A local women rights lobby group, the Institute of Young Women Development (IYWD) has urged local authorities to empower women and girls with knowledge on social services provision including access to clean water, electricity and health care to enable them to demand accountability.
IYWD works towards fostering gender equality, encouraging young women to take up leadership positions and socio-economic development in rural communities.
Speaking at an Indaba engagement, IYWP’s Programs Coordinator, Kudakwashe Munemo said they were focusing on harnessing young women’s voice and collective power to promote local government accountability, gender responsive and service delivery in all provinces.
“Women need a transparent and accountable state that utilizes national resources towards goods and services that expand all women’s lives,” he said.
Munemo said full and equal participation of women in all decision-making structures and processes should be practiced from community management structures to national governance.
Speaking at the same event, Deputy Director of Human Resources in the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Ruvarashe Chigiya Mujeni said women need to be empowered through knowledge exchange programmes and 50:50 advocacy campaigns.
“Women shoud be included in socio- economic empowerment projects so that no one is left behind, as local authorities we encourage women to participate in programmes that concern all issues that affect their lives directly and indirectly and also adopt to ICT’s so that they are not left behind with other channels of communication.” she said.
She urged local authorities to improve social service delivery through fostering culture of engagement for social accountability.
Chigiya disclosed that patriarchy, religion and lack of resources were some of the barriers impeding women from occupying key decision-making positions.
.”Although Zimbabwe has constitutional provisions that seek to promote women’s empowerment, there is a gradual decline in the number of women who contest and win during elections, however, the push for more women’s participation in local governance seeks to achieve gender responsive service provision, this will be achieved through intensive voter education that connects women’s participation in local governance and gender responsive service provision,” she said.
