A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world. – John le Carre

I was told that the restaurant was African traditional, and that it was somewhere behind the GMB in Eastlea. I finally found it after asking three different people for directions. Sister Mildred’s is tucked away in a house with no sign. My lunch there on Wednesday was one of the best things I’ve done in a long time. It reminded me that life is more interesting off the beaten track.

Independence Day. Out walking I noticed lots of pods – what we call police details or roadblocks – lolling about waiting for some tin god in high office to come whizzing through. As we approached the Chisipite traffic circle a multiple car wedding party hooted and honked its way around it several times. Nearby two ZRP police officials stood watching. Imagine Mugabe’s motorcade meeting an Independence Day wedding party? That would have been amusing.

Hey! Need a job? Want to work in the NGO/development sector in Zimbabwe? Check out the job vacancies below and apply today. If you want to receive regular civic and human rights information, together with NGO job vacancies and other opportunities like scholarships by getting our regular email newsletter, please email join [at] kubatana [dot] net

Programme Officer: PADARE / ENKUDLENI
Deadline: 26 April 2013

Duty Station: Bulawayo

PADARE / ENKUDLENI is seeking a dynamic programme officer to boost its provincial work in the Bulawayo and the surrounding provinces in an effort to mobilise men and boys in search for practical ways to end all forms of discrimination against women and girls. The Programe Officer will be part of the National Secretariat that coordinates supports and promotes the organization’s national activities. The successful candidate will play a key role in the growth of ENKUNDLENI in the province. The position is initially offered for a period of one year, but may be extended if the partnership continues to develop successfully.

Responsibility
To carry out community advocacy initiatives and training activities which mobilises communities, men and boys in addressing all forms of discrimination against women and girls. Working closely with the provincial structures of men’s groups to enable them carry out local level practical interventions that enable the participation communities, men and boys in responding to the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS and work towards a society with gender justice, where women and girls and young people enjoy their sexual and reproductive health rights. The Programme Officer will be will be responsible for implementing PADARE / ENKUNDLENI programs in Bulawayo and the surrounding provinces.

Strong writing and communication skills, experience in community mobilisation, research and policy analysis, and administrative skills are essential. Experience in gender issues, and in building and working with coalitions is highly desirable. Candidates must be fluent in English, excellent written and spoken Ndebele is highly desirable. The Programme Officer will report to the National Director.

Key responsibilities
-Developing and administrating the organisations community advocacy activities in Bulawayo and surrounding provinces that examine, re-evaluate and challenge sexist thinking in men and society.
-Implement activities in co-ordination with men’s groups, identified stakeholders and implementing and actively participate in relevant gender working groups at district and provincial level.
-Assist in designing and developing plan that create discussion forums for men and boys to analyse and challenge gender discrimination and offer practical community approaches that create and enabling environment for women to participate fully in our society.
-Monitor major policy developments related to advancing gender equality at provincial level and develop appropriate strategies for the community level interventions.
-Assist in producing written materials to support the organisation’s work, including research briefs, website content, advocacy materials, activity reports for all activities undertaken and monthly programme reports.
-Provide logistical and administrative support for the implementation of activities and identify possible fundraising initiatives.
-Assist in developing PADARE / ENKUNDLENI ‘s membership base, including liaising with members, managing the contacts database and identifying potential member organisations.
-Help to develop and implement information-sharing practices between members, their groups and member organisations.
-Manage requests and expressions of interest from the membership, affiliated organisations and the public.

Skills and attributes
-Graduate qualification in a relevant area (such as public policy, development studies, international relations, human rights or gender issues) or proven experience in a related field
-Demonstrated expertise in policy analysis and advocacy on national issues, experience in gender issues and in building and working with coalitions is highly desirable
-Excellent writing and communication skills
-Strong project management skills
-Experience in administrative support and events management
-Willingness to work in a collaborative team and with diverse alliances, including an ability to work in different cultural environments
-Ability to work with minimal supervision, and with a keen eye for accuracy and detail and potential implementation challenges
-Ability to use discretion and maintain confidentiality
-Excellent written and spoken English, fluency in Ndebele is highly desirable

How to apply
Please send a concise CV and one page cover letter demonstrating how you meet the criteria for this position to kelvin [at] padare [dot] org and jobs [at] padare [dot] org.zw clearly stating “Programme Officer” in the subject line.

Due to the large number of applications expected, we regret that only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

How to celebrate your countries Independence?

For some it is seen as a day that can finally be spent at home, sorting all the things pushed aside for too long, or maybe just kicking back and enjoying a day off. But thirty-three years on, what do we celebrate as an independent country?

As I watch the Independence celebrations on ZBC, I notice there is not much enthusiasm – the crowds are small and barely awake throughout the long, hot day. Even away from the main event there seems to be little interest.

Times have changed, thirty tree years ago, it was a big deal. Even Bob Marley came out to celebrate with us! Yet the excitement is gone, and I wonder … is it that Zimbabweans have forgotten their great struggle, or maybe they are just tired of dwelling on the past and would now rather look to the future?

In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
- T. S. Eliot, from The Hollow Men

Via browsery

The ‘war’ between kombi drivers and police officers has been going on for so long and because there is nobody to police the police, the ordinary citizens are suffering. Over the recent years police have been using forceful means to deal with public transport drivers in the country. From smashing of windscreens to Hollywood movie style chases this has been the order of the day. These forceful means have fallen short as citizens are harmed or lose their lives. There are reports of incidents of police smashing windscreens and injuring passengers. I have witnessed such incidents. Just when we thought this was bad enough the kombi operator-police war has yielded the unbearable – death. As kombi drivers try to escape from police officers they do so at full speed and in so doing go against road rules and place the life of other motorists and pedestrians at risk. In the past two months two people lost their lives in such scenarios at the Copacabana rank alone. The most recent was of an old lady who was dragged under a kombi for more than 100 metres leading to her death. The kombi was running away from a police officer.

Death is something never prepared for, but for anyone to die in this manner is more painful than the word painful itself. Even if the driver gets a life sentence or a death penalty the root cause of the problem will not have been addressed. For kombi operators and the police officers it’s now  ‘a mice sees cat game’ at the risk of passengers, pedestrians and other motorists. On one hand, the mice don’t care how they will run away from the cat, as long as they don’t get caught. On the other hand, the cat will use all the powers vested in him to chase the mice. But then again at the centre of all this fight, is a mother on her way to work, a boy on his way to school, an old lady on her way to her rural home crossing the street unaware that a mouse is on the run and that their life might end. For how long will we watch lives being lost at the hands of this cat-mice fight?