ZHRC insight on the education sector’s preparedness to re-open schools during COVID-19

By Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Introduction and background The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) is mandated to monitor the observance of human rights and freedoms by Section 243 (1) (c) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.20) Act 2013. According to the Principles relating to the Status of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) (Paris Principles,…

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COVID-19: Waddilove Class of 1992, ZiCHIRe rescue Hopley’s underprivileged

The Waddilove High School Ordinary Level Class of 1992 joined hands with the Zimbabwe Community Health Intervention Research (ZiCHIRe) to come to the rescue of the less privileged people of the poor community of Hopley who are facing a plethora of challenges including shortages of basic food and access to drugs and medicines amid the ravaging…

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Informal sector hard hit by the indefinite lockdown

By the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development The announcement of the indefinite lockdown by President E.D Mnangagwa was received with mixed feelings with some sections of the society feeling that the decision was not made after careful considerations. Nevertheless, those arguing from a public health corner considered the decision as noble in as far…

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MultiChoice Zimbabwe to host Celebrate Africa Watch Party

As Africa Month comes to a close MultiChoice Zimbabwe is hosting a ‘watch party’ so that Zimbabweans can enjoy a selection of the varied music of Africa in their own homes. The Celebrate Africa Watch Party will be broadcast on Facebook from 3pm to 4pm on Saturday May 30, hosted on the DStvZimbabwe page by MultiChoice Zimbabwe….

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Kuchengetana Relief Kitchen brings smiles to the less privileged in Chitungwiza

By Ronnie Chisamba An ordinary Mount Pleasant mother has brought smiles to many residents in Chitungwiza and the surrounding areas by providing food and other necessities during the ongoing Covid-19  induced countrywide lockdown. Samantha Shingirai Murozoki (35), a  married mother of 2 has brought smiles to the less fortunate in the community of the satellite…

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GOAL Zimbabwe supports over 243,000 children with lifesaving nutrition intervention

By Anyway Yotamu GOAL Zimbabwe, through funding from ECHO and in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, has launched a lifesaving nutrition programme which will reach almost a quarter of a million children under the age of five years for the next 12 months. The Nutrition Emergency Response for Early Detection and…

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Betty Kaseke Foundation brings hope to vulnerable people during COVID-19

The Betty Kaseke Foundation – a humanitarian nonprofit organization formed with a vision of addressing the needs of the vulnerable members of the  Zimbabwean community is supporting the elderly, the orphans, the disabled and vulnerable women with clothing, sanitary wear and even with income-generating projects. Dr. Betty Kaseke has been conferred with an honorary degree…

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Jedidiah Trust seeks to grow from the grassroots

In pursuit of seeking sustainable partnerships with stakeholders in its quest to have a national presence, Jedidiah Trsust has approached Norton Town Council and the Senators in Mashonaland West Province to find ways of establishing a mutual working pact. “On Friday the 15th of May 2020, we had an introductory meeting with Norton Town Council…

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The Cultural and Social Challenges to Slowing the Pandemic in Africa

By Chris Macoloo When the outbreak of the coronavirus was reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, it is arguable whether African governments took the threat seriously. Since this was a new virus, most African governments thought that it would be confined to China. Even after most Western countries prohibited planes from certain cities in Asia…

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VAYA helps with COVID-19 safety compliance measures

VAYA has partnered with widows from the United Methodist Church in Mabelreign, Harare, to make reusable cloth masks to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Following a month-long lockdown which has since been extended by another two weeks, the government has ordered that citizens wear masks in public, in a move meant to arrest…

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Disability isn’t inability: Laizah Singadi’s Book “Akarangarirwa Pakukutu”

In her book, “Akarangarirwa Pakukutu” – a Shona Novel, Laizah Singadi reminds humankind that no one chooses to be born with a disability hence the need to treat everyone as equal. “Everyone born with a disability should be respected. They are people like us and are only differently-abled. These people actually possess talents or gifts…

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How COVID19 has exposed limitations of colonial food systems in Africa

By Charles Dhewa The majority of developing countries are still to tear themselves away from the colonial set up where major food markets were located in cities or towns in order to provide food for low income people working in formal industries. Under that arrangement food had to travel from rural areas most of which…

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Demolitions amid COVID-19: Vendors appeal for cushioning fee

Vendors representative associations are concerned about the delays in the payments of the cushioning grants that were supposed to cushion them and informal traders following the COVID-19 lockdown and government-sanctioned demolitions of their working spaces. As a result, they are calling upon government through its relevant ministries to provide information on progress made so far….

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Silveira High School Alumni medical practitioners give back to Bikita community

Dr. Celestino Dhege, a former Silveira High School student and the Vice President of Infection Control Association of Zimbabwe teamed up with Professor Jacob Mufunda and Dr. Thalia Mungwari on the noble initiative to train health workers on managing COVID-19 in Bikita District. “I offered to provide a three-hour sensitisation for health care workers in…

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Global Education Coalition reaching out to children in rural areas

Since many children in rural areas have no reliable connection to the internet or the electricity grid, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is devising ways to reach these learners during the period of the COVID-19 lockdown. In an interview with Spiked Online Media, Julia Heiss, the Education Programme Specialist at the…

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Prof Mavima announces raft of social protection services during COVID-19 lockdown

Professor Paul Mavima has announced his Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare’s measures that are consistent with its Constitutional mandate to provide social protection services to vulnerable groups including the transitory poor. “After the declaration of COVID-19 as a national disaster and the subsequent implementation of lockdown measures to contain its spread, the…

