UN  Zimbabwe partners WELEAD Trust to raise awareness on GBV and human rights

Staff Reporter

HARARE-The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence is an annual global commemoration which runs from 25 November through to 10 December, which is the International Human Rights Day. This campaign is designed to raise awareness and change attitudes about gender inequality and the scourge of Gender Based Violence (GBV) which disproportionately affects women. ‘Orange the World: END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN NOW!’ was the theme for the 2021 Sixteen Days of Activism against GBV.  

Commemorations for 2021 came during a devastating COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted the normal flow of life. In Zimbabwe, the period has seen a spike in cases of GBV due to several reasons. Reports from women serving organizations under the auspices of the Spotlight Initiative (2020) recorded a 45% increase in reported GBV cases during the 2020 lockdown period.

In the year 2021, when the theme was predicated on the need for urgent action by all stakeholders to end GBV, the United Nations (UN) in Zimbabwe, in partnership with WELEAD Trust, conducted various activities to raise awareness on GBV and human rights.

 Most of the activities were implemented  via social media and electronic platforms to reach out to young people with the key  messages of ending violence against women and girls as well as promoting human rights. 

Young people are an important demographic group given that 65% of Zimbabwe’s population are youths (YETT: 2018). It is therefore critical to involve the youth on these platforms in order to achieve positive change. 

Furthermore, the incentive of increased awareness of GBV among young people is that the gains that have been made in gender equality and in the fight against GBV can be consolidated  and sustained into the future.

With the broad aim of increasing communication and publicity of messages centred on GBV to young people by young people, UN in Zimbabwe in partnership with WELEAD Trust rolled out a series of activities spanning the 16 days using its social media platforms on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

 The partnership also hosted a high-level TV programme on ZTN, which generated a lot of interest and massive engagement from various stakeholders.

 Moreover, the programme brought together critical stakeholders including government representatives, namely, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi, the Swedish Ambassador HE Asa Pehrson, the United Nations Resident Coordinator Dr. Alex Casasira, the Chairperson of the Gender Commission, Margret Sangarwe, the Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Dr. Elasto Mugwadi and the European Union in Zimbabwe Ambassador, HE Timo Olkkonen.

 A  youthful discussion panel composed of WELEAD Trust Director, Namatai Kwekweza, Hope Resurrect Trust Founder, Florence Mudzingwa, Section 7 Department of Research and Evidence’s Makomborero Muropa and Plan International Programme Manager for Bulawayo and Matabeleland North, Noreen Makhurane was also a part of the programme. Notably, the panel was balanced in terms of representation of various intersectional groups  that included women, youth and persons with disability. 

 More than 1600 people viewed the programme on Facebook and YouTube  as it was shared on the ZTN, WELEAD Trust and United Nations platforms. 

For WELEAD Trust, human rights and the inclusion of young people have become the centre of attention on social media platforms under the hashtags #StandUp4HumanRights and #Stand4Inclusion. These two hashtags were pushed as part of the commemorations of the 16 Days of Activism against GBV which culminated in Human Rights Day on 10 December.

 In keeping with the prevailing human rights sentiment, WELEAD Trust team organized a Twitter push party with the #StandUp4HumanRights which trended for 13 out of the 16 days on twitter. On average during the days when the hashtags trended, between 1 000 and 1 600 youths tweeted about the campaign that was being led by the United Nations in Zimbabwe and WELEAD Trust. This generated a lot of public interest in work related to the #StandUp4HumanRights, resulting in more than 500 new young people following the WELEAD Trust Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.