It was on the crest of a wave of change Zimbabwe was experiencing in 2020 that Dr McDonald Lewanika found himself ready to change tack. Years of direct non-violent action had done the backbreaking work of earning Zimbabwe a new constitution, and  other democratic concessions, while a military assisted transition had led to leadership changes at the top of the state and ruling party ticket.  It seemed a good time to find a process that matched the guarded optimism in the air. 

“Over years of introspection, I had come to the conclusion that a lot of what we were doing as civil society was not necessarily wrong, but was insufficient in producing the kind of results that we were looking for. I was constantly reminded that we should not turn into what we were fighting against  because the people didn’t know anything else or any other way.” he reflects.

“What Accountability Lab brought to the table was a different way of doing activism and development, trying to engage people on the strength of positive narrative building, showing people what is good, not just what is bad. And as a result, give us something to aspire to”.

It felt like a good time to build. Supporting bright spots both inside and outside of government – whether celebrating exceptional public servants or supporting socially conscious artists – was the fresh approach the moment called for. Four years later, and the Accountability Lab Regional Director for Southern Africa is still convinced that positive deviance, building unlikely networks and bottom-up approaches are the way to go.

Dr Lewanika sees the work of changing norms and behaviours as future-focused work. The long game of building accountability ecosystems and expanding influence across spheres that results in behaviour change takes time. 

His enthusiasm for these approaches is evident in how Accountability Lab Zimbabwe actively brings together unlikely collaborators from their own programs, such as artists and community activists. By guiding the green shoots of seemingly disparate projects and participants, the Lab creates space for creative collaboration and innovative solutions. 

“Some people [previous participants] are continuing to do the work in interesting ways and coming up with new initiatives, different from the ones that we supported initially,” he says.

“But that’s the idea. We give you a set of tools which you can use to guide you in the development of ideas as you move on in life. It’s about expanding the accountability terrain, it’s about ecosystem building”.

An exciting part of the work for Lewanika is in experimenting and trying to advance some of the work that comes out of Accountability Lab’s programs and campaigns. In particular, the unscripted, context specific demands that require effective engagement with policymakers on account of real life situations. 

“When you see the work of Civic Action Teams rise beyond the community level and saying ‘Okay, this is a problem in this community but it cannot be solved at this level. So, we are now going to elevate it and for us to do that, we need these policymakers in the room to engage.’ That’s been really exciting for me,” he says.

This love for flexible building by consistently weaving in learning and observations, extends to Lewanika’s leadership approach and future regional plans for Accountability Lab.

Using the allegory of a farm, he describes how each member of staff – no matter their position or responsibility – has a role to play in the success of the organization, and that it is vital that people are put in positions that play to their strengths. Lewanika makes a deliberate effort to understand the strengths of his team, even if those strengths fall outside of the position they were hired for. 

“Who is identifying the land within which cultivation is to take place? Once it has been identified, who’s going to clear it so that those who plant are able to plant. Then, who will do the watering? And these will be based on skills – you might be a good field identifier, knowledgeable in soil types and what is best to plant, but if we ask you to plant, or dig, we would just be setting you  up for failure,” he explains. 

“And sometimes you get someone to dig, who turns out to be exceptional at tending and harvesting but less so at digging. That person should be allowed to work to their strengths to contribute optimally towards success.”

This intentional team building practice has paid dividends, resulting in a low staff turnover and a well-capacitated team that allows him to explore opportunities to extend the accountability ecosystem across the Southern African region. He aims to establish a formidable regional program that focuses on building learning coalitions, and that platforms people who are doing work at a local level to regional spaces. It will also be a thought leadership institution covering key issues such as climate action, natural resource governance, democracy and governance itself, digital governance, and inclusion. 

He emphasises that global advocacy on accountability and the global fight for corruption needs to be locally informed and grounded by creating platforms for learning across space and themes. Accountability Lab Zimbabwe has been contributing towards this through their learning facilitation work. From partnering with the BHP Foundation for the Partners Learning eXchange Dialogues (PLxD) with organizations like RESOLVE, Conservation International, Landesa, and University of Queensland, to facilitation work in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa with the Community Smart Ownership and Consent project’s Resource Exchange.

The journey of contributing to democratic breakthroughs and consolidation has been one of mixed fortunes, especially because people limit their imagination around what democracy is and what it can deliver. In light of popular assertions around its lack of delivery, he shares that “part of what we need to challenge ourselves to do is to think beyond the electoral elements of what is called liberal democracy, to a more substantive form of democracy that speaks to and is geared towards delivering substantive outcomes. We need to rethink what democracy means and how we can operationalize it. Part of that rethinking is also about decolonizing the discourse and allowing everyone to participate  to develop a conceptual framework or conceptual thinking that is understood and informed by the different voices and actors involved, and that speaks to their conceptions of bread and butter issues,” he says.

As large swathes of young people are expressing their discontent with democracy’s inability to deliver, Dr Lewanika has spoken at length about how systems attempting to only do lip service to the majority’s needs will fail. He laments that because of limited framing of democracy, and its association with agents, the bulk of what is seen as democratic failure is just the failings of humans entrusted with pushing forward the democracy project. 

“A reimagination needs to take place. One that is global but also informed by our peculiarities,” he says.

“How do we put infrastructure in place that ensures that young people are in charge on the African continent because they are the vast majority of the people, but also benefit from the wisdom and experience of those who come before them and occupy critical spaces of management and leadership?”

In trying to find systems that are truly inclusive and representative, Lewanika’s level of curiosity in answering the question of how people’s aspirations and interests can be better channeled into governance is the next wave we all need to get on

Samina Anwary