"Many Hands Make Light Work" - The Masvingo Research on Human Responsibility

Extract from ’Many hands make light work’ - research report from Masvingo province in Southern Zimbabwe - in the process of producing (appropriating the concept of responsibility) a community and grassroots appreciation and response to the Charter for Human Responsibility, which is now in the form of a community mobilization book. The book was published in 2005.

The Charter text/pretext was utilised as a ’generating instrument’ for the design of the research and the training of researchers.

Objective of the research

  to gather and understand different responsibilities played by individual family members and differefnt organisations
  to get a common understanding of responsibility from communities at large
  outlining and visualising the advantages and disadvantages of responsibility
  instilling and building courage and confidence in people on different responsibilities

Research background

The research was carried out in the districts namely, Chiredzi, Chivi and Zaka. The following areas were covered in Zaka: Ward 1, we covered Chipinda area, Ward 2, we covered Muroyi and Bvukurura areas. Some members were interviewed in Svuure Ward and Siyawareva. Research assistants from Zaka were Bungu Emully and Edson Garudzo.

Regis Madzivadondo and Mrs Juliana Chikandiwa carried another research in Chivi. They covered Madamombe in Ward 2 in Mavuka village and Chikwetye village. Ward 13 in Takavarasha. They also interviewed people.

In Chiredzi district, Mrs L Mahuni and Simon K Chipare, the artist, carried out the research. They covered the following areas: Ward 6 and people from Sangwe area.

A number of participants were involved, with many women contributing more than men. It was a belief for men to be more superior to women but these days, gender balance counts.

In Zaka district we covered forty participants: Edson Garudzo and the other by Bungu covered twenty. The age range was from 10 years to 80 years. We interviewed school children, teachers, kraal heads, councillors, village members, church leaders, civil servants, DDF staff, business men and women. This was also done in Chiredzi and Chivi Districts respectively. All in all the number of participants we interviewed was more than a hundred.

Although we ddid not face many difficulties, there were a few who did not contribute, not because they did not want to, but for fear of victimization by other [community] members later. Nevertheless, the research went smoothly.

Lowlights and limitations

In anything done problems are faced, so we encountereed some problems although they were few. Some of them are as follows.

  Many people thought at first that we wanted to form another political party.
  Some people under-rated us for the research we carried out.
  Some people were jealous of our work.
  Some areas there were transport problems hence we had to foot.
  Some people were not to answer questions and some gave negative answers.
  We were totally stopped by one government official due to the misinterpretation of the NGO Bill.
  Some meetings were postponed due to the campaigning meetings, which were being held.
  The transport expenses were very high.

Highlights

Success breeds success. We managed to do our research well. To fulfil this, here are some few points to not for our achievements:

  Many people including the local leaders gave us moral support to continue writing more books.
  As we operated in our own areas, it was easy to identify people.
  Some of the participants were able to read and write.
  We reached willing communities, which gave enough information on responsibility.
  Many people enjoyed art-work so the drawing were not hard to get.
  People did not mind the long distances they had to travel because they enjoyed the research.
  People were pleased with the research as it gave them a chance to sharpen their minds and adding skills.
  We managed to have one of the newly appointed councillors who was supportive and researched well.