Democracy and Governance

Where communication and media are central to Democracy and Governance


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Eyes on Zimbabwe

Country

Zimbabwe

Programme Summary

A project of the Open Society Institute (OSI), Eyes on Zimbabwe is a web-based advocacy campaign designed to raise awareness of the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Zimbabwe. In anticipation of the country's 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections, the project launched a blog and online social networking outreach programme intended to inform and involve people around the world to speak out against rights abuses in the country.

    Communication Strategies

    To raise awareness and inspire action, OSI created the Eyes on Zimbabwe portal for individuals to learn about the crisis in Zimbabwe and to take action in support of the people of Zimbabwe. According to the organisers, the centerpiece of the effort is 'Zimbabwe: The Fight to Free a Country,' which organisers describe as a video documenting the abuses of the government through the words and images of the Zimbabwean people which "combines footage from inside Mugabe's police state with testimony from torture survivors, activists, and lawyers who have witnessed the regime's repression first hand."

    To help share information about the situation in Zimbabwe, the website provides:

    · the eight-and-a-half minute documentary video;

    · a 30-second preview video with embedding code;

    · a detailed summary of the crisis in Zimbabwe;

    · a timeline of events leading up to the current state of affairs in Zimbabwe; and

    · graphics with embedding code linking to the video.

    The website also features links to additional information resources, such as news articles and a petition and letter to the United Nations (UN) that people can fill in online. This petition urges the UN Security Council (UNSC) to investigate human rights abuses, monitor the upcoming elections, and convene a UNSC meeting to address the situation in Zimbabwe.

    People are invited to spread the word about the campaign, and to include links to the online portal from their own website. The project blog aims to provide up to date information about the situation in the country.

    Development Issues

    Democracy and Governance.

    Contact

    Paul Silva
    Open Society Institute (OSI)

    400 West 59th Street

    New York NY
    10019
    United States
    Tel: 212 548 0600

    Source

    Eyes on Zimbabwe website on December 6 2007 and June 9 2008.


    Placed on the Communication Initiative site December 06 2007
    Last Updated June 11 2009



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