Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Strategic Plan 2015-2020 FOREWORD It is my pleasure to unveil this inaugural 5-Year Strategic Plan, marking a historical milestone in the life of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission. The Strategic Plan will go a long way in guiding the Commission to fulfil its mandate to promote, protect and enforce human rights and fundamental freedoms in our country. Further, let me also highlight the fact that the Commission has, in accordance with the Constitution, also assumed the functions of the now defunct office of the Public Protector, creating a hybrid institution with a dual mandate. In order to successfully deal with such a daunting task ahead of us, it is important for us to map out clear policy direction in respect of key issues requiring prioritisation and urgent attention. The Commission recognises that it draws its own relevance from understanding and meeting, to the greatest extent possible, the legitimate needs and expectations of its stakeholders. To this end, the Commission undertook a series of consultative interviews and workshops with its external and internal stakeholders. The workshops were held in both the Southern and Northern Regions and received overwhelming attendance and participation by our key stakeholders. The broad objectives of the planning process were to:  Define the Commission’s short term and long term objectives, its strategic focus areas and carry out a ranking of the strategic priorities so as to allocate resources accordingly;  Craft appropriate strategies and design programs and initiatives addressing how each of the key objectives would be achieved;  Identify the resources required to support the strategy in a sustainable manner as well as put in place a comprehensive resource mobilization plan that supports the Strategy; and  Ultimately, establish the foundation for a robust, independent, credible and effective Human Rights Commission that has the buy-in, support and commitment of key stakeholders. The result of this process was the successful crafting and documentation of a 5-Year Strategic Plan spelling out the vision, mission and goals of the Commission and setting out our major priorities and allied strategies. The Strategic Plan also informs the manner in which we engage with key stakeholders and partners in the domestic and international human rights community as we seek to fulfill our broad constitutional mandate. It is my sincere hope that the successful implementation of this Strategic Plan will not only strengthen relationships between the Commission and its partners, stakeholders and members of the international human rights community, but will also improve internal synergies and coordination across the 8