InfocusNewsfacebook.com/wildtrustzim|@wildtrustzim|www.womenforleadership.orgnthe25th ofAugust2022,Women’sInstituteforLeadershipDevelopment(WILD)conductedaRadioprogramatSkyzMetrotodiscusstheImplicationsofelectionfeehikesonwomen’sparticipationintheongoingelectoralprocessesinZimbabwe.SpeakersincludedZimbabweElectoralCommission(ZEC)CommissionerJasperMangwana, AspiringfemalecandidateandCommunityChampionMoreblessingChereandPeopleLivingWithDisabilitiesAdvocateSukoluhleMhlanga.TheRadioprogramwassettoprovideaplatformforyoungwomenandpeoplelivingwithdisabilitiestosharetheirconcernsonthestipulatedfeesandgiverecommendationsonthebestwaytoensuretheirinclusionascandidates.MsChere,anaspiringcandidate,highlightedthatthenominationfeeshikelimitspoliticsforthe‘fewelite’.Thisnegativelyaffectsyoungwomen,youthandpeoplelivingwithdisabilitiesasthatCandidatewillnotsharetheireverydaystruggles.ToaddonMSChereelaboratesthatyoungwomenarealreadyexcludedduetothecultural,societalnormsandstereotypeshenceit’snotamatterofwantingwomentobepamperedandbabiedbutit’suntilwomencanclaimthespacethentherecanbefaircompetition.MsMhlangaanadvocateforpersonslivingwithdisabilityrepresen
ZEC Commissioner Mr Mangwa na reiterated that there is a need for Aspiring candidates to show commitment and integrity to the electoral processes. He further stated that there is no exclusion of women, youth and people living with disabilities. Political parties should be inclusive enough to bring women, young people and PWD’s as candidates. Speak Out On Fees Hike
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tative mentioned that despite being differently abled she is a woman. There are a lot of women who are passionate but they are deprived of the opportunity and this isn’t about special treatment for women. Still, it’s a matter of affordability which the nomination fee is not providing at the moment.
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Residents who attended the hear ings also noted that women walk for more than 15kms to fetch water this takes half of their day’s work and suggested that Government should ensure that access to water is improved through drilling of more boreholes in areas that do not have tap water.
“Mostwomen.women spend a lot of time doing laundry hence in order to relieve them from this burden there is need for the Government to ensure that washing machines are tax free, they should also be afford able,” she said. She added that there is need to en courage manufacturing companies within the country to manufacture washing machines and sell them at an affordable price. encouraged to improve accessibility of healthcare centres
Another participant, Sihlobo Ngwenya highlighted that in order to reduce the burden of unpaid care work, government should make policy adjustments that benefit
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ensure that clinics and healthcare facilities are within 5ki lometre radious from the communities and have the capacity to do basic treatment said a resi dent from Bulawayo. This was said by women who attended the Unpaid Care and Domestic Care public consultations which were conducted on Thurs day by the Portfolio Committee on Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Entreprises. “In most rural areas women have to travel between 10 to 15kms in order to access basic health care services and clinics or healthcare facilities are not able to provide most basic health treatment for people with chronic illnesses hence some people end up dying or their health deteriorating,” said one of the Participantsparticipants.noted that women require more health services than men in terms of childbirth, family planning and general doctor visits.
Participating Champions trained the importance ofCitizen Involvement
Local Participating champions were also trained on lobbying and advocacy as an art of persuasion and influence underpinned by the science of robust, evidence-based policy positions. “Advocacy in volves raising awareness and informing the public about an idea, cause, or policy, researching new solutions, creating coalitions of like-minded people, and public campaigning. Lobbying, on the other hand, involves contacting or getting the public to contract the policymakers in order to support or oppose certain legislation” said Mr Chikore.
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During the training, participants were of the view that the conse quences of weak civic engagement include poor governance, weak public accountability, corruption, lack of transparency, weak com munities as well as the prevalence of social, economic and political injustices. “We believe civic en gagement to be a holistic space for diverse efforts, which unlock the agency of citizens, build trust and accountability between citizens and their institutions, enrich and beau tify shared space, and which foster civic awareness, creativity, collab oration, accessibility and account ability in public and social spheres” said Assa Mahachi.
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To kickstart the training, Mr Chi kore, the facilitator explained what citizen participation/involvement is. “‘Citizen participation’ refers to citizen involvement in public decision making. In different inter pretations, ‘citizens’ may be either individuals or organized communi ties, and ‘participation’ may involve either observation or power” he said. He further alluded that the purposes of citizen participation include communicating infor mation, developing relationships, developing the capacity to act, and preserving or changing conditions.
partners under the Strengthening Citizen Agency and Constituency Dialogue project seeks to strengthen a culture of political and civic engagement in Zimbabwe by promoting effective citizen par ticipation in governance processes at multiple levels with a goal to improved, citizen-driven develop ment. It is against this background, Consortium Partners conducted a training of local participating champions (LPC) in Gweru which was led by GUPRADA. The activity was aimed at capacitating citizens with relevant information for them to actively participate in all decision-making processes that affect them in their area of jurisdic Thetion.activity was a platform to pro mote and support holistic ways to increase citizens’ ability to influ ence policy, political preferences, build stronger networks for collab oration and solidarity on issues that affect them.
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Electoral Information Blitz
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facebook.com/wildtrustzim | @wildtrustzim | www.womenforleadership.org Electoral Information Blitz