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COVID-19: Raha Cooking oil, Temba Mliswa join hands to ameliorate challenges in Norton

As COVID-19 continues its toll on Zimbabwe, Cangrow Trading Company, the manufacturers of Raha Cooking Oil teamed up with Norton legislator Temba Mliswa and donated towards essentials necessary to end the pandemic. Mr. Ankit Jain, the Raha Managing Director, in consultation with Hon. Mliswa used the occasion of Zimbabwe’s 40th independence anniversary to reach out…

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COVID-19: ActionAid implores government to prioritise women’s rights

As COVID-19 continues to take its toll on Zimbabwe, ActionAid has urged the government to put women’s rights at the centre-stage. The organisation acknowledged the actions taken by the government to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 Pandemic (Coronavirus). However, it said more could have been done to avoid the three confirmed deaths. “The current…

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Lockdown necessary to win battle against coronavirus: Anti-Domestic Violence Council

The Anti-Domestic Violence Council (AVC) has joined hands with the Government of Zimbabwe in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and said the lockdown pronounced by President E.D Mnangagwa is necessary to win the battle against this pandemic. “The Anti-Domestic Violence Council would like to take this opportunity to encourage families to utilise this lockdown…

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AfDB launches record breaking $3 billion “Fight COVID-19” Social Bond

Landmark transaction, largest Social bond transaction to date in capital markets The African Development Bank (AfDB) (www.AfDB.org) has raised an exceptional $3 billion in a three-year bond to help alleviate the economic and social impact the Covid-19 pandemic will have on livelihoods and Africa’s economies. The Fight Covid-19 Social bond, with a three-year maturity, garnered…

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Operationalisation of the Lockdown announced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa

On 27 March 2020, His Excellency President ED Mnangagwa addressed the nation indicating that as of 30 March 2020 Zimbabwe will be under a total lockdown for the period of 21 days. The lockdown will certainly upset daily routines but this is a necessary action to ensure that we contain wider community spread and transmissions…

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Jedidiah Trust, Gertrude Mandizvidza welcome Presidential Pardon for convicted female prisoners

Norton-based Jedidiahh Trust and their partner, philanthropist, and educationist Gertrude Mandizvidza, have welcomed the fact that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has pardoned all female convicts, juveniles under the age of 18 years, inmates sentenced to life in imprisonment and prisoners aged 70 years and above. Jedidiah Trust, founded by Lovemore Chikwanda, focuses on providing education, psycho-social…

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Sekuru Banda embeds indigenous knowledge systems in the fight against coronavirus

Prominent traditional healer, Sekuru Banda has said it is critical to rope in indigenous knowledge systems in the fight against coronavirus.   The cultural guru’s comments come in the wake of myths from different schools of thought concerning the pandemic. He was speaking at a conference on indigenous knowledge management held in Harare yesterday to…

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Coronavirus – WhatsApp: WHO Health Alert brings COVID-19 facts

This easy-to-use messaging service has the potential to reach 2 billion people and enables WHO to get information directly into the hands of the people that need it Today, WHO (www.WHO.int) is launching a messaging service with partners WhatsApp and Facebook to keep people safe from coronavirus. This easy-to-use messaging service has the potential to…

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Oxfam’s We Care project breaking unpaid work barrier for women

Oxfam’s Women Economic Empowerment and Care (WE CARE) also known as the ‘Work your Dreams project in Zimbabwe’ is working on exploring how to break the barrier of unpaid care work that limits women’s empowerment and their participation in all spheres of life.   Basically the project explores how unpaid care work serves as a…

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Oxfam enhances stakeholders’ collective capacity to respond to humanitarian emergencies

Oxfam is working towards enhancing stakeholders’ collective capacity to respond to humanitarian emergencies.   Mirjam Van Dorssen, Country Director of Oxfam in Zimbabwe made the remarks while officially opening contingency planning and emergence response training workshops for stakeholders that rolled to life in Harare on 16 March 2020.   “These two workshops should equip us…

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Stakeholders join hands in fighting sexual gender based violence

By Joyce Mukucha As it continues to take strides in fighting Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) through urging women to speak out, Katswe Sistahood has partnered with Trocaire, Plan International, Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), Adult Rape Clinic and government of Zimbabwe by hosting a girls and women’s symposium in Epworth. The gathering which has come…

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We need not hand over war to next generations, AU advises PAP

African Union Chairperson of the Peace and Security Council, H.E. Crisantos Obama Ondo advised Pan-African Parliamentarians to commit to ending the war on the continent to avoid passing current conflicts on to the next generations. He said this in a keynote address on the African Union 2020 theme, ‘Silencing the Guns: Creating a Conducive Environment for Development,’ during the…

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Nimrod Ushe documents rock art sites in Bikita District

Historian and teacher Nimorod Ushe, a native of the area has put pen to paper to document rock sites in the Chikuku area under Bikita District. Below Spiked Online Media reproduces the historian’s perspectives: Chikuku rock sites are located along Masvingo-Mutare highway approximately 33km east of Nyika growth point in Bikita District of Masvingo Province….

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Catholics take major steps towards promoting justice and peace in Zimbabwe

Expert groups were commissioned to facilitate the mission of the Catholic Church in promoting justice and peace in Zimbabwe.   The Rt. Rev. Rudolph Nyandoro, the Bishop Chairman of the Catholic Commission of Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe (CCJPZ) said the working groups will focus on three thematic areas.   “We shall have the advocacy…

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