After the liberation, the Mugabe government wished to achieve nine years of schooling for every citizen in the country. But the great numbers of youth who would graduate after years of mandatory schooling, encountered a reality that was unable to live up to their expectations of work and prosperity. And thus the Zimbabwean government began a program of education named “Education with production.” The idea was that theoretical and practical training would be joined together, and SAIH financially supported this effort until 2001.

Participation and social mobilization
With the economic downturn in the 1990s and Mugabe’s effort to create a one-party state, the Zimbabwean civil society became increasingly critical to the president and ZANU-PF. The growth of a well-organized and critical civil society played an important role in the fight against corruption and demands of democratization. SAIH’s focus was simultaneously turned towards supporting local organizations whose aim was to achieve increased participation and decisional rights in political processes.

During the fight for liberation, Zimbabwean students played an essential role. Many had to flee into exile. During the first few years after 1980, students were more or less organized, but not wholly active because of the great support of the government. This was to change significantly after the ethnical cleansing in Matabeleland and the ZANU-PF’s absorption of ZAPU-PF in 1987. In 1986 the Zimbabwe National Student Union (ZINASU) was established, and with it came the rise of politically active students, who amongst other things were outspoken in their critique on the Structural Adjustment Programs instated by the World Bank. They also condemned the undergoing privatization and liberalization, the government’s malfunctioning economical management, and various corruption scandals. ZINASU mobilized co-students to great demonstrations.

Hard to be a student
At the same time, it was becoming increasingly hard to be a student as the budgets for education were undergoing severe cuts and systems of scholarships were lacking. ZINASU has thus been fighting for higher education to be attainable for everyone, and is actively engaged in working against government’s threats of privatizing Universities and University Colleges. SAIH’s initial financial support to ZINASU in 1999 was aimed at administrative purposes, but the support was ended because of a lack of financial routines within ZINASU. SAIH did however continue having a good dialogue with ZINASU and the student’s in Zimbabwe, and they made up an important part of SAIH’s the solidarity- and informational work. In 2010 SAIH continued its financial support to ZINASU.

All of the projects that SAIH are currently supporting are contributing to establish a platform for the marginalized parts of community, where they can engage in critical dialogue – something that can be considered a rarity in today’s public discussion in Zimbabwe.

HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive rights
Since the 1980s, SAIH has been concerned with preventing the spread of HIV in Zimbabwe. SAIH is no longer sending doctors or medical personnel to deal with these issues, today SAIH rather concentrates on the training of local youth and students with the challenges that HIV/aids pose, as well as teaching young people about sexual and reproductive rights. It has become apparent that people between the ages of 15 to 24 years are the ones who are most prone to contamination. It also seem as the potential for change is greater when the tutors are considered as their peers, rather than when the training is supplied by people who are in an entirely different life situation.

Management of organizations
Most of the non-governmental organizations in Zimbabwe came about at the end of the 1990s. These organizations are thus still young, and have grown up in a country where traditions for democratic decision-making are lacking. At the same time, these organizations will meet more challenges in the years to come as the state’s capacity to take responsibility for its own people seem to deteriorate. Because non-governmental organizations have an increasingly important role in the Zimbabwean society, they need to be strengthened to become the safety net that people expect them to be. SAIH is a firm believer of organizations that “practice what they preach”, and is therefore supporting the local partners’ own training within democratic organizing and decision-making.