Where are you from, and why there?
I am from Zimbabwe. I was born in the capital city, Harare, and I have spent the greater part of my life there. I do have a very close affinity to my rural area where I spend some of my weekend time — this special time keeps me grounded. I have been lucky to have extensive travel to many parts of Zimbabwe. I have global perspectives due to my time spent in Geneva, Switzerland, as part of a special youth program, where I gained vast experience in networking and creating local-to-global linkages. My time in Geneva strengthened my conviction that I serve my country best when I work from it. And surely the last 10 years in Zimbabwe showcase to me my most important and greatest impact. I literally really love working from home.
Which issues do you work on/care about, and why?
At the core of my heart are women and youth empowerment issues. Zimbabwe is a largely patriarchal society where women, especially young women, are pushed to the sidelines in social, economic, and political arenas. Being part of this sub-group myself, I have an innate drive to fight not only for my chance to sit at the decision-making table, but for my peers and my daughter as well.
In my current role as the Women’s Rights and Economic Justice Manager for ActionAid Zimbabwe, I am leading a campaign on the provision of gender responsive public services to allow women, especially young women, to improve their quality of life and free-up their time to explore other aspirations apart from their reproductive roles in the community. The campaign is anchored in human rights-based approach and emphasizes knowledge management for all stakeholders, especially the rights-holders. Multi-faceted capacity-building and building of agency among groups of women to hold their duty-bearers to account. Learning from other ActionAid countries has been an integral part of the campaign as it motivates women and duty-bearers alike. I have personally enjoyed working on this programme as it has provided me with a rich learning ecosystem where I learn from communities across the globe and influence how best practices can be rooted in the Zimbabwean context.
In previous roles, I have worked towards elimination of violence against women and girls through facilitating change processes at community level in hard-to-reach marginalized and patriarchal communities with the Culture Fund Trust of Zimbabwe. With effects of climate change being triply felt by women in these communities, I led the design and implementation of interventions that explored the strong linkages between climate change and gender. Art — in all its forms — proved to be the ideal conversation-starter for the processes, unearthing a wealth of indigenous knowledge, customs, and practices that shunned abuse of women. I remember very distinctly after a drama that depicted the correlation between gender-based violence (GBV) and climate change, a village elder passionately spoke about how, long ago, it was unheard of that a husband would hit his wife. He attributed colonization — not only in the physical sense but of the mind — to the changes we see in society, the violence and belief that one gender is superior. Such intergenerational conversations allow for indigenous ideas and ideologies that, in turn, influence the definition of new societal norms that recognized and valued women’s contribution to the community beyond their reproductive role. Experiencing this process unfold ignited in me a passion to emancipate women’s economic contribution to society and the macroeconomy, leading to my role in ActionAid.
Zimbabwe’s informal sector makes up 76% of the overall economy, according to the Zimstats Labour Force & Child Labour Survey of 2019. This starts Zimbabwean youths (especially the girl-child) off on a disadvantaged footing as they need to prepare differently from their peers around the globe and are more vulnerable to sexual violence. I am dedicated to finding lasting solutions to their economic and civic empowerment and therefore have facilitated numerous innovative interventions that improve youth adaptability to the uncertainties and develop agency for social accountability from duty-bearers. Such interventions span from facilitating soft-skills development, such as negotiation and communication skills, to hardware skills, such as vocational skills and creating agency among young women for social accountability.
How did you get involved?
I was luckily raised by one of Zimbabwe’s early women’s rights defenders and the environment in our home was that which encouraged critical thinking and questioning of the status quo. I started questioning the different treatment that the male and female genders are treated differently in my society from a very early age. I questioned and challenged it so much that I was labeled a troublemaker, but that did not deter my inquisitiveness and quest for equality — I was very clear on my views. Everyone is important! I remember vividly once getting into trouble for sneaking away with the boys to go and heard cattle in the village because I just did not understand why it had to be a boy’s job. I wanted to prove that girls could do it, too.
Being female myself, I have lived the realities of gender bias in the community — at school and in the world of work. I got my first job at a local women’s rights organization, where they provide counselling, shelter, and legal support to survivors of GBV. I was a receptionist at the time, which meant I would meet these women as they were trying to access services. This experience revealed to me the deep struggle women face. During my time there, I saw that most of abuse of women stems from societal expectation and the affected women’s limited knowledge. It is then that I decided that I wanted to work towards giving women and girls options in life, let them know that there are alternatives, and they can chase dreams. A conducive environment does not magically appear but is intricately woven by deliberate steps to influence structures and systems.
What are the biggest challenges for the issue(s) today?
In my view, the biggest challenge is that patriarchy keeps evolving. The battles that feminists in the 1990s fought have evolved and are peering their head in a slightly different manner but serving the same purpose — to keep women in a subservient and secondary citizen position. In my country, it was not uncommon for a family to prioritize male education over female education. This saw many women being illiterate and unable to engage in productive economic activities. Today, we have reached a level of gender parity in the schools but there is little priority placed on career paths that women innately follow — the care careers such as nursing and teaching. These are the least paid and, although they do valuable work, they perpetuate patriarchal norms under the guise that women can now get an education while their income remains lower than their male counterparts.
Who are your most frequent allies in your field? Any surprises?
My most frequent allies are usually fellow colleagues in like-minded institutions and local organizations that are able to organize community agency. I find that some community-based actors are so eloquent — I once met a young man who was able to articulate core issues in a clear manner using local language effectively. Further allies within the government exist but are constrained by the reality and scale of the patriarchal system.
What drives you?
I want to leave a mark, change at least one thing. My children — I have one daughter and two sons whom I want to show that they can contribute in the world, they can be male and be feminist; and, for my daughter, that she has options.
What do you want your career/advocacy to stand for?
I want my career to be genuine and consistent. I have this deep desire for equal opportunities for all — and I mean for all — so I hope my work will reflect this. I also want boys to excel but not at the expense of girls. For me, I see the transformational power of a change in policy — the ripple effect it has in the lives of girls who are 500km away from Harare. This is the work that I enjoy and I hope my career continues to contribute to such policy change.