2013

My name is Jestina Mukoko, I am a citizen of Zimbabwe born 46 years ago. The youngest girl in a family of eight made up of six boys and two girls. I lost my father at five and as a result recognized the importance of the role that women play since my mother was left to fend for the 5 children who were still young. History has a strange way of repeating itself. I lost my husband when my son was four and he is 22 years old now.

For over a decade I thought broadcast journalism was my second skin. My transition happened in 2000 when I was on a task in the southern part of Zimbabwe as a broadcast journalist. In interviews with survivors of the Matebelelend massacres of the 1980s made up mainly of women and children, their harrowing experiences became secondary trauma on my part and left me with an indelible mark, which is a keen interest in human rights.

Since 2007 I have been at the helm of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, an organization that uses a unique model to monitor and document politically motivated human rights abuses. Since the conception of the organization in 2000 two peace monitors who are committed, dedicated and have an interest in seeing sustainable peace in Zimbabwe have been deployed at any one time in all the electoral constituencies of Zimbabwe. This strong network of men and women has a vision of sustainable peace and justice for all in Zimbabwe. Since there is a presence of peace monitors throughout the country, on a monthly basis the Zimbabwe Peace Project produces a monthly report that enables the organization to analyse trends and patterns to produce critical information that can be used by stakeholders. Before joining Zimbabwe Peace Project, I was with the Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust an organization working to foster a culture of tolerance.

The Zimbabwe Peace Project has accorded me the opportunity to amplify the voices of many citizens whose rights have been violated.

The Zimbabwe Peace Project has accorded me the opportunity to amplify the voices of many citizens whose rights have been violated. For doing this work my fingers have been burnt. In 2008 I was abducted, tortured and kept incommunicado for 21 days before I was committed to a Maximum Security prison for a further 68 days on a "charge" of wanting to overthrow a constitutionally elected government. I was cleared when the constitutional court ruled that my rights had been violated by the state through its agents. Since lightening is known to strike twice, at beginning of 2013 our offices were raided and I was subsequently charged for operating an illegal organization despite the fact that the Zimbabwe Peace Project is registered as a Trust under Zimbabwean law.

Institutions at home and worldwide have not been blind to the work that ZPP does. In 2009 I was awarded the City of Weimer Human Rights Prize, in the same year I landed the National Association of Non Governmental Organisations Peace Prize, I was an honoree of the US Secretary of State International Women of Courage Award in 2010 and the French Legion of Honor admitted me in 2011.

2015

Jestina Mukoko works for the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) in the capital city of Harare. In reflecting on her experience Jestina credits the Centre for Applied Human Rights' Protective Fellowship Scheme for fostering a new and positive change in not only her professional life but her ability to manage the personal and emotional impact of being a human rights advocate.

The impact of the fellowship programme on her professional life has been extraordinary. Jestina credits the knowledge and experience she gained on the programme for reinvigorating her efforts to build on the work being carried out by the ZPP. Prior to commencing the programme Jestina admits that her organisation was primarily concerned with monitoring and documenting issues related to conflict in the country. There was no significant focus placed on building the community and supporting its growth and development out of conflict that would enable "intercommunity healing". Jestina explains that the Protective Fellowship Scheme introduced her to new ways of thought and allowed her to realise important facets of community and social development that her organisation could be fostering for the people affected by conflict in her country. Jestina notes, "The fellowship opened my mind to the opportunities that were there to work with Zimbabwean communities". Since completing the Fellowship Jestina explains that her contributions to the overall growth of the ZPP has led to them engaging in community peace building initiatives - which is new for the organisation. She further explains that her fellowship has helped to change the ZPP by encouraging them to "interact more with the communities recognising that a community that is coming out of a conflict needs a lot of participants." She further notes that the "community peace building initiative is part of this. This is happening in preparation of the establishment of the peace and reconciliation commission so as to avoid mistakes made in Rwanda."

In addition to helping to reconfigure the profile of the ZPP to include community development initiatives, alongside its monitoring and documentation objective, Jestina has also utilised her training in security and risk management. She has conducted multiple training sessions with her colleagues at ZPP based on seminar sessions she attended at CAHR on how to develop an institutional security plan. She also developed a training session based on her human rights defenders at risk training. She believes that this training has prepared her organisation's employees and volunteers to live safer as human rights defenders at risk.

The fellowship opened my mind to the opportunities that were there to work with Zimbabwean communities.

While on the programme Jestina accomplished a great deal. In addition to achieving a Post Graduate Certificate in Defending Human Rights she also signed a publishing contract. Jestina explains that the manuscript was "a product of the Centre – I don't think I would be where I am now with the manuscript if it wasn't for the Centre." Her published work will chronicle her experiences as a human rights advocate working in Zimbabwe and will also highlight the stories of other advocates who have faced abduction and other abuses as a result of their work. In recognition of the impact that CAHR has had on her ability to prepare this manuscript, Jestina intends to revisit the Centre as part of her promotional tour so that she can continue to share the experiences of the many defenders fighting for the human rights of others in Zimbabwe. She believes that once her book is published about "100 000 [people] would be impacted by the experience I had at York."

Jestina further acknowledges that the creative aspect of the fellowship programme allowed her to emotionally and artistically explore her life's experience as a human rights advocate. "The best aspect of the fellowship was allowing us to be innovative and also with the artist in residence the sessions were excellent and products that came out of it were very good … It was great work... I had a block in my mind and it melted that block and allowed me to work on that experience. It also encouraged me to think creatively. I had never thought I could write in the way those sessions got me to write." Thanks to her work with CAHR's artist in residence she was able to implement a programme of institutional memory building at ZPP.

In a final assessment of her experience on the HRD Fellowship Programme Jestina states: "It allowed me to realise that - even if I thought that I was emotionally drained when I arrived in York - to recognise that the problems are not only in Zimbabwe but all over the world. I got comfort in knowing that I was not alone in what I was experiencing. The exchange of information was really powerful... The exposure we had, going to Dublin for Front Line Defenders' Dublin Platform and all the events that were organised in the UK was really good. It meant that the fellowship was not only one way focused but was multipronged." For Jestina, the Protective Fellowship Scheme created a positive change for her life and reinvigorated her commitment to human rights advocacy.

Jestina was interviewed by CAHR staff in August 2015.