The
National Association of Youth Organizations (NAYO) through the Defending Youth
Agency (DeYA) held the first training on Legislative Advocacy for the youth in
Harare on the 24th of January 2019. As civic space continues to be restricted
for both the youth and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) it was regarded a
noble cause for NAYO to light up the spirit of Defending Youth Agency. With the
objective of allowing the youth to learn on how best to push for the laws that
are of interest specifically to the youth through the Parliament processes, the
inception of the Defending Youth Agency (DeYA) began with the training on
Legislative Advocacy.
The Legislative Advocacy training being the first cohort for Harare and with another one on the cards for Bulawayo, was a ripe opportunity for the youth to share experiences and best practices on how they can safe guard the shrinking civic space in Zimbabwe. With such laws as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Private Voluntary Organizations (PVO) Act still in place, the full realization and enjoyment of the rights to freedom of association, assembly and expression continues to be affected as these have not received any legislative reforms in some time.
The Legislative Advocacy Training Participants
The
training came at the right time as the youth in Zimbabwe are the mostly
affected sector in the face of economic hardships as well as the continued
closure on the right to expression, assembly and association as enshrined in
the National Constitution under sections 58, 59 and 61 among others.
Civic Space and Agency was
described as the political, legislative, social and economic environment that
allows citizens to come together, to share their concerns, their grievances and
act individually and collectively to shape their policy making. The Legislative
environment was regarded as the combination of the laws and Policies of the
Country. The social environment was described as how people live in communities
and how they relate as humans. The key point underlined was that these
environments enable or hinder Citizens to come together and take action after
sharing their concerns. With issues of Civic Space, it was noted that there has
to be enablers which allow Citizens to come together, share their experiences
and collectively take action or individually.
On the Political space, the training participants noted that as the youth they did not have this particular space and were not represented meaningfully as a result of the top-bottom approach by the Politicians as the Politics rule the law and politics having taken control of everything and overriding the law. The social division and erosion of the social fabric has tremendously affected the youth hence it was noted that the youth are divided and not in the social space mainly because of political affiliations. It was also noted that Civic Space encourages Citizens to pursue multiple and some-times competing views. Participatory Governance was also highlighted as a key pillar in Civic space as this space allows for these checks and balances.
The three cardinal Pillars of Civic Space were noted as:
On the Political space, the training participants noted that as the youth they did not have this particular space and were not represented meaningfully as a result of the top-bottom approach by the Politicians as the Politics rule the law and politics having taken control of everything and overriding the law. The social division and erosion of the social fabric has tremendously affected the youth hence it was noted that the youth are divided and not in the social space mainly because of political affiliations. It was also noted that Civic Space encourages Citizens to pursue multiple and some-times competing views. Participatory Governance was also highlighted as a key pillar in Civic space as this space allows for these checks and balances.
The three cardinal Pillars of Civic Space were noted as:
- Freedom
of Association the Citizens’ right to organize and collectively engage
with the Public and political sphere to pursue their shared objectives
- Freedom
of Assembly the Citizens’ right to come together publicly or privately
to advocate collective interests
- Freedom
of Expression (Section 61) the Citizens’ right to have equal access to
multiple sources of information, intellectual tools to form diverse opinions
and public forum to express alternative view points and speak out against
perceived injustices without being arrested.
A Youth Working group was formed as the
Training attendees volunteered to be part of the initiative which will
spear-head the advocacy work on civic space. The National
Association of Youth Organizations (NAYO) Board Secretary, Dr Prolific Mataruse
gave the closing remarks to mark the end of the Legislative Advocacy Training.
Dr. Mataruse thanked all the participants for attending this important training
which allowed the youth to learn and share experiences on how best as the youth
they can push for the laws that are of interest to them through the Parliament
processes, engaging the National Assembly, Members of the National House of
Assembly and even the Senate among others.
Ronald Tatenda Magomo.
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