Table 5: Competencies, Mean scores13 Males The responses show a slightly higher mean for male responses compared to female respondents though the margins are not much. The exception only comes when it relates to building bridges about politics where the competence drops to 2.4 for women compared to 3.2 for male respondents. For example there is a high level of competence amongst individuals in the communities to provide each other with advice (4 & 3.4 males and females respectively) and a high confidence level to express themselves (3.9 and 3.85 males and females respectively). Females Happy to lead in peer group 3.9 3.4 Chat with Unfamiliar person 3.3 2.8 Confident to express 3.9 3.85 Leadership among friends 3.7 3.2 Initiatives to improve youth 3.7 3.57 Help resolve disagreements 3.8 3.67 4 3.4 Build bridges between rich & poor 3.7 2.8 Build bridges about politics 3.2 2.4 Discussing family finances 3.6 3.8 Influence on spending 3.3 3.7 Provide advice From the FGDs, it was noted that even though the perpetrators of violence are known, they just have to co-exist after elections. Issues only emerge when the election period approaches. For the young people, in both rural and urban areas, the local leaders have started sporting competitions such as soccer and netball. These social activities allow young people from different political persuasions to interact and get along. The difficulty in building political bridges is also expected given that the alleged perpetrators are at the forefront talking about mending fences, and this is always viewed with suspicion. This can also be a coping strategy to survive the structures of violence that exists, as being suspected of belonging to the opposition can cost the family from accessing goods and services provided by the State. But important to state here is that there is high level of competency in engagement at an individual level even to resolve disagreements. In the rural areas of Chiundura, for example, some of the traditional leaders were accused of partisan distribution of food aid as well as farming inputs, and coordinating the violence in the communities. The same applies in the urban area of Gweru where the opposition controls the council, but ―shadow‘ Councillors‖ from the ruling party appear to have more influence when it comes to some economic activities and use that to reward or punish political opponents. However, both the traditional leaders in Chiundura and the Councillors in Gweru are now using platforms such as social gatherings including funerals to spread the message of peace as well as giving important notices and announcements that would otherwise be given if people would attend the community meetings. Another social dimension that stood out is building bridges between the rich and poor where women respondents had a low mean of 2.8 compared to men with 3.7. When it comes to 13 There were no significant differences between males and females (see Table 2). 10