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Zimbabwean named Rotary Peace Fellow
Shadreck Nembaware
July 16, 2013

Nixon Nembaware, a Zimbabwean human rights, women's rights and non-violence activist has been named as a recipient of the prestigious Rotary Peace Fellowship. Nembaware is headed for Japan to study the art of resolving conflict and promoting peace at the world-renowned International Christian University in Tokyo.

Rotary Peace Fellows are leaders committed to promoting national and international cooperation, understanding, peace, and the successful resolution of conflict; demonstrating it through professional and academic achievements and personal and community service activities. The 10-year-old program is part of Rotary's efforts to promote greater tolerance and cooperation among people and nations worldwide. 60 fellows are annually chosen from around the globe based on their ability to have a significant, positive impact on world peace. To date, more than 680 fellows have received master's-level degrees at universities in England, Japan, Australia, Sweden and the United States.

A trainer, motivational speaker, development programmer and gender activist, Nixon graduated from the University of Zimbabwe with an honours degree in Political Science and a master's degree in Public Administration. He believes that politics is a great art of compromise and says, “Zimbabwe has a history of conflict resolution where skilful negotiation was employed to ensure freedom and safety for the majority”. He cites the Lancaster House Conference and the Global Political Agreement as notable watersheds.

Asked about Japan Nixon said, “Japan has great lessons for Zimbabwe; after historic tragic events they invested in a future based on Peace and non-violence. The state formally surrendered the sovereign right of belligerency and the Japanese constitution outlawed war as a means to settle international disputes involving the state”. Nixon has interesting career highlights ranging from organizing citizens’ arrests on rapists to mobilizing 20 000 Zimbabwean men to support gender sensitive clauses in what has become the most gender-sensitive constitutions in Africa. He has worked in all provinces of Zimbabwe and currently serves as the Gender and Equality Advisor for an International NGO. He has also worked with men and boys on ending gender-based violence both in Zimbabwe and USA and hopes to focus his research on gender-based violence.

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