The Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Petronella Kagonye, has said the country’s current legislation is sufficient for curbing child marriages.

“The current legislation is sufficient for persecuting those that breach children’s rights. We are currently reviewing the Child Act and the Marriage Act and we cannot not rush the process. The aim is to have a quality product that we can stand by and take pride in,” said Minister Kagonye.

Minister Kagonye made these assertions at the Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children’s 50^TH anniversary celebrations in response to journalists that had asked what the ministry is doing with regards to rampant child marriages, child trafficking and child labour.

The minister added that her office realises that poverty is the major driver of child marriages and child labour therefore efforts are being made to help parents keep children in school.

“Poverty is the major driver of various forms of abuse. To reduce child labour we encourage parents to keep children in school and we ensure this through the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM),” added Minister Kagonye.

Regarding child trafficking the minister said stern measures are being taken towards ensuring that no unaccompanied children leave the country.

“We are working with our South African counterparts to reduce such cases. Last month eight children were brought back and on 19 April we expect six more children. These are children who go to South Africa to visit their parents but do not have proper documentation some are unaccompanied because their parents cannot make time or their guardians cannot afford to”, asserted Kagonye.

Children with disabilities are also on the radar of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. There is the Disability Fund funded by the treasury to assist people with disabilities and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has five million dollars for people with disabilities. The challenge is that there are limitations to accessing money in the RBZ coffers. There are certain banks and conditions that people with disabilities have to comply to in order to access the money. Due to this, the ministry is making attempts for the money to be transferred to the ministry as it already has mechanisms in place to guarantee that supposed beneficiaries can access funds.   

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Financial Intelligence Unit Deputy Director, Oliver Chiperesa, has said that government will employ monitoring mechanisms to ensure that Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) do not fund terrorist activities.

The deputy director said this at an awareness workshop for NGOs on terrorist financing and vulnerability of Non-Profit Organisations sector that was held by the Financial Intelligence Unit in Harare.

Chiperesa said, “We have identified what makes NGOs vulnerable to funding terrorism and now the RBZ wants to make it harder to fund terrorist activities. We need to identify specific risks that face the NGO sector and how to mitigate against them.”

The deputy director added that there is need to take stock of all NGOs in the country, what programs they implement and where their funding comes from. He said this will assist in identifying organisations that are at greatest risk and putting additional measures to ensure that there is no opportunity for them to knowing or unknowingly fund terrorism.

NGO leaders and finance personnel expressed concern questioning if in Zimbabwe terrorism is a threat that warrants this level of alarm by the Central Bank.

Edson Chihota, the Director of Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO) commented on how the government’s interests into the work of NGOs is rising at a time when organisations’ programming is centred around elections. Chihota asked if there are any Zimbabwean organisations that have funded terrorism therefore warranting this exercise.

In response Chiperesa said that the awareness workshops have been on going as the unit has met with business people and legal practitioners. He said the unit was proactive and needed not to wait for terrorism to occur in Zimbabwe. He also said that the Financial Action Task Force has been in place for years and tightened reigns after the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States of America.

NANGO Northern Region Coordinator, Charity Musiiwa, asked if the Financial Intelligence Unit was guided by any research that gives basis for RBZ’s mitigation mechanisms.

The deputy director responded by saying the Best Practice Paper on Combating Terrorist Financing in the NPO Sector and another paper titled Risk of Terrorist Abuse in NPOs are among many researches that the Financial Intelligence Unit can share with civil society. He also said there are some case studies of Pakistan and Iraq.

Tafirenyika Mugomba who is the Zimbabwe Aids Network Finance and Administration Manager, expressed that the processes outlined by the Unit mostly affect the banking sector as NGOs submit their annual returns to the parent Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare a mechanism already in place to monitor NGOs.

RBZ officials announced that they will be circulating a risk assessment questionnaire to all NGOs as a way of collecting data and assessing the level of vulnerability.

The Financial Intelligence Unit is the main Anti-Money Laundering/ Combating the Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulator, but works in close cooperation with the supervisory and regulatory bodies of the various types of designated reporting institutions to ensure that the regulated entities comply with their AML/CFT obligations.

The RBZ Financial Intelligence Unit is guided by the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations that are internationally endorsed global standards against money laundering and terrorist financing. They increase transparency and enable countries to successfully take action against illicit use of their financial system.

The magazine is an annual publication focusing on the education sector in Zimbabwe. It is set out to inform, educate and stimulate discussion on current topics on the state of education and literacy in the country. The content of the publication is suitable for all reading ages ensuring pupils, parents and all concerned get the advice, information and clarifications on aspects of the system from ECD to University level education.

