Gender groups rope in children in GBV fight

Source: Gender groups rope in children in GBV fight -Newsday Zimbabwe

Muzika Primary school pupils under the Catch- Them-Young programme

GENDER activists have roped in primary school children in the fight against gender-based violence (GBV) to raise awareness on gender equality, especially in rural grassroots.

The activists, known as gender champions, under the Spotlight Initiative programme, are educating children on the dangers of GBV under the Catch-Them-Young programme.

Spotlight Initiative is a European Union (EU)-funded programme implemented by United Nations (UN) Women to eliminate violence against girls and women in communities through economic empowerment and training on GBV issues.

The programme, which started in 2019, is being implemented in the country’s five provinces of Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West, Manicaland, Bulawayo and Harare.

At Mazika School in Guruve district, Mashonaland Central, teachers who benefited from the Spotlight Initiative Training on GBV have also started programmes to impart information on GBV to children.

Under the Catch-ThemYoung programme, children recite poems, act dramas and other several visual art performances at public gatherings to spread the messages against GBV.

Children who participate in the Catch-Them-Young programme are also beneficiaries of the profits of the Spotlight Initiative-funded projects that are run by gender activists.

“We were educated on the various forms of abuse in communities on issues to do with GBV and we have also decided to catch the children from a young age,” a GBV champion and Mazika school teacher, Franceca Chakoma, said.

“If they grow up knowing the impact of GBV in communities, then we will be moving stride to achieve total elimination against gender-based violence.”

She said the champions also reach the community on GBV issues through children and they take the message to their families.

“We want to raise a generation that is conscious of the dangers of violence against women and girls. We want every child to appreciate the importance of a violence-free society and the potential of women to transform communities for the better,” she said.

In Mashonaland West, Hurungwe district ward 18 councillor Bernard Chidhakwa said awareness of GBV issues among young children would accelerate the efforts to eliminate GBV in communities.

“We have been rallying politicians to push for a policy that will allow children to be educated about GBV in schools,” Chidhakwa said.

“We want it to be incorporated into the school curriculum. GBV is a serious problem and if we want to eliminate it completely, then everyone’s hands should be on the deck.

“Today’s children and the future’s adults so we need to nurture them from a young age. We have realised that some people perpetrate violence unknowingly so providing adequate information on the problem is very important.”