Empowerment and Protection - Stories of Human Security Oct. 2014 | Page 94

ZIMBABWE

Conclusion
and recommendations
Human security issues facing many Zimbabweans are multifaceted
and ever more complex, as they have economic, socio-political,
historical and environmental aspects. Addressing these issues
through a national healing and reconciliation approach enables
local communities to actively engage and seek solutions alongside
authorities and security providers.

The authors work for the Ecumenical Church
Leaders Forum (ECLF), which is a grouping
of Christian leaders from Zimbabwe’s church
umbrella bodies that brings together a variety
of church leaders at all levels, both clergy and
lay, male and female from all denominations.
ECLF’s mission is to contribute towards the
creation and sustenance of a peaceful, just
and democratic nation by capacitating and
empowering the entire Church leadership for
peacebuilding through dialogue and constructive
engagement with the motto ‘Church and
community working together for peace’. ECLF is
a member of the Southern Africa network of the
Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed
Conflict (GPPAC).

13 (WORLD BANK 2014A)

GRAPHIC
n (2013)

While there is no one-size-fits-all solution,
strengthening the existing national peacebuilding
=10.000.000
efforts is one way to address various human
security issues, as the integrative and cross-cutting
nature of peacebuilding addresses almost all the
issues discussed in this report. Recommendations
to national policymakers and their partners are as
follows:
O
▪  perationalise the National Peace and
Reconciliation Commission to ensure a
nationally-agreed healing and reconciliation
process, with particular attention and measures
to include marginalised groups such as women,
youth, people with disabilities and ethnic
minorities.
Launch advocacy and sensitising campaigns
▪ 
not only to ensure consistent and strategic
collaborative plans among key stakeholders, but
also to inform the general population of current
peacebuilding mechanisms and the importance of
further collective efforts for peace.
S
▪  trengthen the peace architecture’s building
blocks such as the Local Peace Committees
(LPCs). LPCs represent the diversity of their
communities and include participants such as
civil servants, church leaders, traditional leaders,
state security sector actors, political leaders,
and most importantly women and youths.
Further strengthening community-based conflict
resolution forums can positively increase the
political participation of all of these groups in their
communities.

▪ 
Implement community-based activities
such as income-generation projects to empower
vulnerable populations through which the
communities can benefit from economic
empowerment as well as cohesion-building.
I
▪  ncrease collaboration between civil society,
faith-based organisations, development
partners and government departments around
human security issues.

LPCs represent the
diversity of their
communities;
Further strengthening
community-based
conflict resolution
forums can positively
increase the political
participation of
all groups in their
communities.

▪ 
Implement community-based disaster risk
management mechanisms in order to prevent
and mitigate the risk of natural and/or manmade
disasters in order to build community resilience
against potential 6