By Chris Musekiwa

The Zimbabwe 2024 SADC Protocol @Work Summit and Awards kicked off Monday at the Cresta Lodge in Harare. Organized by Gender Links Zimbabwe, the three-day Summit, being held under the theme: Promoting Gender Inclusive Governance and Economic Development, involved all the 92 local authorities of Zimbabwe comprising 32 urban and 60 rural district councils. The Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Hon. Daniel Garwe officially opened the Summit. Addressing participants, the Minister commended Gender Links for the role that they are playing in promoting gender inclusivity in local authorities. He added that the summit was a movement towards realising a shared vision of gender-responsive governance.

“This summit is not just an event colleagues, but a powerful movement towards realising our shared vision of gender-responsive governance and sustainable economic development in Zimbabwe as we progress towards an upper middle-income class by year 2030,” said the Minister.

He said the theme of the summit resonated well with his ministry’s commitment to fostering sound local governance and creating a quality-built environment by year 2030.

The President of the Zimbabwe Local Government Association Clr Aaron Golden Shamu was also in attendance and gave a vote of thanks after the Minister’s keynote address.

The summit involved Zimbabwean rural and urban local authorities and councillors making presentations on their activities aimed at promoting gender inclusivity and the well-being of women in communities. It is a precursor to a SADC regional one which brings together local authorities and female councillors who would have been adjudged best performers at their countries’ protocol summits and awards.

Local authorities, councillors, media institutions and journalists competed in the following categories namely Local Governance Centres of Excellence, Gender Responsive Budgeting, Local Economic Development, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Gender-Based Violence, Leadership Drivers of Change, Projects on Climate Change and Youth Leadership.

Under the Local Governance Centres of Excellence category, local authorities showcased the programmes that they are undertaking to ensure that their budgets and activities are sensitive to gender inequity. This involves ensuring that women and men’s needs are met in all council services.

For the Leadership, the Individual Drivers of Change category, councillors presented the programmes that they are implementing in their local authorities that are aimed at improving the lives of women, children, the girl child and residents in general.

Under Climate Change, local authorities made presentations on the measures being undertaken to mitigate the effects of climate change.

For the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Gender based Violence category local authorities showcased programmes which target women and girls for their sexual and reproductive

Media organisations were also vying for awards to highlight issues to do with all the categories under the Media Organisations and Journalists category.

Each of the categories has adjudicators who are rating the projects and programmes being presented with the winners being announced during the Awards Night today. Those who would have been declared as the best in each of the categories will participate as Zimbabwe’s representatives in the SADC regional Protocol @Work Summit to be held early next year.

The programme is in its 3^rd year and the number of participating local authorities and female councillors is steadily increasing. Gender Links Special Advisor Mrs. Coleen Lowe Morna who is also one of the two adjudicators for the Gender Responsive Budgeting Category said that Gender Links had shortlisted 29 entries this year which is twice as many as last year. However, she had expected the number to be higher. The participating local authorities are not even a third of the 92 local authorities in Zimbabwe.

“A programme like this is incremental. Quite a lot of them are new. For others, it’s perhaps the second or third time that they are doing it. So, we were just saying as judges that next year we should distinguish between the new ones and those that have been participating for some time. We should be measuring them in terms of the progress they have made. Those who are coming for the first time we cut them a bit of slack because they are still learning the ropes,” said Mrs. Morna.

Mrs. Morna added that the programme was global first and the presentations were of high quality.

“If you look at this programme from a global perspective, this is a global first, honestly I cannot think of anywhere where gender mainstreaming has been taken so seriously as to get to the point of doing gender responsive budgeting in this very systematic way where the ministry has put its weight behind it,” she said.

The Gender Links Special Advisor said that the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works had made it a requirement for a council to have a gender-responsive annex pointing to a gender perspective approach that the council has crafted its budget.

Wrapping up the Gender Responsive Budgeting presentations sessions this morning, Mrs. Morna and Mrs. Josephine Ncube, the two adjudicators for the Gender Responsive Budgeting category presented the following recommendations among others, from their observations on the presentations of the past two days:

There is a need for continuous capacity building of the local authorities on gender-responsive budgeting.

There is also a need to focus on the difference that the programme has made in the councils’ gender-responsive budgeting.

On the Hub and Spoke programme, the councils that are mentoring or supporting others (Hubs) should be benchmarked on their support to the Spokes (the mentees).

The UCAZ Secretary General Mr Livison Mutekede congratulated Gender Links for Organising a successful Zimbabwe 2024 SADC Protocol @Work Summit and Awards. He added that urban local authorities participating in the summit were showing tremendous improvement in gender inclusivity in all their programmes. He encouraged other urban local authorities to participate in future summits noting the number of participating local authorities was still too low.