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Herald Reporter

Parliament yesterday signed three memoranda of understanding with ActionAid Zimbabwe, Silveira House and Women in Law Southern Africa as part of a programme to partner with non-governmental organisations.

Since the beginning of the year, Parliament has signed such agreements with 16 organisations to capacitate the institution and parliamentarians to carry out their oversight role.

Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda said the parties should ensure that the agreements lead to the improvement of citizens’ lives.

“I expect to see periodic streams of implementable and actualised programmes of action that will be continually monitored and evaluated,” he said.

“Such programmes of action must have a direct bearing on the qualitative lives of citizenry.

“In this way, the parties to the MoUs will carry relevance to the populace from whom Parliament derives its oversight, representative and legislative roles.”

ActionAid country director Mr Joey Mabenge said the agreement formalised work they were already doing with Parliament and pledged to use their experience in fighting for justice and poverty eradication.

The director of Silveira House, Father Arnold Moyo said they had entered into the agreement to ensure that MPs fulfilled their mandate as representative of the people through training.

Silveira House’s mandate includes promoting peace and empowerment of vulnerable groups.

WILSA’s director Mrs Faith Traquino said the agreement would facilitate the promotion of the law to ensure gender equality and promotion of rights of women and girls.