By: Innocent Mawire, Programme Officer, Harare Office
From 22 to 23 June 2026, RWI is hosting a two-day Human Rights Teaching Methodology Workshop at Cresta Lodge in Harare, bringing together law lecturers from Zimbabwe’s five law faculties to strengthen approaches to human rights education. The workshop seeks to enhance pedagogical skills and strengthen approaches to teaching human rights in higher education institutions in the country.
The workshop offers a valuable forum for local legal academics to share experiences, reflect on effective teaching methodologies, and explore innovative approaches to human rights education, particularly in the digital age, where information technology plays an increasingly central role in teaching, learning, and knowledge dissemination. Dr. Alejandro Fuentes, a Senior Researcher from the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, together with Dr. Amanda Mugadza, the Executive Dean at the Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Law School at Midlands State University are facilitating discussions at the workshop.
A key feature of the workshop is engagement around the forthcoming publication of a locally developed Human Rights Education textbook. The textbook, currently under development with chapter contributions from local legal academics, is part of RWI’s efforts to institutionalise human rights education in Zimbabwe and is expected to become a foundational resource for teaching and learning human rights in higher education institutions.
The development of a locally grounded textbook is particularly significant in the context of Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitution, which introduced an expanded Declaration of Rights and strengthened the country’s human rights framework. A resource that reflects Zimbabwe’s legal, social, and constitutional realities will support more relevant, contextualised, and impactful human rights education for both lecturers and students.
By investing in the capacity of educators and developing locally relevant teaching resources, this initiative contributes to building a stronger culture of human rights knowledge, policy, practice, as well as promotion and protection in Zimbabwe.
The workshop is being implemented under RWI’s Zimbabwe Human Rights Capacity Development Programme with financial support from the Embassy of Sweden in Zimbabwe.
Read more about RWI’s work in Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Programme – The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law