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. To this end, the organization’s formation was necessitated by the numerous challenges vulnerable adolescent girls and young women face at school, at home, work and in the society i.e. the lack of safe places for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) including those escaping domestic violence and the absence of means to access safe spaces and protection services. It is through acknowledging that AGYW face numerous challenges, coming together to increase vulnerability, that the organization drew manadate to work across the broad covering various thematic areas.The organization has offices in Chitungwiza and a team of officers led by the Director. There is a board in place whose members bring oversight on a wide range of issues including programming and administration. The board members were selected on the basis of their skills, passion and experience.