Legal Education Programme A fundamental objective of the founding trustees in 1984 was to address the prevailing knowledge gap, whereby most people in the recently independent Zimbabwe had little or no access to information on their rights and responsibilities. Thirty years later, the straitened circumstances of the State means that this remains a critical thrust for the LRF, as it endeavours to build awareness amongst the population and give the marginalised and vulnerable confidence that they too may seek legal advice and representation to solve their problems. A key focus during this year was the new Constitution, and the LRF has concentrated on discussing the contents with communities, particularly the Declaration of Rights, and the implications of the inclusion of socio-economic and cultural rights. Participants showed keen interest in learning about the rights enshrined in the Constitution. One result observed was a growing confidence to challenge abuse of authority where this has impinged on people’s rights. An example was a group of 20 farmers who brought a property rights case after attending an outreach on the Declaration of Rights in Beatrice. They were being threatened with arbitrary eviction from their land by an influential politician. The LRF is assisting them to challenge the unlawful action of the politician. LRF Lawyer addressing women on their constitutional rights The LRF has embarked on systematic mapping of its geographic coverage as well as of the topics discussed, with the objective of reaching communities that have not previously benefitted from LRF programmes. In the last half of the current year, 35% of outreaches were in new areas, as were 73% of the one-day community leaders’ workshops. Urban 31% Distribuon of legal educaon parcipants by gender Figure 3: Figure 2: Figure 1: Females 58% Urban 25% Distribuon workshop parcipants locaon Distribuon of legal educaon parcipants by locaon Males 42% Rural 69% Apart from providing baselines for the LRF to evaluate its impact more effectively, this has also facilitated in identifying the special needs of communities. Manicaland had observed the effects of early marriages practiced amongst the Johanne Marange Apostolic sect and as a result mounted an education campaign in Marange district. The Centre then received 38 cases from Marange, three of which involved child abuse. In one case a father purportedly married off his daughter to an older man who was a police officer. The father was seeking to get two head of cattle as lobola for the 14-year-old girl, who was pregnant at the time that the Centre intervened. Transport to and from venues continued to be a challenge, particularly when reaching out to new areas where access through public transport was difficult. Mobilisation of people in remote areas also tended to be demanding logistically but staff have mitigated these difficulties through establishing working relationships with other organisations already operating in target districts. One such collaboration, with Plan International, focused on raising awareness on children’s rights amongst the Shangaan people who hold strong cultural beliefs which infringe the rights of children, with the result that generally there is no respect for the rights of children. The education work used different methodologies: outreach sessions aimed at community groups, oneday community leaders’ workshops, and conversation cafés targeting youths. 7