
Applicants to email their detailed curriculum vitae to: projectofficerbyo [at] gmail [dot] com and produce original copies of their certificates during the interview.

M & E Officer: Local NGO
Deadline: 26 August 2013

Purpose of the Job
The Monitoring and Evaluation officer is responsible for monitoring and following up project activities among participating organisations.

Overall responsibilities
-In liaison with Funding Partner develop data collection tools for project activities
-Undertake the monitoring and evaluation activities in support of other team members
-Ensure maintenance of accurate records by the organisation and participating organisations
-Monitors the implementation of planned activities
-Collects, reviews, analyses and interpret data for planning purposes
-Formulates, reviews and maintains a sound and effective reporting system
-Provides technical support for monitoring and evaluation of the project
-Contribute to the organisational learning by preparing and disseminating data on lessons learned, good practices and statistical evidence of the program achievements
-Participate in activities to disseminate programme evaluation findings
-Prepares and compiles progress reports monthly and quarterly for project activities.

Minimum qualifications and experience
-First degree in development studies, social sciences, or a relevant field
-Diploma in M&E, experience in home based care or palliative care an added advantage
-A minimum of five years’ experience in community work, two of which should be in monitoring and evaluation and/or operational research
-Working experience in designing and implementing evaluation strategies
-Excellent documentation and data analysis skills of both quantitative and qualitative nature
-Highly computer literate in Excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint, SPSS, EPI Info or any other statistical tools
-Highly innovative and a self starter
-Fluent in national languages Ndebele, Shona and English
-A clean class four driver’s licence

To apply
If you are interested and meet the above requirements please send your application letter, detailed CV and copies of your certificates to the following: fadzaic [at] zwla [dot] co [dot] zw
Successful candidate to start immediately

Physiotherapist: Sport 4 Socialisation (S4S)
Deadline: 27 August 2013

Location: Mutare, Zimbabwe
Start date: 1 September 2013
Duration: 4 months, with possibility to extend

Sport 4 Socialisation
Children with disabilities are often hidden, locked-up and isolated from society. Nobody believes in their potential. But S4S does! The only precondition is an encouraging environment.

We empower the children to break out from their isolation and surprise society with their potential. We inspire, encourage and coach them to move boundaries. We create lasting change, by involving the whole community.

We strengthen them via physiotherapy and adapted physical activity. We connect them with able-bodied as well as disabled peers and teach them to stand up for themselves in society. We teach families how to deal with disability and fend for themselves economically. During the whole process, we keep monitoring progress. So we can achieve maximum potential. And we inspire, encourage and coach the community to
change their minds about disability.

Background
Sport 4 Socialisation (S4S) is working in Zimbabwe since 2008. From the Eastern border Town Mutare, where the S4S headquarters is based, we work very hard on the implementation of our multiple award winning Social Inclusion Programme. We support children with disabilities and their families with adapted and inclusive physical activities, physiotherapy, healthcare, parent support groups and livelihood development.

Over 500 children and their families are supported through this programme.

Role of the Physiotherapist
In general the Physiotherapist shall be responsible for the running of the physiotherapy clinic and the casting room. Under the physiotherapist programme we have several sub-programmes:
-Intakes and assessments
-Physiotherapy (incl. casting)
-Direct Child Support (medication, corrective surgeries and assistive devices)
-Disability maintenance and awareness training.

Key tasks and responsibilities
-Organise and implement intake and assessments with (new) beneficiaries and their families
-Implement physiotherapy therapy activities on a daily basis for children with a disability
-Build and maintain a database for all beneficiaries including a Monitoring and Evaluation system
-Develop Individual Rehabilitation Plans with beneficiaries and their families and monitor and evaluate the progress of the beneficiaries
-Assess and plan individual child interventions (medication, corrective surgeries and assistive devices etc.) and provide follow ups of interventions done through home visits, school visits and group meetings
-Mediate for Direct Child Assistance (medication, corrective surgeries, assistive devices etc.)
-Maintain and improve relations with partners and stakeholders, especially with medical partners for individual child interventions
-Be responsible for the maintenance of the therapy equipment
-Prepare periodic evaluation reports
-Prepare periodic work plans, incl. budget.

Key requirements and skills

Education
-Bachelor of physiotherapy
-Work experience and knowledge
-Proven experience in a similar position
-Proven paediatric experience
-Proven experience in monitoring and evaluation
-Excellent written and verbal English communication skills
-Computer literate, excellent with MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Personality
Proactive; Good and open communicator who is a critical thinker and has a strong personality; A professional orientation to work; Impeccable integrity; Committed; Dedicated.

