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Goromonzi – Women empowerment projects that have been supported by the European Union, United Nations agencies, and other partners have progressively impacted communities.
A diary project that was established in 1983 in Ward 11, Goromonzi, has economically transformed the community and created employment for hundreds of women.
Mercy Mujuru, Chairperson of Chikwaka Kubatana Dairy Cooperative, said the diary project has seen the empowerment of women in economic activities.
” The project has transformed our community and has greatly improved the financial independence of women and has seen many women being encouraged to learn new skills and technology advancements in running their businesses. This has helped the way we run our businesses by reducing problems like gender-based violence and child marriages,” she said.
Mujuru told Spiked Media during an exhibition of their products at Team Europe’s International Women’s Day Commemoration in Madzianike Village in Murehwa.
Funding from WE Effect through the Zimbabwe Association of Diary Farmers has seen the dairy cooperative members positively grow their knowledge on the value addition of dairy products.
“We have tremendously grown in leaps and bounds as we received training on fodder manufacturing that we feed our dairy cows so that we get quality milk. We have seen the community participate in the dairy production value chain as some are involved in cultivating various plants that we use as fodder,” Mujuru said.
With DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality as the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day commemorations, Mujuru said new skills offered through various capacity pieces of training have improved and opened new markets for the dairy cooperative.
“The skills we have received through various partners have helped us to grow and be able to produce various dairy products. In the past, we only used to sell raw milk, but now we are producing products like yoghurt, and cheese as well as producing feeding fodder,” she added.
Challenges like lack of school fees for children and unemployment in the rural community are now a thing of the past as the dairy project has empowered the community economically.
Team Europe Initiative comprising European Union, Sweden, Ireland, The Netherlands, France, Germany, and Switzerland are promoting gender equality and women empowerment projects that are coordinated at the political level with the Government of Zimbabwe and various partners in ensuring full alignment with gender-relevant policies in line with national gender policy objectives with gender equality being one of the core principles among European Union founding values and treaty objectives.
In his intervention during the commemoration, HE Jobst von Kirchmann, the Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Zimbabwe said the various projects exhibited are a glimpse of what women can do if resources and opportunities are made available.
“We want to see what you, the women of this community are producing and how active you are. You are the women we should join hands with to support your small-scale ventures and grow them further.
“But we want also to show you what is available to support and empower women. If you look around you see the presence of the many different implementing partners here today, offering services to the community,” HE von Kirchmann said.
Team Europe is supporting women to participate in decision-making processes and would like to see more women in leadership positions. They also support women’s equal access to financial opportunities, resources, and capacity development. The Women’s Empowerment Bank also talked about the financial services they can offer for women in Murehwa.
Team Europe’s partners are also involved in the fight against gender-based violence, child marriages, and other practices that are harmful to women. In addition, they provide different services to survivors such as counselling, legal, and medical services.
Before Team Europe’s intervention, Mashonaland East province, particularly Murehwa District, had the highest number of male inmates convicted for gender-based violence according to a 2021 report by the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services. This province also had the third highest cases of child marriages in 2021 according to the Zimbabwe Gender Commission.
But at the same time, Murehwa is also a place where there is a strong commitment of some of the male counterparts to fight for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Chief Mangwende, a male champion of gender equality under the popular #HeForShe programme, plays an important role in making gender equality a reality since as a traditional leader, he leads by a good example.
The EU Ambassador added that Zimbabwe’s vision of flying high and becoming an Upper Middle-Income economy by 2030, will only work if the ambitious goals of the NDS-1 as regards gender equality empowering women are met.
