By Tendai Matunhu
Minister of Womens’ Affairs, Community Development Small and Medium Enterprises Development, Dr Stembiso Nyoni has revealed that her Ministry would be promoting women empowerment programs through the Women Development Fund which has been allocated RTGS$23mil by Treasury for the year 2020.
The Minister said this during the 2020 Strategic Workshop meeting that was held at Mandel Training Centre in Harare today.
Minister Nyoni highlighted that as a Ministry they would be focusing on promoting women empowerment programs, gender equality programs; promotion of financial inclusion; promoting market access to Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well as women business among other programs. She further stressed that the Ministry is working on setting up SME chambers at district, provincial and national level highlighting that they would be established by end of March this year.
Minister Nyoni said, “Our strategic plan sets out the parameters and defines the Ministry’s vision, clarifies its mission, identifies its weakness, threats, strengths and opportunities. Also of critical importance, it develops a roadmap and a toolkit of strategies to achieve our defined vision.
“The vision 2030, Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) and the 2020 Agenda as prescribed by His Excellence the President Emmerson Mnangagwa will guide programing for the year 2020,” she said.
“We are reviewing our strategy against challenges of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and gender inequality remains predominant on our society with an approximate of one in three women experiencing spousal violence which has become a social ill in our societies and hinders sustainable development; limited access to finance by small and medium enterprise and in particular women also have negative multiplier effects on the empowerment and development of women, SMEs and cooperatives,” among other challenges she added.
Relatedly, speaking on anonymity one political analyst revealed that the MDC is the opposite of what Government is trying to achieve on gender equity, as it reveals its patriarchal tendencies by elbowing women out of the party. Former MDC co-vice president Thokozani Khupe was dethroned even before the late founder of the MDC was buried, while Tracy Mutinhiri, Grace Kwinje and Jessie Majome resigned under unclear circumstances.
