Courtesy of empowerment programmes being rolled out by the Institute for Young Women Development (IYWD), these women are venturing into projects such as farming, tree planting and clean-up campaigns at shopping centres.
A farming project comprising 17 women was launched in late 2014 and is expected to provide a livelihood for the women who have joined hands in this venture to grow beans.
According to the co-ordinator, Jean Tigere (24), they hope this project will bring positive financial rewards to them and their families.
“We realised that as women, we cannot expect our husbands to earn all the money needed to feed the family and pay school fees. We hope that when we harvest and sell the crop of beans, we will be able to contribute by meeting some expenses like school fees and buying additional kitchen ware,” said Tigere.
Active role
Presently, they are mobilising and encouraging other women to take a more active role in developing their families and their communities.
“The reason why most women are looked down upon in society, is that they don’t become involved in community issues. We have realised that we should at least do something so that we can be counted. We are trying to encourage other women to be more active in development matters,” said Tigere.
Because this group of women were concerned by the massive rate of deforestation in their area, brought about by decades of tobacco farming, they sourced 105 tree saplings and planted these at Mutumba Primary School, in Ward 26 recently.
Firewood shortage
“As women, we are burdened by the effects of deforestation and chief among these is the shortage of firewood. As a result, we have to walk long distances to fetch firewood. It is our duty to plant more trees in the area so that we can mitigate the effects of deforestation,” said Gladys Matuva (28). Speaking at the tree-planting ceremony, Chief Mutumba hailed the women for their vision. He said deforestation was a huge problem in his area and expressed hope that more people would join the tree-planting project to complement the efforts of these women.
“Gone are the days when women were seen as useless people. This project is just one of the examples of how women today have the potential to do many positive things for their communities. I challenge people from my community to ensure that women are given the chance to prove their potential. I believe we can go a long way towards developing our communities if we give more women the chance,” said the chief.
Ward 26 Councillor, Bigboy Kufinya commended the women for taking an active role in development issues. “Women are also involved in clean-up campaigns at places like Madziva Growth Point and this has largely helped in creating a cleaner and safer environment. We are pleased that the clean-up campaigns will be taken to schools as well. The women have proved that they are very useful members of society,” said Kufinya.
Positive impact
IYWD Director, Glanis Changachirere advised that they have launched community programmes during which they engage with the traditional leadership on issues of women’s rights as well as their capacity to impact positively on society.
Changachirere said the aim of the programme was to demystify the thinking among rural communities that women should play second fiddle to their male counterparts. She expressed satisfaction with the feedback received from traditional leaders.
“We believe that the traditional leaders have a critical role to play in the uplifting of women and that is why we are trying to mobilise them to support our cause. The feedback has been encouraging and the traditional leaders have pledged to educate their communities on the role that women can play in the development process,” said Changachirere.
Post published in: Analysis