The Girls and Women Empowerment and Network is a registered Trust organization that works in the communities of Greater Harare and peripheries. Although the geographic area of coverage is quite expansive for the comprehensive layered methodology of the organization’s programming model, the organization takes a community-focussed approach to ensure that at any given time, program activities target a manageable number of people.
The organization was formally registered in 2015, following years of acitivities and work with communities, and has since been making efforts to empower adolescent girls and young women in all spheres of life in ways that respect the law to promote, protect and provide for girls and young women in Zimbabwe. GWEN works to eliminate factors that increase girls and young women’s vulnerability and prevent them from enjoying their full God-given and constitutional rights.
These factors include among others poverty, physical impairments, sexual gender-based violence (SGBV), discrimination and abuse.
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Creating a Safe Space for Adolescent Girls and Young Women
GWEN seeks to empower women
One component of most prevention programs that GWEN is doing is direct engagement with women to make them aware of the different forms of SGBV and recognize when it is happening to them. It is essential that women know their rights and where to access support if they are experiencing or have questions about SGBV. In communities and cultures where violence against women is common, many women will not even know that what is happening to them is wrong or is against the law (if it is indeed against the law)
GWEN’s interventions
In recent programming, GWEN’s interventions have shifted from targeting men as potential perpetrators of violence to engaging them as partners in SGBV prevention. Effective programs, however, recognize that preventing future instances of violence requires transforming social constructions of masculinity that have historically nurtured male dominance. Social norms, values, and institutions create a set of acceptable behaviors and roles for men and women, and violence is often an unacknowledged (and in some cases, accepted) way for men to assert their socially sanctioned power
Facilitating discussion between women and men
GWEN’s evidence suggests that the most effective interventions find opportunities to engage men and women in activities together. Facilitating discussion between women and men can help promote understanding of the others’ experiences and lead to improved interactions. GWEN’s interventions seek to challenge men and women’s understanding of their own masculinity or femininity and their roles in relationships and in society. The programs recognize the complexities of behavior and how they are shaped by wider societal norms, and they are aspirational in that they offer a vision of a more equitable society and both men and women to act to achieve it
GWEN assessed the effects of providing school support
Educational achievement has important implications for the health and well-being of girls. GWEN assessed the effects of providing school support on educational outcomes of orphan girls in urban and rural communities. Results indicated comprehensive support reduced school dropout and absence. Girls who stay in school are less likely to engage in sexual activity and marry as teenagers, and are more likely to have a better economic future and better health, including protection from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
GWEN practices its legal referral system
This intervention explores the legal, policy, and practical issues involved in creating and maintaining child‐friendly legal aid programs. Through its partners such as Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA); GWEN gives provision of legal assistance to children in criminal, civil and administrative proceedings that are accessible, age appropriate, multi‐disciplinary, effective, and that is responsive to the range of legal and social needs faced by children and youth. GWEN practices its legal referral system; Child‐friendly legal aid is delivered by lawyers and paralegals who are trained in children’s law and child and adolescent development, and who are able to communicate effectively with children and their caregivers.
GWEN advocates and lobbies towards achieving equality between women and men
Attaining equality between women and men and eliminating all forms of discrimination against women are fundamental human rights. Women around the world nevertheless regularly suffer violations of their human rights throughout their lives, and realizing women’s human rights has not always been a priority. GWEN advocates and lobbies towards achieving equality between women and men and this requires a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which women experience discrimination and are denied equality so as to develop appropriate strategies to eliminate such discrimination.
GWEN’s focus group discussions with women both in urban and rural communities
Constitutions serve as the foundation and framework for the formulation and implementation of national legislation and policies. They possess the status of the highest norms against which all state acts and omissions are evaluated. Constitutional provisions are often inspired by the international human rights obligations of states, and therefore reflect a broad range of social, economic, cultural, political and civil rights and in this context guarantees women empowerment at all levels. GWEN’s focus group discussions with women both in urban and rural communities helps to assess trends and patterns in judicial decision making at the domestic level that applies constitutional provisions to address gender equality and women’s rights when they are affected by customary, religious or patriarchal laws or practices
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