ZEC develops training materials for boundary delimitation

Building on the successful completion of Zimbabwe’s first BRIDGE train-the-facilitator workshop, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) organized a three-day workshop for twelve ZEC staff members to adapt two global BRIDGE courses and their materials to the context of Zimbabwe. This was the first such module development workshop being conducted in the country.

The two courses cover voter registration and boundary delimitation, reflecting the fact that these will be two major operations that ZEC plans to undertake in 2021. While voter registration in Zimbabwe is continuous, an additional voter registration effort is envisaged for areas where the rate of registration is lower than elsewhere. The delimitation of electoral boundaries is a major exercise that must take place after the 2021 census and completed at least six months before polling in the 2023 elections.

The workshop was run by two of the accredited ZEC BRIDGE facilitators, Ms. Rejoice Sibanda and Ms. Shamiso Chahuruva. In the post-workshop evaluation, 100 percent of respondents stated that the learning will help them improve their work.

ZEC plans to roll out these two courses in early 2021, first for its own staff and then for other stakeholders. These will be a central part of working together with other stakeholders to enhance understanding and achieve consensus around these critical operations in the electoral process.

ZEC organized the workshop with support from the European Union through the UNDP ZIM-ECO project.