Dzidzo muZimbabwe invites organisations to provide articles, stories or reports on their work in promoting education in Zimbabwe and Africa. Our vision is to ensure all citizens of Zimbabwe have the information at hand to help them make choices for the education of their children, dependents and themselves. The right choice is to acquire education for a better future for all regardless of age, sex, race or physical status.

Copies available from Formvill Pvt Ltd and various retail outlets including Bon Marche Belgravia and Spar Montague Avenue. Contact Dave – 0775566383

An agreement was reached that independent commissions should work with the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) so that they can leverage on the presence of CSOs in local communities including hard to reach and marginalised communities. This was reached at a knowledge exchange seminar for civil society and independent commissions that was held at Monomotapa Hotel.

With regards to rapport between commissions and civil society, the meeting concurred that regular meetings should be held between independent commissions and CSOs in order to give updates on progress made and to identify areas of collaboration. Civil society needs to build a directory for the independent commissions so that they have information on who to work with for different programmes.

Organisations that attended the meeting appreciated that independent commissions need to work together in order to strengthen their voice and lobby for adequate financing from the government. In relation to the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission in particular, there is need for other commissions and civil society to support the commission since it cannot achieve its mandate on its own.

It was also highlighted that independent commissions need to engage the private sector to create partnerships as a way of resources mobilisation.

In their presentations the commissioners indicated that common challenges that are being faced across all the commissions include lack of resources to fully deliver their mandate, inadequate staff to carry out day to day activities and poor accessibility by the public due to lack of presence in local communities.

The seminar delved on areas of engagement for increasing the capacity, visibility and impact of the various actors before, during and after the 2018 elections. There was particular emphasis on the need to lobby for the amendment of the electoral laws before the proclamation of the 2018 elections, the need to identify and act on threats of political violence before it fully erupts and the need to have an agreed position as civil society and independent commissions on what constitutes a free and fair election and be able to act before the results are announced.

The objectives of the seminar were to provide independent commissions and CSOs in Zimbabwe, a platform to share experiences, challenges, applied strategies and lessons learnt in striving to implement their respective mandate, to discuss and come up with strategies for continued collaboration among different actors in dispensing their respective mandates and filling the existing gaps and to produce a framework for CSO engagement with independent commissions in different sectors.

Out of the five commissions in Zimbabwe three managed to attend the seminar. These were Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Zimbabwe Gender Commission and National Peace and Reconciliation Commission. The meeting was coordinated by Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Zimbabwe Human Rights Association and Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission.

NANGO invited its members to attend a meeting aimed at raising awareness on Anti Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) organised by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) at the RBZ Sports Club on 5 April 2018.

The meeting has been necessitated by government efforts, led by RBZ Financial Intelligence Unit and Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare to ensure that non-profit making organisations are not used to raise, move or store funds which will be used to commit terrorist activities, or be used for recruiting or training foreign terrorist fighters.

The inter-governmental body called the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) noted that the NGO sector is vulnerable to abuse by terrorist organisations to raise and move funds, provide logistical support, encourage terrorist recruitment or otherwise support.

A guiding document, Recommendations 8: Non-Profit Organisations of FATFs 40 states that countries should review the adequacy of laws and regulations that relate to Non-Profit Organisations which the country has identified as being vulnerable to terrorists financing abuse.  Countries should apply focused and proportionate measures, in line with the risk based approach, to such NPOs to protect them from terrorist financing abuse, including terrorist organisations posing as legitimate entities; exploiting legitimate entities as conduits for terrorist financing, including for the purpose of escaping asset-freezing measures; and concealing or obscuring the clandestine diversion of funds intended for legitimate purposes to terrorist organisations.

Zimbabwe has not made significant strides on complying with provisions of recommendation 8: Non-Profit Organisations of FATF’s 40 Recommendations. Due to this, over 20 organisations are invited to a platform where RBZ will give an overview of the Bank Use Promotion and Suppression of Money Laundering Unit, the roles they are playing together with the Ministry of Labour and Social Services.  At this meeting RBZ will highlight the vulnerability of the NGO sector to terrorist financing risks and preventative measures that should be put in place.

The Young Change Makers falls under the Advocacy and Campaigns Program whose goal is to improve the living conditions of children with disabilities in Zimbabwe. The project, run by Leonard Cheshire Disability Zimbabwe, is partnering with disability service organizations in order to support 200 children with disabilities as young leaders to participate in processes where they can raise awareness of their rights and responsibilities.

As part of efforts to foster child led advocacy the project held a post budget analysis seminar whose objective was to help learners understand their role in advocating for child friendly budgets. The seminar brought together representatives of Young Change Makers clubs from two schools that the project is partnering with in Harare.

At the seminar, NANGO Senior Social Policy Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Onias Munamati, spoke about child sensitive budgeting.

