Great Test for Greenfuel on the Women Empowerment Project.

Greenfuel (Pvt) Ltd is making effort to shrug off criticism from the community by building a vegetable market place at Chisumbanje township. The market project has had many false starts due to procedures linked to the application process at Chipinge Rural District Council. It also lacks consensus from the community stakeholders.

As usual, initiatives involving Greenfuel tend to draw sceptism as its modus operandi is always embroiled in controversy. Within the community, Greenfuel is yet to work hard on improving its reputation when it comes to initiatives of a corporate social responsibility nature. The community has a negative perception in regard to the company since it normally sanctions political polarization by its selection of beneficiaries on political grounds.

The local councilor for ward 26, Mr Misheck Busangavanye admitted that the delay for the building of the market place is a result of an absence of consensus among key stakeholders. The most critical stakeholders like traditional leaders remain divided on the site of the market place. The intended beneficiaries of the market place are women who ironically were direct victims of the company’s expansionary policy. These women are among the people who lost land to Greenfuel and whose crops were constantly ploughed down. These women have shown serious reservations on the vegetable market place. Others who appear to be receptive to the project want it to be located not in the centre of the township, and also want a bigger place.

However, Greenfuel is targeting women who were recipients of the 0.5 hectares of irrigable land who they believe need a market place for their produce. Thus, the project is a great test to the sincerity of the promises made by the company to the community in view to improve their lives. Women hold the key to food security and community development.

PYCD is of the opinion that the empowering women in the community should strengthen food security, reduce poverty and ultimately drive community development. The organization is pointing out to Greenfuel that the concept of a vegetable market place has been plagued with failures and inefficiencies in some parts of the country. The failures and the inefficiencies were due to the location of the place in relation to the buying community. Therefore, the planning and designing should have taken into consideration the issues of accessibility by the intended customers or risk constructing an infrastructure that will end being a white elephant. At the same time, Greenfuel must avoid entrenching political marginalization as this has an effect of deepening food insecurity in the community. 

PYCD is doubtful about the project because Greenfuel is in the habit of creating publicity stunts at the expense of the community. From the experience of the interaction with Greenfuel, PYCD has come to an understanding that the company provides what it thinks the community needs rather than opting for consensual arrangements. Corporate social responsibility is a tool that can transform the plight of women in the district only if it is done through an agreed structural framework.

Greenfuel emerged during the economic crisis of 2008 but have had issues with compliance  social justice, environmental and health standards.

PYCD warns male teachers who abuse minors

PYCD has received reports of male teachers allegedly abusing minors in Chipinge district, and this has caused dismay and disappointment from parents and other key community stakeholders. The Herald recently reported that Chipinge district tops in teenage pregnancies. The case of Gideon Mhlanga High School makes disturbing reading. It is alleged that a teacher impregnated a 16-year-old ordinary level student. The case came to light in April 2019 where it is said the teacher took advantage of the minor who had come to him for holiday lessons. Circumstances around the case is a big worry for parents who are pro-life, as the minor will be deprived of a future involving her independent choice. Reports now claim the minor is not only pregnant but has been infected with the dreaded HIV virus.

PYCD Gender activists who are dotted in 20 wards of Chipinge District have received numerous anonymous calls with reports of abuse. Baseline survey done by PYCD Gender desk has revealed that there are many cases currently taking place in schools within the district. The cases have gone unreported due to the vulnerability of the girls involved. In cases being handled by PYCD, parents end up giving in to school authorities who are preoccupied with maintaining the image of school at the expense of justice.

It is common knowledge that adolescence is a tumultuous period where it involves major physical transitions but lack the psychological maturity to understand the transition. The cases of abuse targeting minors clearly brings to the fore the relationship between adolescence and the community in which adults expected to be responsible create a situation where it becomes a difficult transitional period.

Thus, adolescence in the district represents the most troubling years because sexual abuse of minors impacts individual adolescents’ development.

Sexual and reproductive health is an important component of the universal right to the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. Thus, every community need to respect, protect and fulfill the right to sexual and reproductive health to adolescents. It is sad to note that a school environment is slowly becoming fertile ground for sexual abuse of minors. Schools are part of the socialization institution. Schools together with the community shape the adolescent development within the social and cultural context in which it occurs. Therefore, PYCD condemns the perpetuation of a culture of sexual abuse of minors in the district.

PYCD have noted with grave concern that the major drivers of adolescent and reproductive health violations include socio – cultural and economic issues as well as inadequate enforcement of the laws and policies that offer protection to minors. The 2016 – 2020 National Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy states that a significant number of new HIV infections occur among the 15 – 19 year age range. However, PYCD is gravely concerned with the inconsistency in some laws in regard to definition of a child, the age of consent to sex and to marriage. There is need for the harmonization of laws relating to adolescents.

