Protecting, Promoting and Enforcing Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom 11. Assessment With support from government and funding partners, the ZHRC achieved a lot in respect to human rights promotion, protection and enforcement in Zimbabwe. The year 2015 saw the operationalization of the Gender and Women's Rights, Environmental Rights and the Special Interest Thematic Working Group. In the field of human rights promotion, the ZHRC managed to raise awareness on its existence and its mandate through commemorations such as the International Human Rights Day, the International Women's Day celebrations and exhibitions at gatherings organized by other organizations. Such platforms gave the ZHRC an opportunity to educate the public about the Declaration of Rights, communicating its mandate and functions through distribution of visibility materials on human rights issues. During the year under review, the ZHRC staff and commissioners were capacitated to effectively promote, protect and enforce human rights. The development of the complaints handling manual is one such important achievement for the Commission in 2015, considering that complaints handling and investigation is the core business of the ZHRC. The availability of the manual ensured existence of a uniformed and professional procedure in handling of human rights complaints. Indeed, the ZHRC has managed to effectively deal with complaints being brought before the Commission and those inherited from the defunct Public Protector Office. In addition, the development of human rights education, promotion and research, and monitoring and inspection frameworks are equally important in the promotion and protection of human rights by the ZHRC. The frameworks guide the work of the Commission so much so that everyone acting on behalf of the Commission have a common understanding and do the work at hand systematically, and in accordance with the ZHRC Strategic Plan 2015-2020, the Baseline Survey and International Human Rights Instruments and best practices. The work of the Commission has not been without challenges. The mandate to handle complaints has been haunted by challenges, chief among them being lack of responses from certain government departments. Maladministration is common in some government departments and parastatals however, when asked to respond to allegations of maladministration, some have chosen not to respond or to address the issues at hand. This makes it difficult for the Commission to effectively handle certain cases to their logical conclusion. It is anticipated that continuous engagement will yield positive results as the Commission continues to make all stakeholders aware and understand the mandate of complaints handling and investigations. 50 Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Annual Report 2015