By: Peacewell Makhurane, Junior Programme Officer, Harare Office
This week from 7 to 10 October 2025, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS), is conducting a training focusing on international prison standards particularly, the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules) and the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules). The participants are 20 ZPCS trainers drawn from the staff college and recruit training school, who are responsible for delivering initial training for newly recruited staff and in-service training programmes and refresher courses for serving staff.
This training aims at enhancing the knowledge and skills of ZPCS trainers on key human rights issues and the practical application of international prison standards within their work.
A training of trainers will be conducted later this year, focusing on equipping these trainers with effective training methodologies to enable them to design and deliver interactive, participatory sessions on human rights and the practical application of these standards in their day to day work.
The training of trainers for ZPCS facilitators supports the institutionalisation of international prison standards within the organisation by equipping trainers who will continue to educate recruits and in-service staff through internal training programs. This ongoing capacity building enhances ZPCS’s ability to effectively manage inmates while aligning its operations with human rights principles and international prison standards.
The training forms part of a cooperation programme between RWI and ZPCS aiming at supporting the continued integration of international prison standards into the work of ZPCS. The cooperation with ZPCS falls under the wider RWI Zimbabwe Human Rights Capacity Development Programme, funded by Sweden.
