Key Programme Areas

Advocacy

Basilwizi´s Advocacy Programmes empower the Tonga and Korekore peoples to advocate for projects and policies, that address the socio-economic problems inherited from the Kariba Dam Project.

Basilwizi believes that the Tonga and Korekore have the right to participate in the decisions and development processes that affect their communities. Such rights were denied them in the 1950s during the Kariba Dam construction, and continue to be denied by successive governments, who remain insensitive to the dam induced suffering of the people.

Past attempts by the local communities to put their case forward have been hampered by a lack of knowledge of civic rights and processes, and a lack of skills and organisational capacity to advocate for their cause in a systematic manner.

Basilwizi´s Advocacy Programme addresses these past failures by building the capacity of the local communities to organise themselves around the Kariba Dam issue, and by equipping them with the advocacy skills and knowledge required to lobby the relevant bodies for change.

Community Development

Basilwizi´s Community Development Programme increase the capacity of the Tonga and Korekore to meet their basic material needs.

The Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe covers some of the most isolated and least developed regions in the country. Communities living in these areas lack access to even basic social and economic infrastructure, such as schools, health facilities, transport, communications, electricity and water.

Basilwizi´s Community Development Programmes assist local communities to implement development projects that meet the greatest material needs of the people. These include food and water security projects such as boreholes and nutrition gardens; employment creation projects such as fishing, commercial agriculture, and trade; and social infrastructure projects such as health clinics and school blocks.

The programme enlists a high level of community participation in the identification, planning, construction, maintainance and administration of all community development projects. Basilwizi plays a facilitatory role – providing skills training, technical and management advice, and administrative and logistical support.

Education

Basilwizi´s Education Programmes improve the Tonga and Korekore peoples´ access to quality education and training.

Basilwizi recognises that the Tonga and Korekore are severely disadvantaged by a lack of access to basic education in their areas. Tonga children are further marginalised by the exclusion of the Tonga language from schools. Lack of access, combined with the high levels of poverty, has resulted in poor education levels, high levels of illiteracy and innumeracy, and a general decline of the local language and culture.

The Basilwizi Education Programme attempts to break the cycle of poverty and dependence created by a lack of education.

The programme targets financial and material assistance to disadvantaged students, and provides material support to adult education centers. It assists communities with the technical and financial resources to construct school infrastructure. The programme also involves ongoing lobbying of government authorities to promote minority languages and culture in schools.

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