BY EVANS MURANGANWA.
Zimbabwe. (News Of The South) – Local women`s organisations in Zimbabwe are leading in pursuing local authorities on providing efficient service delivery.
Most local authorities are failing to provide clean water and other services and this has burdened most women in the southern African country who have to endure long queues to fetch water and even look for firewood in urban areas.
Zimbabwe Young Women’s Network for Peace Building and Institute for Young Women Development (IYWD) are educating women on their fundamental rights of access to clean water, electricity ,education and health services among other litany of basic rights that local authorities are entitled to provide.
Speaking to News Of The South, director of Zimbabwe Young Women’s Network for Peace Building Grace Chirenje said they have scored some success in some areas they are operating as most of the local authorities are now engaging them on service delivery concerns.
“Many women whom we have educated in areas like Highfields and Epworth among other suburbs in Harare have now forced local authorities not to sit on their laurels but to engage them on progress of certain projects.
“They are no longer take people for granted especially we the women bear the brunt of such shoddy services by local authorities hence the need to fight on such, ”said Grace Chirenje.
Glanis Changachirere, director of the Institute for Young Women’s Development said in Bindura where the organisation operates in they have managed to see some projects being done after their outcry.
“There is a road that was actually repaired by the Bindura Local Authority after we had voiced our concern on the state of the road, said Changachirere.
The two organisations recently held a one day conference where they called women from most parts of the country and the local authorities to seek dialogue on the provision of services.
The Zimbabwe Young Women’s Network for Peace Building facilitate young women’s participation in peace building processes by empowering them with purposeful engagement skills, a platform to assert their voice with the objective to encourage young women into a meaningful contribution towards a culture of peace and development.
Since its inception, IYWD has been carrying out projects in Mashonaland Central Province in the districts of Bindura, Mazowe, Shamva, Madziva and now has a membership of above 2 000 which is within the organisation’s target group of 16-35 years and an unconfirmed figure of those outside the range.
IYWD has been carrying out projects to educate younger women in rural and mining communities and has trained 30 women from Bindura and Mazowe districts business skills and helped them to start up small business ventures.
IYWD also uses a wide range of activities towards meeting its goals which include training, dialogue and discussion platforms, community-based livelihoods projects, information documentation and dissemination, sport, theatre, advocacy and lobbying, networking and policy research and analysis.
Some of the women are making re-usable sanitary pads for their own use or for sale in their communities, while others make school uniforms, engage in farming, poultry and detergent making.
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