PYCD will endeavor to increase advocacy on Sexual Reproductive Health Rights in schools to mitigate against the abuse of minors.

Female Councilors in Chipinge District Adopted Social Media as Tool to Raise Awareness on Devolution

 Platform for Youth and Community Development (PYCD) in conjunction with Vemuganga Community Radio (VemugangaFM) held a training workshop for female councilors in Chipinge District to sensitize and capacitate them on the use of social media and the constitution.

 Chipinge District has 38 wards with 30 of them being under Chipinge Rural District Council whilst 8 are from Chipinge Town. Out of the 38 councilors in Chipinge District, only 9 are female councilors. The training workshop succeeded to capacitate female councilors with knowledge and understanding of the legal and policy framework guiding local government systems, with special focus on Chapter 4 & 14 of the Zimbabwean Constitution.

In our socio – political culture, there is prevalent gender inequalities in bargaining power and access to resources. Therefore, in targeting female councilors, PYCD and Vemuganga FM endeavor to enhance women’s status in the district through empowering female councilors against social norms within the community. Thus, the training process promoted Female councilors’ effective participation, influence and leadership in the devolution implementation framework.

Chapter 14 of the Zimbabwean constitution outlines the idea of devolution, and it is envisaged that it will go a long way in repealing the erstwhile centralized system of governance. Devolution allows local authorities to execute local affairs, steer socio-economic development and promote citizen participation for effective democratic processes. The female councilors also gained an insight into the Bill of Rights as pronounced in Chapter 4 of the Zimbabwean constitution. A session on Chapter 4 enhances their greater knowledge on social, economic, cultural, civil and political rights. The Bill of Rights form part of the broader right to livelihood and has significant implications for incorporating into the policy framework of the local government system.

The 9 female councilors were taken through the basics of sustainable community development which has ecological integrity, economic security and social cohesion as the main components. Gender power relations influence the impact of people on sustainable development and can in turn bear great effect on social cohesion. From a policy stand point, it is essential for the 9 female councilors to have an overview of the relationship between gender and sustainable community development so as to facilitate a more sustainable use of local resources while empowering women at the same time.

The Chairperson of Chipinge Rural District Council, Patience Mlambo, who was also among the participants, applauded the training. She pointed out that the greatest challenge being experienced by female councilors in Chipinge, emanates from lack of access to empowering information due to the lack of resources from central government.

“This training is an eye opener and can go a long way if there will be increased support and funding to ensure that we have the gadgets (smart phones) and an Information Centre in Chipinge, where we will be able to access internet facilities to support our social media operations. I admit that those councilors with access to social media, have better capacity ” said Councilor Patience Mlambo of ward 18 in Chipinge East Constituency.

The words of councilor Patience Mlambo were supported by Wishes Hama, who is councilor for ward 24 in Chipinge South Constituency.

“As female councilors we face a lot of criticism that is sometimes unjustified, simply because we are women and lack the tenacity to defend ourselves by providing evidence of our work. This training on social media will go a long way in providing evidence to the public on community development we are involved”

Social media has become an integral part of the communities and can no longer be ignored in the community development trajectory. It has proven to be an interactive tool that bring members of the ward together and encourage them to discuss and explore the underlying issues within their respective wards. One of the outstanding features of the training process is the realization that the female councilors are knowledgeable about their respective wards.

 Ethel Toungana of ward 17 pointed out that she is using bulk sms as a form communication in addition to periodic meetings she holds in her ward. However, the use of social media is being hampered by the cost of social media bundles as well as lack of gadgets that are compliant to social media. Access to information on local government system, community needs and devolution can make female councilors more competitive.

 Information is highly regarded as power in itself and communication tools can channel power instantaneously to members of wards. In addition to making wards more effective, social media has been identified as a means to improve the quality of engagement and the subsequent decisions. However, there is need to address the economic environment that is undermining the advancement of affordable and access to the full range of communication services.

One of the facilitators Cynthia Gwenzi, who is the Gender Wellness and Advocacy Officer for the Platform for Youth and Community Development (PYCD), admitted that female councilors faced a lot of challenges.

“These female councilors are mothers, spouses and daughters who are expected to behave in a particular way that conforms to the stereotypes and patriarchal beliefs of their communities in Chipinge. It is therefore important that we profile them as a way of strengthening their leadership to overcome these challenges” Cynthia Gwenzi reiterated.

The training process brought out the salient features of women in politics. All the 9 female councilors were elected on the first past the post principle. The electoral field in the district is highly contentious and these female councilors provided a different perspective to politics. The councilors promised to address harmful cultural practices prevalent in the district. These include child marriages and gender based violence.