MARTIN MAWAYA
HARARE-The Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, Monica Mutsvangwa has urged the government to channel more financial resources for gender equality as a way of eradicating gender based violence.
Minister Mutsvangwa made the remarks during the Spotlight Initiative celebration held in Harare yesterday.
The Zimbabwe Spotlight Initiative main objective is meant to empower women, girls and children against gender based violence as well as building a strong foundation to expand and create momentum in all sectors towards gender equality.
“Financing for Gender Equality and for initiatives to eradicate GBV & Harmful Practices in Zimbabwe must be increased. The Government, Private Sector and Development Partners must work together and within their individual sectors to mobilize and increase the financial resources for addressing the systemic, structural, and cultural barriers which perpetuate inequalities and violence against women and children.
“The Government of Zimbabwe has committed in the HLPC to increase financing of the GBV response by 2030 through gender- responsive budgeting, public-private partnerships and other domestic resource mobilization models that will be explored.
“We still need financial support from development partners for programmes and initiatives on gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and for the elimination of GBV,” said Mutsvangwa.
She said the country cannot expand the gender equality gains and eliminate GBV in isolation, hence the need for coordinated, well-resourced programmes and partnerships to close the gender inequality gaps by reaching out to the most vulnerable communities.
“What the Spotlight Initiative model has shown us is that when all stakeholders are coordinated in a comprehensive manner with a shared vision and objectives, we can move the needle faster towards change. Our efforts to achieve gender equality and to eliminate all forms of GBV must be mutually re-enforcing.
We need far more joint initiatives and programmes involving Government, Civil Society, Private Sector, Independent Commissions and Oversight Institutions, Development Partners, among others, which create and respect national ownership.
“My Ministry, as the convenor of the Inter-Ministerial Platform during the Spotlight Initiative, already started consultations between Government Ministries, departments, Independent Commissions and our technical partners in the UN on the development of a new country programme outline for a joint programme on gender equality to expand the gains,” added the Minister.
Mutsvangwa pointed out that developing and strengthening institutional systems and mechanisms that create accountability among duty-bearers to the implementation of strong legal and policy framework is paramount important in curbing gender inequalities in Zimbabwe.
She said gender inequalities should not be promoted as the norm in Zimbabwe, hence stronger messaging on gender inequality as a driver of violence against women and girls should be escalated.
According to United Nations Population Fund statistics, 32% of girls in Zimbabwe are married off before the age of 18 a whilst 12% are married off before the age of 15.
