‘We have been transformed’
When we met the same group of women during the project verification process early in February 2015, they were lethargic and mostly spoke with their heads cast down.
29 September 2015
We were sitting under the variegated shade of the big Musasa tree (Brachystegia spiciformis), some 50 meters from the still to be painted fowl runs. The temperature, soaring close to 35 degrees Celsius, was no deterrent to the singing and ululating group of women, who showed amazing energy levels in such debilitating heat. When we met the same group of women during the project verification process early in February 2015, they were lethargic and mostly spoke with their heads cast down. Another observation that we made with my colleague was that compared to the dull, greyish complexion most of them had earlier in the year, these women now had shiny radiant countenances with a new warmth reflecting in their smiling eyes. There was such palpable new life in this group!
What had happened in a space of seven months, we whispered among us?
We soon got our answers when the women sat down on their clean wrappers, some settling their plump cheeked babies on their laps. This was our first field monitoring visit after the verification process and several training workshops conducted by the Senior Gender Specialist, the trained trainers and service providers consisting of Agricultural Extension Officers, nearby vocational training centres, community women of influence and identified male champions.
My colleague could not hold back his curiosity. He bluntly asked the women what had happened since we had last met? The women blurted their response, almost in unison –
We listened with surprise, as one on the women walked us through the ‘gender transformation training’ the group had undergone. She narrated what she had understood by gender equality, gender roles, personal mastery, sex roles, leadership styles, roles and responsibilities of a leader, men and masculinities, forms of GBV, causes of domestic violence and effects of domestic violence. As if not to be outdone, a male champion present told us about the power dynamics in the home and the importance of women’s economic empowerment.
With the new confidence gained through training and the prospects that the Egg Production project is offering, one widowed beneficiary had the courage to announce that: ‘Any aspiring man friend, will have to come to my homestead on my own terms’.
Reviewing the meeting later in the day, colleagues agreed that this same woman would not have had the confidence to make such pronouncements, earlier in the year before exposure to the training. Most of the women had come out of their proverbial shells, displaying such confidence as if they owned the very ground they were sitting on.
The local Councillor (a political representative chosen by the community) was full of praise for the project. He went as far as attributing the reduced number of domestic violence reports to the project and the gender equality training the women beneficiaries and their spouses had received.
The Chivi Egg Production Project is the fifth ILO-led project in five districts of Zimbabwe under the UN Joint Programme on Gender Equality. The other projects in Gutu, Mutoko, Murehwa and Nyanga districts are engaged in horticulture growing green beans, butternuts, carrots, onions, leafy vegetables, potatoes and cabbages among them. These projects are a result of a four year SIDA funded project with four priority areas of:
The Joint Programme on Gender Equality, Zimbabwe (JPGE) brings together the state, UN development agencies, development partners and a number of different gender equality advocates to support the Government of Zimbabwe in attaining its development goals under the outgoing MDG 3 on Gender Equality and the incoming SDG 5 which aims to ‘‘Achieve Gender Equality and empower all women and girls’’ by 2030.
What had happened in a space of seven months, we whispered among us?
We soon got our answers when the women sat down on their clean wrappers, some settling their plump cheeked babies on their laps. This was our first field monitoring visit after the verification process and several training workshops conducted by the Senior Gender Specialist, the trained trainers and service providers consisting of Agricultural Extension Officers, nearby vocational training centres, community women of influence and identified male champions.
My colleague could not hold back his curiosity. He bluntly asked the women what had happened since we had last met? The women blurted their response, almost in unison –
“We have been transformed”.How? – asked my colleague.
We listened with surprise, as one on the women walked us through the ‘gender transformation training’ the group had undergone. She narrated what she had understood by gender equality, gender roles, personal mastery, sex roles, leadership styles, roles and responsibilities of a leader, men and masculinities, forms of GBV, causes of domestic violence and effects of domestic violence. As if not to be outdone, a male champion present told us about the power dynamics in the home and the importance of women’s economic empowerment.
With the new confidence gained through training and the prospects that the Egg Production project is offering, one widowed beneficiary had the courage to announce that: ‘Any aspiring man friend, will have to come to my homestead on my own terms’.
Reviewing the meeting later in the day, colleagues agreed that this same woman would not have had the confidence to make such pronouncements, earlier in the year before exposure to the training. Most of the women had come out of their proverbial shells, displaying such confidence as if they owned the very ground they were sitting on.
The local Councillor (a political representative chosen by the community) was full of praise for the project. He went as far as attributing the reduced number of domestic violence reports to the project and the gender equality training the women beneficiaries and their spouses had received.
The Chivi Egg Production Project is the fifth ILO-led project in five districts of Zimbabwe under the UN Joint Programme on Gender Equality. The other projects in Gutu, Mutoko, Murehwa and Nyanga districts are engaged in horticulture growing green beans, butternuts, carrots, onions, leafy vegetables, potatoes and cabbages among them. These projects are a result of a four year SIDA funded project with four priority areas of:
- promoting women’s security and combating gender-based violence;
- women’s political participation and influence;
- women’s economic empowerment and working conditions; and,
- national accountability on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The Joint Programme on Gender Equality, Zimbabwe (JPGE) brings together the state, UN development agencies, development partners and a number of different gender equality advocates to support the Government of Zimbabwe in attaining its development goals under the outgoing MDG 3 on Gender Equality and the incoming SDG 5 which aims to ‘‘Achieve Gender Equality and empower all women and girls’’ by 2030.