By 
The Institute for Young Women’s Development (IYWD) conducted their two day campaign #VOTERUNLEAD RELOADED which aimed at strengthening, empowering and capacitating women in politics.
The campaign which commenced on Thursday and ended on Friday saw women from all parts of the country representing different political parties acquiring knowledge on diverse issues.
Issues raised included patriarchy which was presented by IYWD’s team leader Glanis Changachirere.
She elaborated on the challenges of the girl child from birth to the time of death in societies.” The Master’s House” which was the umbrella term for the seven key points that women face in life involved media, education, religion, organizations, policy, culture community and family or home. These being the main key points aspiring Councilors and Members of Parliament took home to ponder on how best to fight them if voted in power by electorate.
Former minister Dr Olivia Muchena who was one of the mentors together with LEAD President Linda Masarira, Veteran Politician Margret Dongo, Ward 13 Councillor Martha Paul Mapfumo and WILSA’s Fadzai Traqinno, also taught the women on the pertinent issues required in their political journeys emphasizing on the main goal of fighting for the Women in Zimbabwe.
Group discussions together with question and answer segments from different speakers namely Tambudzai Madzimure Program Manager for Hivos, Sandra Zenda Programs Coordinator IYWD, Dorcas Chitiyo who is a legal practitioner, Ian Goredema who represented ZESN and Clotilda James Knowledge Management Documentation and Advocacy IYWD sparked hyper issues that women face and the possible solutions needed to implement in Parliament inorder to attain results for Zimbabwean women and their pleas.
Disability policy amendment was one of the burning topic ladies vouched to push in Parliament after thorough analysis of the need to insightfully look at issues affecting people with disabilities were raised. Other lessons learnt from the campaign were the requirements in political parties and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), qualifications and roles of all positions the aspiring candidates were willing to win.
The importance of engaging the community pre and post election was also emphasized together with the impact of gearing themselves with the necessary legal aid. Furthermore sources of positive power knowledge points were raised as a critical approach for the women gain victory and maintain positions in power. The most crucial lesson was #VOTERUNLEAD RELOADED which targeted women voters, candidates and leaders as it was a second cohort of a VoteRunLead program that was initiated by IYWD prior.
The program was beneficial and informative for every female present as it challenged them to be better versions than their counterparts. Women also vouched to stand with each other rather than fighting regardless of the different political parties they represented.
Zimbabwe currently has a female population of 54% with less than 20% in power according to the recent statistics. The female politicians also learnt that 10 Provincial Councilor seats which were once under the “zebra system” will officially be seated by women as of the 2023 harmonized elections.
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