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Zimbabwe’s long-term political and economic crisis has made it challenging to distribute even basic human rights and civic information, but a small Web-based organization called Kubatana is doing a heroic job of getting the word out.  Using a New Tactics grant in advance of elections in 2008, Kubatana printed 4,500 copies of a four-page newspaper full of New Tactics information and distributed it to embassies, non-governmental groups, and citizens.

Printed materials are just one way that Kubatana has engaged with organizations and individuals in the destabilized and impoverished country.  During the election, it used SMS technology – the sending of brief text messages via mobile phones – to provide updates and encourage political involvement. Kubatana’s website has served as an online library for more than 17,000 civil-society documents.  The group’s New Tactics grant enabled staffers to interact with other NGOs, both in person and via e-mail, and Kubatana’s small staff has turned to New Tactics notebooks, such as one about an SMS campaign in the Netherlands, to get details about activism on an international level.

Kubatana, which now has more than 9,000 SMS subscribers [2010], has been a great New Tactics partner, contributing important information to online dialogues about human rights change and inspiring activists around the world.