Zimbabwe: Gender summit award winners

Harare, 26 June: Summit winners share their thoughts and hopes for the future.

Category: Gender Based Violence
Winner: Juliet Muzondo – Leonard Cheshire

“I am truly humbled and shocked at this achievement because this is my first time participating in these awards and to be selected a winner above entries that have been here before is really overwhelming. I hope to do the same again next year because I work mainly on disability and I now want to strengthen my work in gender and disability. I want to be able to help empower more women and children living with disabilities and help them find sustainable ways of living with their disabilities”

Category: 50/50 & Faith Based Organizations
Winner Petros Machovo – Kadoma City Council/ Kadoma Methodist Church

“From today onwards I think churches must stop misquoting the Bible because those who misquote the Bible quote wrong verses to suppress the rights of women. Let women lead together with men because after all when Jesus rose from the grave, women were the first to announce his resurrection. Let women lead, let men lead there is no problem with this. We should be promoting co-existence and I am happy with this. So I would like to dedicate this award to the Methodist Church of Zimbabwe and I hope that we will continue in our fight for gender mainstreaming in the country. I also want to dedicate this award to the Kadoma City Council for their work in gender mainstreaming and I hope they continue their good work. I want to be utilized on issues to do with male involvement in championing gender issues because I am available and willing to do it. I am a preacher, I am a project manager, I am a nurse so all these linkages enable me to work with women and to talk to men as well. I am the secretary for the Kadoma Methodist Church Men and so I use such platforms to advocate and promote gender equality.”

Category: Media Centre of Excellence
Winner: Emmanuel Nkomo – Radio Dialogue

“Radio Dialogue is doing great work in trying to empower women and men in our communities and so winning this award is an exciting time for the station and the organization as a whole and we want to continue doing the work we are doing and more. As an organization we want to look at the progress we have made so far in gender mainstreaming and assess what needs to be done to ensure that we keep on keeping up in the direction we are on now. We will try and assess which aspects we are lacking in and also where we are doing well so we can utilise our strengths and address our weaknesses.”

Category: Emerging Entrepreneurs
Winner: Dalia Musasiwa – Manyame Rural District Council

“I am a poultry farmer by profession and I keep broilers. I currently have 500 broilers at an 18 cycle and I intend to grow my business and to expand it. I want to grow my client base and sell to more people and also get a bigger space for my products. I want to increase my current profit levels so that I can fully sustain and provide for my family so that they are comfortable. This is a big accomplishment for me as a woman in business and I want to enter again next year and encourage more women to participate because this is a good opportunity for them.”

Category: Emerging Entrepreneurs
Winner: Sibonginkosi Moyo – Bulawayo City Council

When I received the award I was in shock so I couldn’t even react because I wasn’t expecting it but I am truly grateful for such an opportunity to have even participated in these awards and the summit. Moving forward I want to continue expanding my business and to also encourage other women to grow their own businesses. I want more women to be involved in entrepreneurship so that they fend for themselves and also positively contribute to society. I really want this to be a long term venture that will sustain me and my family.”

Category: Print Media
Winner: Thandeka Moyo – The Chronicle

“As a third time winner of this award I cannot express how humbled I am. The work that I do and the stories that I write are to create awareness of inequalities that exist in society and to be an agent of representation for those that do not have a means to tell their stories to the world. So this award is dedicated to them and my work is truly inspired by them.
My work in gender reporting will continue to soar from strength to strength. The stories I will write will definitely become better and I will continue entering the competition because each experience is different. More people stories need to be told and I am the one to tell those stories.”

Category: Local Government COE – Best Urban Council
Name: Audrey Manyemwe – Bulawayo City Council

Third time holder of the Local Government COE- Best Urban Council, Bulawayo City Council Gender Focal Person, Audrey Manyemwe, expressed her excitement in receiving the award once more and said she can never get tired of winning this award therefore, she wishes to contest again next year. She said she will not stop the work that she started but will instead push the envelope further and to expand future campaigns to cover more ground than she covered this year. This year she was also runner up in the 50/50 and Post 2015 Category.

Category: Local Government COE – Best Rural Council
Name: Alice Paraziwa – Hurungwe Rural District Council

“This award makes me feel very proud of the work I have done so far in promoting gender mainstreaming in my community. I feel very excited because I put in a lot of effort in this year’s projects and it has paid off. I participated last year and was a runner up, but this year I worked hard for me to be overall winner. The work I did was not for me only, as a mother of three girls I did this to set an example for my daughters about being passionate about gender issues.” She also added that she is already grooming someone to take over from where she left so that the projects do not die but continue to strive.”

Category: Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
Name: Jean Nyirongo – Mazowe RDC

1st time participant, Jean Nyirongo, even with the award in her hands, still could not believe that she was the overall winner in the SRHR category. She said competition was stiff but believes that her prayers are what made it possible for her to win this award. She also promised to keep up the good practice and encouraged her colleagues and other members who are lagging behind to step it up and work tirelessly as teams to fully achieve their goals.

Category: Economic Justice
Name: Douglas Chimhande – Chegutu Municipality

“I am so happy that I received this award as it was my first time participating in the competition. This award will not stop me from continuing with our projects. In fact, it will push us to venture even into other areas, for instance local economic development facilitation.”

This article is part of the Gender Links News Service special coverage of the SADC Gender Protocol Summits underway across the region, offering fresh views on everyday news.