admin
Fungai Lupande Mashonaland Central Bureau
The dura-isiphala/hub model adopted by Gender Links and the Local Government and Public Works Ministry has stimulated competitiveness among local authorities as they strive to improve service delivery and promote gender equality.
Started in 2019, the model was derived from a bicycle wheel whose centre has a hub that supports the spokes.
The literal meaning of the dura/hub/isiphala model is that the hub and the centre work together to ensure that the wheel moves forward.
The functions of the hub/dura/isiphala in local authorities is rotational and local authorities are voted in during summits.
Such initiatives complement Government efforts in improving service delivery and recently President Mnangagwa launched a local authorities blueprint and called all local authorities to action on November 1.
The blueprint calls on all local authorities to develop master plans while bi-annual review meetings to assess their performance will be done.
The blueprint provides guidelines to be taken to ensure efficient service delivery in line with vision 2030.
In Mashonaland Central, Mvurwi Town Council has taken a bold step in fostering gender mainstreaming.
With a community briefed and well aware of gender issues, people in Mvurwi demand to know ratios and how numbers are tallied between men and women.
The gender focal person Mrs Letwin Watambwa said gender mainstreaming is at the centre of Mvurwi Town.
“During our budget consultation meetings, women came out in their numbers and demanded to know how we prioritised people with disabilities, those living with HIV/AIDS and the youths. This has created a strong bond between the council and its residents,” said Mrs Watambwa.
“Recently, we allocated stands and we tried by all means to ensure that we have equal numbers between men and women. Nowadays, women have their own income and businesses thereby increasing our loyal rate payer base.
“Women pay their bills and this has changed our numbers in terms of revenue collection. When we started, the hub/isiphala programme we held a meeting with our community, churches and stakeholders explaining gender mainstreaming.”
She said they are working together with all local authorities in the province. Since Mashonaland Central has two town councils; Bindura Rural District Council has become the chairperson of the hub.
As they shared ideas, Mrs Watambwa noticed that when the gender focal person is not at a managerial position implementing gender activities, their impact is minimal.
Mvurwi Town Council shares its best practices with other local authorities including Muzarabani Rural District Council to eliminate gender-based violence, ending child marriages and promote gender equality.
Muzarabani RDC said they are learning a lot from Mvurwi and gender mainstreaming is now at the centre of their programming since they started the hub/isiphala programme.
They have set up a gender committee which scrutinises gender representation at meetings and in programming.
The Chief Executive Officer Mrs Ennie Gwachiwa said:
“Our leases are now gender-balanced. We want to make sure that as many women as possible participate in council programmes. We have noticed a ripple effect. When women are included in council programmes, they in turn want to participate in governance issues.
“We are getting mentorship from Mvurwi Town Council and we have exchange visits. We now have three female councillors through the first-past-the-post and those from the 30 percent women’s quota.”
Gender Links Regional Manager Mrs Priscilla Maposa, said they are working with 92 locals and some of them are performing well in gender mainstreaming while others are performing on average and below average.
“We want local authorities to take ownership of gender mainstreaming programmes and provide mentorship to others. Since we started this model, we have witnessed enthusiasm and competition from our local authorities as they compete to become the hub,” she said.
“We have given the model our indigenous name dura/isiphala representing a granary used to store grain. We want to continue equipping local authorities with information and knowledge so that they go out and share with other local authorities in their provinces.”
Online Reporter