By Rebecca Tendai Chirenga | Executive Director/Programs Manager
Women in Communities Zimbabwe (WICO), like thousands other activists commemorate the 16 days against Gender Based Violence (GBV). Each year WICO joins the world over in recognising these 16 days through campaigns, talk show, community dialogues among other activities that bring awareness of the 16 days against GBV. This year was a bit different for WICO as we did not have resources specifically allocated for the 16 days. However that did not stop us from participating in other activities too. We joined other organisations like the Women’s Coalition in Zimbabwe, The Ministry of Women Affairs in Zimbabwe, The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and gave our solidarity messages on the issues of GBV. We managed to reach thousands of women and men in the communities that we reached. 16 Days of 2023 were done and dusted.
Over the years we have fought GBV in the communities that we serve in different ways. WICO tackled the issues in Zimbabwe by focusing more on the perpetrators to spread the message of reducing GBV in the homes and in the communities. The project successfully trained 25 MALE MOTIVATORS who were given the task to reach out to other men and use the hot spots such as beer halls, mining sites and other places frequented by men. The involvement of men in the fight helped reduce cases of GBV significantly.
In 2019, WICO ZIMBABWE was awarded a Gender Champion Award by the Netherlands Embassy for great impact in fighting GBV. From the reward, WICO subsequently, the implemented a project of Addressing GBV in the Workplace in the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe. This involved researching through a number of corporates to establish the level of gender sensitivity in their policies and administration in line with GBV.
In the year we celebrated 16 days against GBV by screening a premier film called “SEX FOR GRADES” which focused on the exploitation of female students by their lecturers in Tertiary Institutions. This triggered heated discussions that resulted in the exposure of similar exploitations in the local institutions as well. WICO is in the process of fundraising to address this injustice on the female students at our local institutions as well.
We continue to fight for Gender justice in the work place and in communities at large.
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