“This is 150%, it’s wholesome and covers everything.” (in reference to the pamphlets.) “The LRF did well to simplify the law for the people.” “I didn’t know you had an office in Hwange, I am a teacher there and will be sure to visit your offices there to get information for my students regarding their rights.” “This pamphlet on wills is wonderful because I’ve been deliberating on writing one but didn’t know how”. International Women’s Day Under the theme ‘Make it Happen’, the main focus was to raise awareness on women’s constitutional rights, urging the government to make what is on paper ‘happen’. The LRF utilised the mass media through its established networks, with a presentation on women’s rights aired on the national television programme, ‘Good Morning Zimbabwe’. The programme presenter commented that the free legal services were critical in the harsh economic environment where the majority of women cannot afford to pay for them. Day of the AFRICAN Child The LRF commemorated the Day of the African Child under the theme ‘25 Years After the Adoption of the African Children’s Charter: Accelerating Our Collective Efforts to End Child Marriage in Africa’. A press statement explaining the dangers of child marriage and its effects on the girl child was circulated and the Government was urged to enforce the Constitution, which sets the age of marriage at 18 for both girls and boys. The LRF joined Action Aid Zimbabwe in training NGO partners and CBOs in advocacy and lobbying skills to use in pushing for respect of children’s rights. Impact The LRF carried out impact assessments to see if such annual commemorations make any difference to the communities’ lives. Focus group discussions in Bocha (Manicaland) five 28 Legal Resources Foundation Annual Report 2015 months after the International Women’s Day commemorations revealed that most programmes in the area were livelihoods-based and no other organisation had visited their area to raise awareness on women’s rights. Domestic violence cases were now being referred to the LRF or the police and participants asked the organisation to come up with strategies to encourage men to attend awareness raising campaigns as they were usually the perpetrators of abuse against women and children. The pamphlets that were distributed were said to be very useful and were shared with others in the community. Evaluations conducted four months after the commemoration on the Day of the African Child engaged children and teachers, asking what they learnt. Both groups could recall the children’s rights which had been highlighted at the commemoration and had shared the knowledge with colleagues in their community. Teachers from the seven schools who had attended had organised parents and community leaders’ meetings to lobby them on children’s rights, especially the right to education. The teachers took the opportunity to ask the LRF to organise a community leaders’ workshop to encourage their communities to value education and support children to access their rights. Annual Advocacy Campaign Apart from ongoing advocacy the LRF undertakes one major advocacy campaign and in 2014 this was research into the challenges faced by those living outside Harare and Bulawayo when their matters need to be heard in the High Court. The findings recommend measures such as increasing the frequency of circuit High Courts and increasing the jurisdiction of the Magistrates’ Court. The report on the decentralisation of the High Court was submitted to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). It was positively received and the JSC has indicated that plans are underway to start the process of decentralisation in 2016. The 2015 campaign is on the issue of child rights, particularly corporal punishment. The LRF decided to concentrate on this topic after it emerged that many, including parents and teachers, were feeling that children’s rights were now overriding customs and traditions.