Strategic Partnership for Zimbabwe: a conducive environment for effective policy influencing

The Strategic Partnership between NIMD, AWEPA and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs aims to contribute to a conducive environment in which political and civic actors can effectively lobby and influence political and policy processes to advocate for inclusive and equitable social change. The partners concentrate on a selected number of countries in Africa: Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Uganda and Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, AWEPA and NIMD are partnering with the Zimbabwe Institute, an independent local political think tank. The partners jointly contribute to four specific goals in Zimbabwe: i. To improve the enabling environment for effective policy influencing, by creating a level playing field for all political actors and civic actors wanting to influence politics. ii. To strengthen the policy influencing capacities and responsiveness of political parties, parliaments, MPs and civil society actors. iii. Increasing general interest in consulting and collaborating among and between political and civic actors. iv. Strengthening the voice and position of women and youth in the consultation processes. The departing point for the Strategic Partnership in Zimbabwe is a joint NIMD-AWEPA Theory of Change and Baseline. The country programme is embedded in strong local political networks, underpinned by a deep rooted knowledge of the local political economy and a solid institutional infrastructure for programme implementation. To acknowledge the importance of cross-border themes and regional interdependencies that increasingly shape national policy agendas and to stimulate peer learning and exchange, dedicated strategies and instruments for peer learning, knowledge and innovation and PME have been developed as part of the strategic partnership. Furthermore, to maximize opportunities for regional and international lobby and advocacy on issues that emanate from national policy agendas, the programme foresees in the development of dedicated strategies for potential upstream policy influencing at regional and global fora and bodies.