(San Francisco, USA) by Anam Haque

On May 20th, Executive Director of the Research Advocacy Unit (RAU) Kuda Chitsike, spoke at an IANGEL-sponsored talk in San Francisco, concerning RAU’s report on Early/Child Marriage in the Goromonzi district. Chitsike explained the implications of the report and RAU’s other initiatives, including the documentation of sexual violence, engaging women in governance and innovative uses of technology for parliamentary monitoring. The event was graciously hosted by Hanson Bridgett LLP in San Francisco.  

The Research Advocacy Unit, located in Harare Zimbabwe, produces significant research through their Women’s Programme.

In partnership with nearly three dozen non-governmental agencies in Zimbabwe, the RAU is working to impact legislation on early and child marriage. The consortium hopes to see significant gains in the current legislative session. IANGEL has partnered with RAU and its consortium colleagues to this end. 

RAU previously partnered with Witness, a US-based international organization that trains and supports people using video in their fight for human rights. Through their collaboration, Witness and RAU created videos about politically motivated sexual violence in Zimbabwe.  

At the May briefing, RAU’s Executive Director showed the video:

Hear Us: Zimbabwean Women Affected by Political Violence

Update (September 2015):  Through IANGEL, RAU was connected with an international law firm that was able to provide 88.2 pro bono hours to their child marriage project, valued at approximately $35,300 during the period from June through August 2015.  This pro bono service contribution resulted in RAU’s publication in August 2015 on Marriage Laws and the mandated age of consent in The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region, available online here.