58 IRI/NDI Zimbabwe International Election Observation Mission Final Report IRI and NDI in Zimbabwe IRI began working in Zimbabwe in 1993, collaborating with CSOs, political parties, and elected officials to create a more transparent and open political environment and to institutionalize principles of democratic governance. Since 2012, IRI’s work with locally-elected leaders, traditional leaders, residents’ associations, CSOs, and citizens has facilitated engagement and enhanced local government responsiveness to citizen priorities. With support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), IRI provided capacity-building support to ensure the inclusion of pro-democracy voices in the Zimbabwean political process and worked with individual Zimbabwean parties to prepare them for participation in democratic contests. IRI has also conducted numerous the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)-funded programs in Zimbabwe seeking to strengthen local government systems, inform citizens of the 2013 Constitution, and to bring local government officials and constituents together to understand and address constituent priorities. IRI is working to ensure Zimbabweans, including those living in the diaspora, are educated on the 2018 electoral process and remain engaged inany postelection reforms. In addition to traditional in-country voter education through local organizations, this project works closely with the diaspora community on voter education, outreach, and ultimately the mobilization of their families and contacts living in Zimbabwe, with the goal of increasing turnout of informed voters on Election Day. NDI has conducted programs in Zimbabwe since 1998, with the support of USAID, NED and the U.S. State Department‘s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL). Initial activities focused on electoral reform and promotion of dialogue between government and opposition political parties and between parliament and civil society partners. NDI provided technical assistance to civic and political leaders, helping develop policy papers and draft legislation that promoted reform in Zimbabwe’s electoral and political structures, including a draft electoral law. The Institute also has worked with numerous civil society organizations on various elections monitoring efforts. Beginning in 2000, NDI engaged in a wide range of activities to strengthen the capacity of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) to conduct a statistically based observation of both the 2008 and 2013 elections.