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NANGO honours ZLHR's Petras as director of the year
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
November 07, 2011

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) welcomes the honour bestowed on Irene Petras, the organisation's Executive Director, who was awarded the prestigious National Association of Non Governmental Organisations (NANGO) 2011 Director of the Year Award at the weekend.

Petras scooped the 2011 Director of the Year Award at a glitzy ceremony organised by NANGO in Kariba during the NGO Directors' Summer School, which was held from Friday 4 November to Sunday 6 November 2011. Petras received a commemorative plaque for winning the Director of the Year Award.

The Directors' Summer School is an annual event organised by NANGO bringing together directors from NGOs operating in Zimbabwe to reflect on their work, discuss the way forward as civil society and issue statements targeted at the development of Zimbabwe among other things.

Petras has been providing leadership for ZLHR as a whole and leadership in the individual projects that the influential human rights organisation runs. She said she felt humbled by the honour bestowed on her by NANGO and paid tribute to her team at ZLHR which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year for working tirelessly to defend human rights and to foster a culture of human rights in the country.

"This honour would not have been possible if it was not for the great team that I have all around the country, and the dedication, energy and enthusiasm that they show when going about the work of the organisation. So the award is not mine, but ours. We can take courage from the acknowledgement which our peers have provided to renew our strength and to serve our beneficiaries and stakeholders. There may be dark days ahead as we approach elections, but together I am sure we can continue to make a difference to the lives of our fellow Zimbabweans and to our country at large," said Petras.

She has been a target of vilification by the State-controlled media and State security agents who on Friday 20 May harassed her together with other Civil Society Organisation (CSO) leaders at the SADC Extra-Ordinary Summit held in Windhoek, Namibia.

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