One of the key priorities for the NPRC in 2018 was the development of its 5-year Strategic Plan, to outline its vision, goals, priorities and programmatic activities to be undertaken as part of implementing its constitutional mandate. Towards this goal, the NPRC identified three inter-linked pathways towards the development of the plan. The first was the Provincial Stakeholder Consultations in the ten provinces of Zimbabwe to gather views from citizens on priorities to inform the plan. The second was a National Convergence and Validation Conference, convened as a multi-stakeholder forum to further verify the outcomes of the provincial consultations. The third was a Strategic Planning Retreat to develop a skeletal plan with indicative priorities.

In tandem to the preparatory efforts, the NPRC undertook other activities in response to the immediate needs in the country, especially the 2018 harmonised elections. The NPRC developed its integrated Election Strategy. The overall goal of the election strategy is to contribute towards credible and peaceful elections by mobilising collaborative and multi-stakeholder responses to conflict risks before, during and after the elections. The second activity was a multi-stakeholder platform for conflict early warning and risk analysis to ensure enhanced national level preparedness for timely response. The third activity was the initiation of high-level confidence building measures involving traditional leaders, women’s organisations, youth groups, victim groups, political parties and the broader rule of law agencies, culminating into a national Peace Pledge initiative. This provided a launch pad for the NPRC’s prevention and peace building mandate.