Responding to Gender,

HIV and VAW in Murewa

District
RMT Experience

Hilda Mugaragumbo
Rozaria Memorial Trust

Presented at
5th AFRICITIES, Morocco
16-20 December, 2009
 Presentation Summary
• Background on Zimbabwe, Situation of
Women
• RMT Programme on Gender, HIV and
Violence Against Women
• Engagement with Local Government
– Key local government structures
– Stakeholder and partnerships
• Lessons Learnt
Challenges
• Recommendations
 BACKGROUND ON ZIMBABWE
• Zimbabwe population in 12 million with more than 50% women
• Murewa District population 162 167 people, estimated at 84 130
women and 78 037 men
• Zimbabwe has been going through a political, humanitarian,
economic and social crisis
• Negative impact on women and poor communities, including on
poverty, health, HIV and AIDS
• Passed the Domestic Violence Act
• Zimbabwe adopted a National AIDS Programme and Plan of Action
• Zimbabwe has ratified the CEDAW and Committed to Beijing
Platform for Action on Gender,
• Zimbabwe is 2nd country to sign SADC Protocol on Gender and
Development
RMT’S LOCAL TO LOCAL DIALOGUE
APPROACH
• RMT was founded in 2007 in honour of the late Mbuya
Rozaria Dizha, a local community leader

• Key purpose of empower women and young people in

communities

• Key programmes include:

– HIV and AIDS Prevention, Care and Support
– Prevention of Violence Against Women

• Adopted the Local to Local Dialogue approach

since inception, supported by UN-Habitat:
 Continued…..
Key local to local engagement has included

– Murewa district consultations on HIV and VAW with local

authorities and traditional leaders

– Participation in local government structures and committees

– Collaboration with other stakeholders and NGOs at local,

regional and international level

– Involvement of stakeholder including from local authorities as

resource persons

– Documentation and communication

 CONSULTATIVE STRUCTURES AND PARTNERS
• RMT brings perspectives of women and gender issues in local
structures in Murewa through participation in:
– Monthly Murewa District Stakeholder Meetings chaired by
the Chairperson of Council and District Administrator
– District AIDS Coordinating Committee Meetings
– Social Services Committee

• RMT is a member of the following organisations that have

supported the awareness on gender issues especially on
violence against women and HIV:
– Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe
– Gender Based Violence Prevention Network for East and
Southern Africa
– Huairou Commission
– SAFAIDS
– Partnered with UN-Habitat, UNIFEM
 RMT Programmes Focus in Murewa
District
• Awareness raising on Violence Against Women in the context of HIV
and AIDS through engagement with local government authorities.

• Integrating gender perspective in dialogue with local authorities and

their governance system as a factor for success and sustainability.

• Rights and leadership for women especially those living with HIV and
AIDS

• Integrating a gender perspectives in the face of HIV and AIDS by

actively involving the local authorities.

• Contributing to formulating and strengthening local policies that

promote equal participation of women in decision making
 STAKEHOLDERS CONSULTATIONS
• Rozaria Memorial Trust holds annual district level stakeholder
consultations that include local authorities, traditional leaders and
faith based organisation and other NGOs
– 2007 Consultation focused on role of tradition and culture in responding to
HIV and SGBV, held in partnership with SAFAIDS
– 2008 Consultation focused on access to justice for responding to gender
based violence
– 2009 consultation focused on community approaches to prevention of
gender based violence and HIV
• Key insights
– Building of strong partnership with various government departments and
other civil society organizations in its programmes on HIV and Gender Based
Violence.
– Local authorities and government departments at district level have control
and influence especially on authoritative, moral and political fronts within the
community.
– Respect and quality communication with local government systems is
required to obtain cooperation.
Lessons learnt in prevention of
violence against women
• The Domestic Violence Act passed in 2007 is not fully known and
understood in Murewa district, including by district officials and
community members

• The Victim Friendly Police Unit and Courts established at Murewa

are poorly funded and supported

• People in the community know very little about their rights and
how to use the law

• The traditional leadership has been very responsive in district

dialogues and promoting positive behaviour and encouraging
positive use of cultures

• Strong partnerships developed with other organisations such as

ZWAAPV and ZICHIRE
 KEY LESSONS
• Important to have a gender district action plan, budget and staff on the issue
– Its positive that Murewa District has plan, coordinating committee and staff
for HIV & AIDS
– Its challenging and problematic that there is no single structure coordinating
response to violence against women (situation could change with Domestic
Violence Council established in 2009)
• Stakeholder consultations provides platforms for information sharing with other
stakeholders, and greater synergy and collaboration opportunities
• Presence of official person from local government/government district official
supports the knowledge and gives some commitment for government interest
• Local government monthly meetings are opportunity for monitoring and
evaluation of key issues relating to women and gender from perspective of
different actors
• Provided opportunity for lobbying, advocacy and influencing policy, ie raised
issue of medical fees payment for HIV treatment
CHALLENGES
In working with the local governance systems in Murewa District, Zimbabwe
they are a multi-faced challenges which civil society organizations encounter.
• There is NO GENDER ACTION PLAN and clear programmes and activities on gender issues in Murewa
local governance system.

• Also, local government officials lack the expertise in handling or dealing with women issues. They have
limited capacity and competence in gender planning.

• With the political crisis in Zimbabwe, most local government institutions at local level have become too
politicised, and this creates sensitivity in work of NGOs.

• The planning process of local government involves a lot of protocol and bureaucracy. Valuable time and
resources are lost in the process.

• Effective local to local dialogue and interaction is hampered by the non-availability of reliable transport
services, and women from rural communities are unable to travel for meetings.

• Women are a key resource in communities and at times their issues are used by politicians to advance
their own interests instead of promoting the empowerment and development of rural/community women.
 Challenges cont……
• There is lack of proper coordination within the local governance and civil society
organizations. This has created a lot of duplication in areas of women and HIV.

• Another constraint emanates from the lack of interest by some men within the local
government to mainstream gender issues in the aspects of their work.

• The local budget structures of the local authorities hardly takes into consideration
women’s issues.

• Limited financial resources: the local government as the national budget allocations
on gender mainstreaming is almost zero. The district no budgetary support from UN
systems and other bilateral and multilateral agencies for gender oriented
development programmes.

• NGOs like Rozaria Memorial Trust with women and gender programme have small
funds and operate with limited capacity (skills, staff, transport)
 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• Bringing the local to local dialogue between civil organizations and the local
government is important in women empowerment programmes.

• UN-Habitat and partners should support in-country activities in selected local

authorities for the implementation of the local to local dialogues.

• Women’s effective participation is crucial in countries in crisis and post crisis

where the social and economic structures are broken.

• Continued training and capacity building for local gender planning, budgeting
and monitoring and evaluation is essentials.

• Local organisations must be supported for documentation and quality

communications on development of issues, ie Rozaria Memorial Trust’s
Community Voices published twice a month.

• Women in communities, especially young women should be supported in their

leadership for comprehensive response to HIV and violence against women
CONTACT DETAILS

ROZARIA MEMORIAL TRUST

P.O BOX 114,
Murewa, Zimbabwe

Tel: 263-278 22835

Cell:+26311 730213
+263914107800
Email: info@rozaratrust.org
rozaria@africaonline.co.zw