Munamati said, “The National Budget is a key instrument to ensure the progressive realisation of the social, environmental, economic and political rights of children as a disenfranchised group. Every child should have adequate standard of living and have the highest attainable standard of health and education on the basis of equality and opportunity. The fulfillment of these child rights involves costs and resources.”

Ideally elements of child friendly budgeting are child-friendly economic and social policies, transparent, accountable and participatory budget process, efficient and equitable budget allocations and expenditure as well as adequate and progressively increasing budget allocations, asserted Munamati.

He added that, to influence the 2018 National Budget, Junior Councilors developed their 2018 budget advocacy tool, the Children’s Ten Point Plan, which was used to engage the fiscal authorities. For inclusivity, a separate process comprised of Children with Disabilities was organised to gather their budget aspirations hence the development of Children’s Ten Point Plan Plus.

2018 National Budget Response to the Children’s Ten Point Plan Plus was allocation of $1 million for the provision of technical and vocational skills to Persons With Disabilities (PWD). The government allocated $5.7million towards the procurement of hearing aids and braille support services to learners with visual impairment. Commitment was also made to support sign language and braille teaching and learning resource materials.

The government also committed to support children with disabilities with psychological services and school feeding programmes. In terms of social security, $39.3 million was allocated towards funding existing social safety nets.

Leonard Cheshire Disability Zimbabwe held the seminar after appreciating the need to lobby for development of child sensitive fiscal and budget policies and expenditures, evidence based child budget advocacy, hold the government to account on the promises made to children, enhance the effectiveness of the national budgets in addressing the development needs of children and reprioritization of expenditure to the critical areas which are important in achieving sustainable development.

Leonard Cheshire Disability Zimbabwe is a non-profit organization striving for creation of equal opportunities for people with a disability. It has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1981 and envisions a society in which every person with a disability can enjoy their rights and have the opportunity to fulfil their potential. It also works with grassroots communities in all ten provinces of Zimbabwe and strives to address the issues of discrimination, exclusion, poverty and rights violation among people with disability (PWD) through various program strategies.

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) that met with the SADC Electoral Advisory Council (SEAC) on Friday last week at the Rainbow Towers expressed lack of confidence in the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

Zimbabwe Association of Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO) director, Edson Chihota, passed a complaint over how ZEC prescribes the role that CSOs should play during elections. He said such interference erodes confidence of the electorate.

An attendant at the meeting asked the council to evaluate the efficiency of ZEC stating that 112 political parties are alleged to have registered to run in the forthcoming elections yet it is very questionable if ZEC will manage to handle the numbers and still guarantee credible elections.

In response to concerns raised over the capabilities of ZEC, SEAC chairperson, Advocate Leshele Thohlane, said “We have met ZEC and they told us their structures, processes and limitations. What we have also been made aware of how the voters’ roll is contentious.”

Advocate Thohlane added that in spite of all this, they wanted to know the role that civil society is playing towards nation building.   

The Pre-election Goodwill Mission acknowledged that civil society feels a vacuum with regards to ensuring accountability of democratic processes.

He added that SEAC serves to assess the readiness of a country expected to hold elections and submits a report to SADC as it is the role of the council to ensure free and fair elections.

SEAC has the mandate of establishing whether socio-economic and political environment is conducive for holding elections. To fulfil this mandate Advocate Thohlane said they sit and listen to civil society as these are the foot soldiers documenting processes.

On 23 March 2018 Girl Child Empowerment of Zimbabwe (GCE Zim) conducted a peer to peer training at Ndarama High School in Masvingo. The peer to peer training was aimed at sharing information on issues affecting girls in high schools. These issues include gender discrimination, child abuse, rape, unequal education opportunities and intergenerational relationships.

More than 250 students attended the peer to peer training workshop.

During the workshop it was noted that a number of students are afraid to report any form of abuse to their teachers as student-teacher relations may not permit. During the workshop it was also said that intergenerational sexual relationships, commonly known as age mixing, drive the spread of sexually transmitted infections. It was also pointed out that intergenerational sexual relationships do not only leave girls prone to abuse but young girls can also contract sexually transmitted infections, have unplanned pregnancies and limit career prospects.

The issue of intergenerational sexual relationships is one of the topics that was presented and received well as most students and present stakeholders could relate. After that presentation a number of pupils came forward to suggest different issues affecting them which they felt GCE Zim should address in the near future. Some of the pupils narrated stories of how abuse is being carried out in public spaces, communities, homes and at schools.

In an attempt to improve the attendance of girls in school, GCE Zim donated sanitary pads to participants while some sanitary pads were given to the school senior teacher, Mrs Chuma, to offer students at the school.

