The Research and Advocacy Unit [RAU] is an independent, non-governmental organisation. Its Mission is to provide high-quality research for the purposes of relevant and current policy change. RAU is run by a Management Committee composed of experienced researchers and advocacy experts.

RAU’s work to date has focused on three major areas that are important in the current crisis in Zimbabwe: Women, Displacements, and Governance. RAU works with a wide variety of Zimbabwean, regional, and international partners in connection with the above areas. RAU also provides independent analyses of important current issues in Zimbabwe, ranging from elections, the Global Political Agreement, legal matters, etc.

Set up in 2006, RAU has produced over 80 reports and opinion pieces on a wide variety of topics. Some reports are issued in RAU’s own name, whilst others are issued in the name of our partner organisations. RAU is a member of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and has a long-standing partnership with Idasa.

CAPE TOWN - Little more than a year ago, Memory Shiriinorira was a healthy young mother of two. Life was hard, but she had hope, despite the depressing environment of the Epworth slum, just 12km beyond the Harare city centre.

Hope came through the promise of change in Zimbabwe, change promised by the aptly named Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

She made plain her preference for the MDC in the elections of June last year, a choice that was to prove a probable death sentence. Militants of the ruling Zanu-PF rampaged through areas like Epworth, seeking out the "disobedient" individuals who supported, or who were suspected to support, the MDC. Memory was an obvious target.