Zimbabwe: Edzai Mupupuni

Edzai Mupupuni

My life as a leader began when I was involved in spearheading voluntary work in charity activities mainly focusing on women and the handicapped. In addition, I was a leader of the compassion ministry in my Church, working with the sick and the bereaved. It is in light of such experiences that I was motivated to represent such groups at a higher level hence my participation in council ward elections.

The other factor which prompted me to become a councillor was the lack of women representation in decision making positions. Since then, I have had many cherish able moments in that I am playing a pivotal role in transforming lives especially in gender mainstreaming projects.

Since my inception as a councillor, I have been very instrumental in policy changes at institutional level. Some of the notable changes have been seen in the introduction of the Anti-littering by-law which seeks to promote a clean environment within kwekwe city. According to the by-law, any person found to be littering is fined $20. As a result of this practice, people in Kwekwe have become more responsible citizens and are actually helping council towards attainment of this noble objective. Also in my capacity as a women councillor, I have influenced some changes in the gender policy in which more attention is now given to gender related issues at institutional level.

One of my life time experiences has been the privilege of being nominated to represent City of Kwekwe in the 2014 Women capacity building summit in Sweden and also Kenya in the same year. Both experiences were a milestone and an eye opener in gender related issues. The exposure helped me to be resilient and face challenges as they come and also to be more composed. The exposure helped me quite significantly to become an authoritative leader who is not easily intimidated by male dominance.

Some of the activities that I do as a gender champion include Community mobilization and harnessing of resources. I educate various participating groups, especially women, on best methods to ensure quality and maximum gardening produce.

Championing gender has enabled me to be rational in gender issues. It has allowed me to handle issues accordingly without fear and to resolve conflicts amicably without bias. I am now able and more confident to compete with the male counterparts in decision making roles and to be firm and principled in the manner I conduct my work. For my future, I envisage to study towards attaining a BSS in Local Governance Degree so as to enable me to look into gender issues from a broader spectrum. Also with support of policy makers, I also look forward to recruiting more women in politics so as to see the fruition of gender 50/50 campaign