Summary of the project
The project intends to foster dialogue and conflict resolution between different groups and parties on the Archipelago of Zanzibar as part of the United Republic of Tanzania and to overcome the trenches that have been created in recent years. The action will restart the dialogue between political parties and other key stakeholders - regardless of which political party affiliation they have. Conflicts that have arisen are to be resolved and a future exacerbation of the situation is to be prevented. A particular focus is put on working with women and youth active in the political landscape or affiliated to a political party to strengthen their participation and capacity for conflict resolution.
A peaceful political environment and process towards conflict resolution on the island of Zanzibar is only possible when the trust that is so badly lacking between the different political actors, their supporters and politically interested community members, is starting to grow. For this to happen, joint capacity building for members from different parties, focusing on women and youth who are often underrepresented and under-trained in Tanzanian politics, to help them develop joint strategies for communicating with each other, with citizens and for dealing with local issues is needed to create a joint space and the sense of a common purpose. Creating or joining a cross-party dialogue platform will ensure that these dialogues become institutionalized and will help with the sustainability of the action. Building on these capacity building and cross-party dialogue measures, the project will reach out to the wider community and ensure that political leaders are engaged in regular cross-party dialogue and with civil society, religious leaders and communities through roundtables, conflict resolution workshops, innovative engagement measures such as football tournaments, radio programmes and a dialogue and conflict mitigation summit.
Objective
The overall objective of the action is to contribute to conflict resolution and a peaceful political environment in Zanzibar. While the specific objective is to increase mutual trust between different political actors, their supporters and politically interested community members.
Outcomes
The action supports the realization of the following outcomes:
- Political actors are capacitated to engage in a trust-building dialogue with each other as well as with civil society and community leaders to jointly look for solutions to local problems
- Political actors are engaged in regular cross-party dialogue and communications with civil society, religious leaders and communities