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Students Leading Change: Evaluating the SAIH Support for Zimbabwe and the Norway Campaign of 2009‐2014
Attack on students in Zimbabwe started back in the late nineties. During the economic down fall, the student movement became one of the main critics of the governments, particularly raising their concern for corruption in the government. Students viewed the government as corrupt and not willing or able to allocate sufficient funding towards the education sector. Anti-privatization demonstrations gained momentum around the year 2000. Arrests, threats and kidnappings of students increased in this period. At that time the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change was formed, in which the student movement Zimbabwe National Student Union (ZINASU) was instrumental in setting up. In order to respond to the great number of arrested and expelled students, ZINASU set up a desk to respond to the needs of the affected students. In 2002 an organisation called Student Solidarity Trust (SST) was formed to work full time on support to victimized students. During the Unity Government (2009-2013), attacks on students were relatively low compared to previous years under the ZANU-PF government. SAIH has supported ZINASU in the late nineties, and occasionally up till 2010. However, since 2010 SAIH has given financial support to ZINASU on yearly basis. SAIH has supported SST since its inception in 2002.