ZWRCN amplifying women’s voices as far as demanding access to social service delivery and other national resources is concerned!
archived | 07 Aug 22
This year the Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN) joined the rest of world in commemorating the International Women’s Day. ZWRCN continues to advance women’s rights through information provision especially in amplifying women’s voices as far as demanding access to social service delivery and other national resources is concerned. Bringing the balance in all spheres of women’s lives is vital in raising the radar for Zimbabwean women.
In light of the above, the ZWRCN hosted a Gender and Development Talk (GAD Talk) on the 13th of February 2020 at the Secret Garden. GAD Talks are platforms where different citizens and other interested stakeholders meet to discuss topical issues in order to come up with solutions collectively. The Dialogue topic most recent GAD Talk :
MAKING OUR COMMUNITIES A SAFE SPACE FOR WOMEN BY ENHANCING THE PROTECTION OF CITIZENS THROUGH THE PROVISION OF ADEQUATE SECURITY SERVICE DELIVERY INITIATIVES BY THE RESPECTIVE AUTHORITIES TO CURB:
#traffic lights smash and grab incidences
-#armed robberies
-#machete wars
Key issues that were discussed on the day include non-working traffic lights, uncut grass and water cut issues which are putting a lot of women at risk of being attacked. A number of sad incidents which occurred in Chitungwiza were discussed as well. It is said that most of the water pumps are electric pumped, therefore due to the ZESA Power outages people resort to fetching water at night when there is electricity. There are no street lights hence the areas are a bit dark, these places have become crime hotspots as robbers are now targeting these women who go to fetch water. 2nd street extension has also been labelled as a hotspot for smash and grabs and the robbers are mainly targeting women. Of concern was the issue of uncut grass in most of Harare’s high and medium density areas. The council has not been taking care of it and the rains are making it even worse as the grass is growing faster. These roadside maize fields and uncut grass area are harbouring these who are targeting mostly women so as to rob them of their valuables.
A report submitted by the Zimbabwe Peace Projects says that the month of January 2020 recorded an increase in reported violation of human rights from 119 in December to 185. This shows just how much women are at risk of being violated.
Quite a number of good suggestions came out from the civil societies that were present at the GAD Talk. It was suggested that a social campaign should be started so as to educate citizens on how they can be safe on the streets so as to make the world a safer place for world for women. It was also advised that women should walk in groups especially when walking through dangerous places, also they should avoid walking alone as this would make them targets. It was also encouraged that Furthermore civil societies vowed to continue educating people on how to engage relevant authorities such as the Harare City Council on their grievances and work with them until everything is rectified.
In response, the City of Harare admitted that they have heard of these incidences but they sometimes fail to attend to some of the requests by the citizens due to limited financial resources that are at their disposal. They therefore pleaded with the citizens to be responsible and pay their rates on time to enable the City Council to deliver on some of the demands by the residents.
#VOICEPOWERACTION FOR QUALITY AND ADEQUATE SOCIAL SERVICE DELIVERY!