Katswe Sistahood makes strides in Mbire girl child empowerment

Katswe Pachoto groups: Picture by Collen Magobeya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Daniel Chigunwe  

Kastwe Sistahood with support from Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) Zimbabwe has made a formidable impact in the Mbire District of Mashonaland Central where it is conducting several projects that have seen a reduction in the number of child marriages, empowerment of girl child education and equipping of local leaders with social accountability knowledge skills.   

 Mbire is one of the province’s district that has for a longtime been lagging behind almost all facets of human development until recently when different stakeholders among them the First Lady Mrs Auxillia Mnangwagwa, provincial leaders and Non -Governmental Organizations have scaled up efforts to transform the Dande area which also has numerous opportunities for eco-tourism. 

Katswe Sistahood is a young women’s organization which focuses on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) issues that affect women and girls by aiming to improve the information that communities have on SRHR whilst trying to understand the root causes of women’s plight with VSO work focusing on gender equality, improved health systems and support for people affected by HIV and AIDS. 

Fadziso Mawunganidze who is the organization’s Programmes Officer said their involvement in the district has made a considerable impact which has also seen a remarkable decline in the number of teen pregnancies. 

“Through action initiated by the Mbire project, girls affected by teen pregnancies are now back to school and there has been a decrease of girls dropping out of school in ward 8. Due to the redress of penalties, cases of child marriages have turned out to be lesser. 

“Also through peer education and basic counselling to their peers there has been an evident boost of confidence in young girls. The program has created a strong supportive family structure especially to girls affected by early marriages and teen pregnancies,” she said. 

The organization’s activities are a response to the worrying statistics on the provinces state of SRHR issues, “according to the 2017 Demographic Health Survey, Mashonaland Central has the lowest human development indicators and literacy level is very low thus when it comes participating in developmental process they are left out. 

“Mbire district has the highest number of child marriages perpetuated by a range of social, economic, cultural and political factors but fundamentally rooted in poverty and gender inequality. 

“ Child marriages have declined from 24 girls per year to two girls from 2017-2018 and at least three girls were readmitted to school in 2018 whilst they were pregnant and the other two young women wrote Ordinary Level exams whilst six of them are currently going for lessons,” said Mawunganidze. 

Meanwhile the organization is running a goat project in the area which has reached out to 275 young women who are in 11 groups of 25 people each, with the intent to provide economic empowerment and self- sustainability to the many of these young women. 

“As Katswe we have built the young women’s resilience in ward 8 and 10 so that they can be able to be confident when articulating issues that affect them when accessing health services. They have a goat rearing project that is helping them on their livelihoods and economic empowerment as they are now able to buy some of their groceries,” 

The young women’s organization is also carrying a range of activities among them, training of Junior Councilors, Chiefs and MPs, resilience meetings building capacities of communities to absorb stress and shock as well as quiz and debates at schools as a way of measuring growth in knowledge, abilities, skills and confidence building.