Trained volunteers are positively impacting on the lives of people in their communities. Two volunteers trained by the LRF an impact in Epworth that will reverberate for generations to come. The two empowered residents to demand their rights from duty bearers and to engage them on governance issues.
Residents in Ward Seven, Epworth in Harare feared being evicted from the land they occupied because it was not regularised by the Epworth Local Board. However, after they received training on their rights and how to engage with the authorities to demand their rights, the residents chose committee members to approach the local authority to negotiate for the regularisation of the land.
Epworth is a hotbed for poverty and corruption as local authorities capitalise on the ignorance of the poor to deprive them of their rights including unreasonable and illegal evictions.
Armed with negotiating and lobbying skills, residents approached the local authority, councillors and their MP in a bid to have the land regularised so that they could build permanent home structures for their families and descendents without fear of eviction. They were successful.
The area was regularised and stands were officially surveyed and those whose places were unfortunate to fall in the paths of electric poles, roads and sewer systems were relocated to appropriate places without much ado.
Residents can now sleep easy knowing that they have officially secured places to build homes for their families and descendants.
