Policy level

Alderman Resta Dzvinyangoma is the first-born daughter in a family of three girls and two boys. She was deprived of the right to finish her secondary school education by her […]

Enter Action with boldness; If you are unsure of your action do not attempt it: Robert Greene  “Gender Links made it possible to meet other women leaders since I assumed […]

Dr. Arvind Boolell firmly believes that in the spirit of transparency all political parties must relook into their Constitution and make sure that it is implemented. Seasoned and experienced politician […]

Ambal Jeanne, since her younger days, has been out there on the streets fighting for the rights of students and of women. Driven by the idealistic desire to bring a […]

Born in 1974 in a family of 5, I was deprived to sit for my Ordinary level examinations by my father in favour of my brothers. My mother had no […]

Pendant la période pré-électorale, les bruits ont couru à travers la commune de Maintirano qu’aucune femme ne sera admise à la tête de la commune. Ceci pour intimider les femmes […]

A good leader is a leader with people’s well-being at heart, who puts the interests of others before his or hers; one who would go an extra mile to help others.
Last year I joined Mrs Mapaya, the child care worker, during visits to underprivileged children. We visited the Mashate family where we found a single mother of four children. She narrated how she ended up being a single parent citing how her husband left her for a younger woman, leaving her stranded in their rural home with no means to fend for her children.

The first time I visited Single Quarters and General Barracks in Kadoma I came face to face with living conditions that I did not know people could live in. A family of more than three living in one room, sharing communal toilets which were not being cleaned and had no potable water. There was rampant abuse of girl children and women at the hands of men. This was a breeding ground of diseases, crime and child prostitution. As a leader I knew the task that lay ahead of me and that such issues had to be addressed if people were to have their basic human rights protected and promoted, including gender equality. I qualify to be a driver of change because of my passion, my contribution and my plans around gender issues, as well as my participation in gender programmes.

The Gender Links (GL) workshop revived and re-kindled my gender activist spirit which was inculcated in me during my university studies. During my first year at University of Botswana, I was doing Introduction to Sociology and Gender Studies was a component of my course. I enjoyed the course since it made me appreciate this “gender thing/talk.À As I did my final year BSc Town & Regional Planning, Physical Planning and Gender was one of the courses I did towards the attainment of my degree. It is a course that made me realise that, as a planner, I cannot talk development without gender.

When I started working as Community Based Coordinator in 2003, while working in the Hessequa area, I met a young 20 year old lady who was infected with the HI virus. This was a very new topic for me in those days and even though she was not my first HIV positive client, she was the first one in my new job.

I played the role of a champion for gender and against gender-based violence after the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) was established in May 1996. Bolobedu sub-district was declared an area with the highest rate of “social fabric crimesÀ and violence by the national Department of Safety, Security and Liaison. The National Crime Prevention Strategy demanded that all victims of “social fabric crimesÀ which were later referred to as “contact crimesÀ should be protected.

I am a human rights defender who has worked both in Malawi and Zambia since childhood. Being from a Christian background I grew up believing in God. I spent much of my time attending fellowship prayers with my fellow believers which motivated me to become interested in helping others achieve the purpose for which they were created. I decided to work for human rights when I was released from Zomba Mikuyu Prison having seen the conditions that I went through with other colleagues such as Chakufwa Chihana and Dr Orton Chirwa who died in prison, fighting for change in Malawi. The fight was about breaking the one party system for a multiparty government.