Building a City Where All Residents Are Safe, Strong and Valued

Empowered Residents | Smarter City | Better Future

WHO WE ARE

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) is a membership-driven community organisation established in 2007 as a Trust with a view of providing a non-partisan and issue-based platform for effective residents and stakeholder participation in local governance and service delivery issues.

Our work is driven by the goal of building a resilient, prosperous, inclusive communities where individuals, communities of interest and families, can thrive. BPRA plays a catalytic role in empowering citizens, influencing policy, and fostering social accountability, with an aim to enhance service provision and build responsible citizenry.

We are committed to participatory governance through:

What We do

At BPRA, we drive sustainable community development through a multi-faceted approach that combines evidence-based advocacy with active citizen participation. Our five core pillars are designed to empower residents, influence policy, and ensure transparent governance across Bulawayo and beyond.”

Advocacy

Local and National Advocacy on key local government issues such as policy advocacy, public advocacy, public awareness campaigns and petitions

Capacity Building

We conduct capacity building initiatives including trainings, coaching, and other capacity enhancing processes with its members, leaders, and other local government stakeholders.

Social Accountability

This is one of our key work pillars, and has seen the organisation conduct various activities in the local government public expenditure management cycle. This includes among others residents-local authority engagement meetings, local authority and national budget tracking and analysis, as well as residents and public officials training workshops on various elements of social accountability.

Research & Policy Analysis

We have employed this work stream to support the other 4 work streams namely: ensuring that advocacy is evidence based, capacity building is informed by needs assessments, while incubation is informed by both best practice and BPRA’s experience, and that social accountability is informed by credible information base.

Support

BPRA has incubated and assisted in the development of other Residents Associations in various parts of the country, including Gweru, Plumtree, Gwanda, Beitbridge, Lupane and Hwange. This has led to growth in the Residents Movement that has in turn strengthened BPRA’s advocacy hand, especially on issues that require national attention and action, like devolution.

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

Campaigned Against Privatisation of Water

BPRA’s effective mobilisation of residents’ resistance compelled the Bulawayo City Council to abandon the move to privatise water, and the compulsory and forced introduction of pre-paid water meters in Bulawayo in 2015

Driving Public Fund Accountability

BPRA successfully campaigned for the programs audit following a BPRA commissioned research which unearthed irregularities and cases of corruption in the implementation of the project. The campaign and subsequent audit resulted in accountability and greater transparency in the implementation of the project. BPRA was also instrumental campaigning for audits of the Constituency Development Funds (CDF), as good practice following residents’ suspicions of funds abuse.