via Top marks for Women’s League | The Herald December 12, 2015
Zanu-PF Women’s League has adopted the Result-Based Management system which has improved its operations as evidenced by the sourcing of six vehicles for provincial chairpersons by the national secretary for Women’s Affairs and First Lady, Dr Amai Grace Mugabe.
According to the party’s Central Committee report, which was presented and adopted at the on-going 15th National People’s Conference in Victoria Falls, a Top 10 managing committee was set up by the Women’s League to manage the operations of the wing and act as a planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation system.
“There are a number of projects that the Women’s League has pursued during the year to economically empower women and youths across the country. Women’s projects in various sectors have been buttressed by programmes implemented through the ministries of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development and Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development,” reads the report.
“About $3 014 735 was disbursed to 2 145 women’s groups through the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development’s Women’s Development Fund. The beneficiary projects include mining, cropping, bakeries, goat rearing, indigenous chickens, agro-dealership, honey production and processing, garment making, leather products, crafts, beneficiation, cattle fattening, fruit vending and value addition.”
Efforts to resuscitate idle projects were also made during the year, among them the Bulawayo Kraal Irrigation Scheme in Binga targeting 250 hectares, orange plantation in Beitbridge which was launched in 2008, Cold Storage Company in Bulawayo and the Magudu Ranch in Masvingo which was idle since 2003.
True to her role as the mother of the nation, through Amai Mugabe, the Women’s League managed to source promotional material for the female candidates who contested in the June 2015 by-elections.
“The Secretary for Women Affairs secured a donation of $80 000 through the First Lady of the People’s Republic of China that will be used to purchase promotional material for the league.
“An additional $50 000 was received by the Women’s League from the All-China Women’s Federation for the purchase of chicken hatching machines for women’s projects.”
The report further said: “Six vehicles were sourced for provincial chairpersons for the Women’s League by the National Secretary for Women’s Affairs. Manicaland, Masvingo, Harare, Midlands, Matabeleland North and South provinces have since received their vehicle allocations. Delivery of vehicles for the remaining four provinces is expected in due course.”
As part of its membership empowerment efforts, the Women’s League in conjunction with Bulawayo Metropolitan and Matabeleland South provinces, managed to assist members of its Johannesburg branch to acquire land for resettlement.
The Women’s League and Zimbabwe Cross Borders’ Association engaged authorities at the Plumtree and Beitbridge border posts to understand the Customs and Immigration Regulations and challenges faced by cross-border traders with a view of assisting the latter.
“The Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises trained 397 women on Customs and Immigration Regulations, while 36 women traders were trained in business management in Harare province.
“Empowering women through public private partnerships, the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development has engaged Savanna and Imhanya. A total of 64 women entrepreneurs indicated interest in the project of which 41 are for umbrellas and 23 for mini kiosks for the Savanna project. In Mashonaland East, over 1 000 women have indicated an interest in the Imhanya partnership,” says the report.
The Women’s League has explored the party and Government to reserve a certain percentage of resources from the community share ownership trusts for women’s projects.
It condemned gender-based violence and said it would be holding sensitisation workshops on conflict management and resolution, advocating for girl-child education, gender mainstreaming and ensuring that women actively participate in various economic activities.
“The Women’s League continues to play an important role in empowering women. A number of initiatives such as resuscitating idle projects, capacity building and promoting access to financial resources through savings clubs are being implemented. It is, therefore, important that the Government and the party continue to design policies that support the initiatives and projects being spearheaded by women,” the report says.
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