The Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development has called on Churches and Traditional Leaders to educate society on the significance of the family unit for the promotion of peace for Sustainable Development.
Addressing journalists yesterday in Harare, Women Affairs Minister, Sithembiso Nyoni said Churches and Traditional leaders play an important role in society and should help educate on the importance of the family.
“Churches and traditional leaders play a very significant role in ensuring the stability of the family unit in Zimbabwe, among other actions,
“Strengthening the family requires that each one of us plays their part and the participation of both men and women is key, let me urge churches and our esteemed traditional leaders to continue educating society on the significance of the family as the fundamental social unit created by God,” said Nyoni.
Today Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world in commemorating the International Day of Families, a United Nations Calendar Event.
It observes that families are the basic unit of society and the family should be accorded the widest possible protection and assistance so that it fully assumes its roles and responsibilities within the community, maintaining peace in the house and inculcating values in young children.
Nyoni added that Zimbabwean families are faced with a myriad of challenges which the ministry is seeking to mitigate guided by the thrust of the new dispensation.
“As we celebrate the International Families Day this year we note that Zimbabwean families are faced with a lot of challenges due to a number of factors which include but are not limited to Poverty, Migration, Divorce ratesGender-BasedBased Violence.
“In order to mitigate these challenges, my ministry is implementing various programmes guided by the thrust of the new dispensation such as mobilization of women and communities to eradicate poverty by participating in all the economic sectors facilitating access to financial resources through the WDF,
“Mobilization of women and communities to establish Internal Savings and Lending schemes (ISALS) and Savings Cooperatives to inculcate the culture of savings in communities and protection of families against Gender Based Violence,” she added.
This year’s International theme is ‘Families and Inclusive Societies’ whilst the local theme is ‘Promoting peaceful and Inclusive Society for Sustainable Development.
The event provides an opportunity to recognize and promote awareness on issues relating to the importance of families.
Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development will be launching the International Families Day on the 16th May 2018 at Maramba Primary School in Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe District in Mashonaland East Province to reach out to families in remote areas.
