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Post Reporter
PLANS are on course to put in place community-based structures to step up efforts in fighting child marriages, the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development has said.
The move is aimed at having the ministry collaborate with communities and their leaders to respond to all forms of abuse bedevilling girls and women, especially child and forced marriages.
Provincial officer in the ministry Mr Confidence Mungayi said the fight to end abuse of vulnerable groups requires collective efforts.
As a result, they are engaging traditional and religious leaders with a view of having them on board.
“As a ministry, in conjunction with like-minded stakeholders in Manicaland Province, we will be rolling out an accelerated programme to engage communities on the issue of teenage pregnancies and child marriages.
“This move is a direct output of the recently held chiefs’ indaba that came up with concrete action plans to address these problems. Because this is a shared responsibility, we will be intensifying our engagement with community leaders at district level,” said Mr Mungayi.
The concerted plans come hard on the heels of the death of a bride child, Anna ‘Memory’ Machaya, while giving birth at the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church’s Mafararikwa Shrine.
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