Remuneration
Between US$600 – US$700 – depending on level of experience plus Medical AID
and transport reimbursement.

To apply
Applications: Cover letter and CV (2 separate documents) only via email to: office.zimbabwe [at] sport4socialisation [dot] org with “Physiotherapist” in the subject line.

What many see as a sudden crackdown on women in Harare’s CBD by police accusing them of loitering for the purposes of prostitution actually dates back to as early as 1983 according to local researchers working on the link between prostitution and HIV/Aids.

In June 2, 1983, the police launched Operation Chinyanda/Scorpion, where hundreds of women were rounded up on allegations of prostitution.

After a long hiatus, another operation was launched on March 2, 2007 where the systematic arrest of women was intensified.

Four years later, Operation Keep Your Dignity was launched in January 2011, with the following year, in December 2012, seeing Operation Dyira Bonus Kumba where women became the target of a crackdown that was supposed to keep men in their homes to spend their end-of-year bonuses with their families not prostitutes!

Sounds silly, but researchers working with sex workers in Harare and Nyamapanda say the fact that this is an operation sanctioned at the highest level of law enforcement misses the point of addressing the core structural issues that have forced women to the streets in the first place, beyond even interrogating if those arrested in these operations are indeed prostitutes.

Yet the irrationality of these sweeps on women points to failed methodologies in understanding and addressing women’s economic imperatives and opportunities, researchers argue.

But not only that, an unapologetically patriarchal society has skewed the sexual power dynamics where men do the labeling, and every single or unmarried woman, becomes a prostitute because they are found in the CBD during hours when married women are in their homes!

A story was narrated about how cops swooped on a block of flats in Harare’s CBD arresting every female on site and barged into an apartment where a man and his wife were watching telly. The cops allegedly dragged the woman to the waiting Black Maria amid protests from the husband.

But because this is Zimbabwe where citizens have no recourse to litigate against the State, that was the end of the story. All the couple had was bitterness against the system after the wife was released.

It has become laughable how cops carry out their duties, and with the issue of arresting all women seen in the CBD after hours, it has raised yet another disturbing trend where women have become very open to abuse, local researchers allege.

After Operation No Loitering was launched in February this year, followed by Operation Amai Ngwenya in July, then Operation Zvanyanya now carried about by an all-female cops crack unit, complaints that emerged centred on the sexual abuse of these females (whether prostitutes or not) by arresting officers.

It is a good thing that the ZRP has acted on these reports, and it is just one of many reports seen across the world where police demand sex from prostitutes in exchange for their freedom.

And that is yet another HIV/Aids hotspot. Do these males in positions of power use condoms, are these females in any position (pardon the pun) to negotiate/demand condom use when it is their freedom at stake?

Yet in all these operations, researchers are asking: has this worked to curb the spread of HIV/Aids and succeeded in creating “a morally upright” society as the prudes would put it?

One female contributor put it bluntly and said prostitution will always be around whether we like it or not so get used it!

Yet despite that blunt truth, what remains obvious is that there remains very little being done to protect sex workers, be it from STIs or physical/sexual violence.

Small wonder then that there were gasps last year when one MP dared the prudes and called for legalizing the operations of what she rather stupidly called “pleasure engineers” which effectively stripped the debate of its gravity.

And with the UNTWO General Assembly almost here, it cannot be ignored that sex workers are seeing an opportunity of a lifetime, and while Walter Mzembi has said legalizing the profession is out of the question, truth is, some delegates will turn their sojourn into a sex tourism excursion of sorts.

Like one young lady suggested, instead of bashing these women with haughty claims of immorality, other countries are providing sexual health care for sex workers and in the process minimising the spread of HIV/Aids.

Perhaps instead of futile efforts to get them off the streets and encouraging them to sell tomatoes instead, the focus should move from throwing only them into filthy holding cells, but extending the crusade to clients who remain invisible in the whole narrative.

It takes two to screw right?

The sight of vandalized street bins is now common in the streets of Harare. Blame might be placed on City workers for not efficiently emptying these on a regular basis. But then again the vandalized bins can be blamed on citizens who are just in a bad ‘habit’ of destroying property. The picture of a burnt bin is the most baffling and one wonders what was going through the mind of the person who burnt litter or threw a burning substance in the bin? What is also surprising is someone who throws litter in an already full bin. Many times people complain about the incompetence of our government but then again who are they to lay blame if the ordinary people in the streets are not able to take care of little properties such as bins entrusted to them for the betterment of the environment they live in.