The choice of topics was informed through needs assessment interviews with community leaders (local government officials, village heads and representatives of community-based organisations) so as to address everyday challenges facing communities. As an example, LRF Mutare noted a prevalence of sexual crimes and child abuse in Marange due to the prevailing religious beliefs and so spent time raising awareness about the legal implications of child abuse. The most demanded topics included Birth Certificates, Children’s Rights, the Declaration of Rights, Gender and the Law, HIV/AIDS and the Law, Inheritance, Marriage and the Law and the Writing of a Will. Participatory methodology was used, including role-plays, group discussions and storytelling methods. Discussions on socio-economic and environmental rights generated lively debates, as around 90% of participants were not aware of their rights, believing the concept of human rights was a western idea popularised by NGOs. Both rural and urban people were helped to discover it was their legal right to push government to promote the right to education, health and clean water. Perceptions, beliefs and attitudes regarding gender have changed, with those who attended the legal education sessions now aware that women and men are equal before the law. Follow-up visits established that the increase in legal knowledge had led to the girl child now being valued and gender-based violence reduced; men who used to beat their women because they were socialised to do so and believed it was culturally appropriate, now realised the legal implications of their actions. Members of an apostolic sect abandoned the practice of forcing their children to marry elderly men after learning about the illegality of their practices and the community had gone a step further by forming a committee to be in charge of protecting the rights of vulnerable people. 8 Legal Resources Foundation Annual Report 2015 Participants at Chipale primary school, Binga (top and Siyanzundu ward19 Binga (below) with copies of the Declaration of Rights pamphlets in Tonga, English “I was taught that a man has the right to beat his wife and I used to beat my wife thinking that I was doing the right thing but LRF taught me the correct position of the law and now I have since abandoned the practice. I now realize that my wife is also a human being and has feelings just like me.”