The director GCE Zim, Tatenda Maposa vowed to work with likeminded organizations and various stakeholders in making sure that young girls are able to articulate their rights. Ndarama high school senior teacher thanked the organization and urged all pupils to work extra hard in their studies and avoid risky relationships because they can hinder their academic progress.

Body shaming is a great concern within our communities and has adverse psychological effects. It even leads to physical effects like self-harm. Body shaming, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is the action or practice of humiliating someone by mocking or passing critical comments about their body shape, size or colour. It’s expressing mockery or criticism about a person’s body.

I think we can all relate to this, you have either said it, been told about it in your face or heard someone being shamed. Rarely do people stop and think how the shamed person feels. Well, it’s not okay, it’s not right. Lately with the way social media has taken over the world, body shaming has gone to a new level. On Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp, you will find an increasing trend of all forms of body shaming.

This has become a norm and what saddens me the most is that younger generations are picking this up. They hear this and they think it’s right and do that to the next person. A child who lives across my street has a tendency of passing snide comments and several times I have observed that the mother does not reprimand him or apologise on his behalf. As a result, the child will grow up seeing nothing wrong with labelling or body shaming.

Children are also victims of body shaming as parents also perpetuate this form of emotional abuse. Body shaming is not just between strangers but can also be perpetuated by family members and close friends. This has adverse psychological effects on a child. Their confidence and self-esteem can be dented for life. Remember, the environment that a child is brought up in has a toll on their day to day life.

On International Women’s Day I was seeing a lot of positive, encouraging messages and words celebrating the day. I too was sending my own messages as this day is important to me as a woman. My major concern was body shaming of women then hit me that body shaming is broader than that. It is not a concept which only affects women but men as well. There are misconceptions about how a “real man” must look.

It is sad how most people do not realise how body shaming is hurtful and rude. We think it’s fine to speak badly about someone’s physical features. We have grown up in societies that don’t understand the effects of body shaming and name calling. Body shaming and the subsequent low self-esteem often leads victims to self-harm or commit suicide.

Often, people tend to forget that the victim may have a medical or genetic condition that has caused weight gained or loss. Physical appearance is not always a choice. Others simply cannot afford correctional surgery or things like braces. 

So before you comment or say a snide remark I would suggest you think twice before you become one of those rude people who think it’s ok to express their personal opinion about another person’s body. Also next time you hear someone body shaming another person tell them it’s rude and it’s a form of verbal harassment.

The author, Tadiwanashe Burukai, works with My Age Zimbabwe Trust in Masvingo. She is a development practitioner in the field of public health and has her focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights. She writes in her personal capacity.

The European Union (EU) delegation team recently met with the civil society organisations from the Western Region at Rainbow Hotel in Bulawayo to discuss the EU Roadmap exercise for 2018-2020.

The delegation wanted to get first-hand information from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) at grassroots level and get to understand their concerns and recommendation that can be addressed by the union.

The CSOs in the region were tasked to look at three thematic areas that covered their enabling environment, meaningful participation in policy dialogue and domestic policies, and capacity development.

CSOs highlighted the need for the government to revise their stringent laws so as to open an enabling environment for them to operate without any fear.

One of the participants in the meeting, National Youth Development Trust director, Liberty Bhebhe said, “One of the major challenges with the new dispensation is that this government is still restrictive. We are worried of what will happen after elections.”

Laws like Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) are still identified as major laws that hinder free operating environment for CSOs. These also undermine their civil liberties such as freedom of association among others.

The EU delegation members alluded to the important role that CSOs can play in national development in Zimbabwe stating that their continous support will help promote a democratic and inclusive society in the country.

CSOs added that there was minimal meaningful participation in policy dialogue and domestic policies at regional or grassroots level as they are not fully included in some decision making policies in the country.

Anglistone Sibanda, the director of Shalom Project, a community based organisation in the region said, “At grassroots level CSOs rarely meet with local authorities to engage on sectorial policies therefore they do not get a chance to influence public legislation.”

However, he argued that there was still a lot to be done in the capacity development sector because the CSOs still do not have the skills required in capacity building.

“Lack of funding is a major concern that hinders capacity development within CSOs in the region or at a national level, the skills can be attained when there is adequate funding, hence, we call EU to help us in these areas so as to improve our skills,” said Justice Zvaita, the director of Emmaus International.

The EU delegation team was requested to establish a civil society fund that will fund CSOs in strengthening their internal capacity in fundraising, research, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation.

In the meeting, it was noted that the EU was planninng to sharpen their roadmap focus and have more realistic priorities that are achievable by 2020 and also to improve participation by CSOs in other sectors such as the agriculture, health and environment.

EU was represented by eight ambassodors from France, Britain, Netherlands, Romania, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Portugal.

By Lovejoy Phiri, NANGO Western Region