The Wedza Residents Development Initiative Trust (WERDIT) has launched a campaign aimed at stemming domestic violence within the Wedza district.
The campaign is targeting communities within different wards.
As part of the campaign, WERDIT members are also offering support to victims of domestic violence.
WERDIT Programmes Officer, Tecla Chikonhi said the campaign against domestic violence will also seek to address imbalances that are as a result of harmful traditional practices.
“We discovered that women are the major victims of domestic violence especially because of harmful traditional practices that look down upon women. We are therefore organizing communities and educating them on the need to eradicate domestic violence and ensure equality.
“We are therefore seeking to ensure that communities do way with som traditional practices that have been a contributing factor of domestic violence. But we are not necessarily saying that men are not victims too. We have also received reports of men being victimized as well and we have assisted the victims. Normally men are shy to report but we continue to urge them to come out in the open,” said Chikonhi.
She highlighted that WERDIT was seeking to ensure that various stakeholders are involved in the campaign against domestic violence.
“Our target is to get as many stakeholders as possible to rally behind this campaign. Eradicating domestic violence requires a concerted approach hence our push to ensure that traditional leaders, government officials as well as different civil society organisations are involved in this campaign,” said Chikonhi.
WERDIT is also seeking to train community members who act as ambassadors of peace within different communities.
“Our aim is to ensure that communities are capacitated to be able to tackle domestic based violence at a grassroots level. So going forward, we envisage a situation whereby communities are able to organize and resolve conflicts that include domestic violence.
“Traditional leaders play a key role in this regard and that is why we have made a deliberate approach to ensure that they are included. Our message is that by eradicating all norms of violence including domestic violence, we are setting the right tone for development in our communities,” said Chikonhi.
WERDIT is implementing a number or peace building initiatives within the Wedza district as well as facilitating dialogue between villagers and key policy makers.
