Enhancing Citizen Mobilisation

BULAWAYO – The Zimbabwe Development Democracy Trust (ZDDT) supported flyers advertising resident meetings in Bulawayo, have gone a long way in enhancing citizen mobilisation in Zimbabwe’s second largest city.

ZDDT, which enjoys a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bulawayo City Council, supports councillors organising resident meetings by circulating flyers which reach over 2000 residents per ward.

This ZDDT outreach initiative ensures that almost every household in a ward receives councillors’ notifications of meetings, improving awareness and empowerment of local people who now attend in increasing numbers.

ZDDT, which has an open door policy in its dealings with the city fathers, welcomes councillors who want to be supported by flyers whenever they are having meetings such as feedback and budget consultation meetings.

Bulawayo councillors and Community Action Team (CAT) members, who spoke to ZDDT, appreciated the assistance they are getting from the trust and its development partners making their jobs easier when it comes to rallying the public in the hope that they can air their views and demand accountability from their elected representative.

“We really appreciate the kind of support that we are getting from ZDDT in terms of flyers that advertise our meetings with residents,” said Ward 22 Councillor, Rodney Jele.

“Through ZDDT flyers, our meetings get publicised and as a result people attend in their numbers. I encourage ZDDT to continue supporting us in this.” Ward 27 Councillor, Siboniso Khumalo, also paid tribute to ZDDT for supporting councillors with flyers.

Speaking during a budget consultative meeting in September, Khumalo, said:

“ZDDT is helping us a lot with flyers as we organise resident meetings.”

He added: “This has seen an increase in the number of people who attend meetings because flyers are distributed all over the ward. We would really want to appreciate and thank ZDDT for that.”

Moses Dube, a Ward 9 CAT member, said flyers were proving to be a powerful tool of mobilising residents for development.

“The flyers have come to be a real mobilisation method for people to know what, where to go and when,” said Dube.

“In the flyers, you will find out that there are agendas. If flyers are distributed in time, people get to know in advance what would be discussed in the meetings. They will then make some research and when they come to the meeting, they will know exactly what is required of them.”

Another CAT Member, Bernard Ndlovu of Ward 14, said ZDDT flyers are effective in mobilising people.

“These flyers are very important whenever we call for meetings and we really thank ZDDT for their support,” said Ndlovu.

“These flyers, wherever they are distributed, serve as a reminder to everyone on what is happening in Bulawayo. They can also be credited for the numbers we register at public meetings.”