Annex 3: SWOT Analysis
Strengths
A clear vision, mission and values
A clear organisational strategy with clear objective
developed with stakeholders and communicated to all
relevant parties
A clear Governance Charter establishing the internal
governance structures of the Commission, and
describing how the ZHRC is governed in order to
ensure
integrity,
accountability,
relevance,
effectiveness, sustainability, and impact.
Duties of the Executive Secretary clearly spelt out in
the ZHRC Act Chapter 10:30section 6
Section 6 of the same act allows the Commission to
mobilise resources from donor partners
Chapter 243 section of the ZHRC Act gives it
autonomy
The ZHRC has vote status in terms of the appropriation
Act
Stakeholder engagement and outreach
Weaknesses
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Act Section 17
stipulates approval of the donor funding affecting the
independence of the Commission
Insufficient funds for election monitoring e.g no vehicles and
other tools of trade
Inadequate Human Resources leading to overstretching of
the existing staff
The ZHRC Act is not aligned to the constitution and aligned
to other pieces of legislation
Independence of the Commission not fully guaranteed
Multi reporting requirements from various stakeholders
Lack of a legal department that litigates on behalf of
complaints
Limited awareness of the Commission by the general public
No organisation communication strategy and inadequate
resources for communications
Lack of a decentralised commission and accessibility
No learning and monitoring framework, still to be developed
Opportunities
The citizen is keen to learn and understand human
rights
The advancements in information and communications
technology could improve the ZHRC’s communication
and effectiveness through leveraging social media and
the its website
Internal and intra-party conflict has helped to
depoliticise the understanding of human rights
Legislative alignment agenda provides an opportunity
for the alignment of the ZHRC Act to the Constitution.
Universal review process (peer review in terms of
acceptance of certain recommendations)
Informed and supportive CSOs
Robust bill of rights in the constitution
Easy information dissemination through welldeveloped infrastructure
The direct budget vote status, direct negotiation with
the Ministry of finance
Development of more sustainable resource
mobilisation strategies as opposed to donor funding
Threats
Gatekeepers when trying to penetrate into communities such
Chiefs and party Stewarts
Religious beliefs can negatively impact participation in
elections
Idolisation of leaders and elders at times stifle participation
in elections
Apathy, lack of enthusiasm to participant, no motivation to
participant in elections
People not interested in elections, fear of electoral processes,
election fatigue
Poverty makes people vulnerable to political manipulation
Politicisation of civil servants and traditional leaders
Participation of women in elections, gender roles and
patriarchy
Closing of operating space for institutions such the ZHRC
Donor fatigue and possible exodus leading to loss of partners
and funding during the current situation
Derailment of the legislative alignment agenda
Reduced budget allocation by treasury
Poor internet connectivity and hacking of information and
systems
Invasion/espionage of information
Misinformation fake news especially on social media
Economic uncertainty as a result of political instability
leading to increased human rights violations during elections
Crime and other vices increase
Figure 6: SWOT Analysis
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