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Blessings Chidakwa
Arts Reporter
All is now set for the inaugural edition of the Creative Reproductive Health Arts Festival (CRAFT) a platform for promoting talent among the youths drawn from all the remotest parts of the country’s 10 provinces.
The festival being organised by Students and Youth Working on reproductive Health Action Team (SAYWHAT) will see the youths between the age of 10 to 24 years competing in various genres as music, poetry, drama and public speaking. An array of events will be lined up at the festival, which aims at creating a conversation among young people to start looking at issues that are not ordinarily spoken about on a day-to-day basis such as mental health, suicide and drug and substance abuse.
It seeks to give young people an opportunity to show case their talents through generation and dissemination of messages on young people’s sexual reproductive rights, as well as gender based violence.
The competition, slated for 22 October at Harare Gardens, is running under the theme, “Amplifying Young People’s Voices on Sexual Reproductive Health and Gender based Violence through Art.”
SAYWHAT senior programmes officer Leo Munyonho said provincial competitions had since been held across the country with 36 people set to battle it out for the finals.
“The project primarily aims at increasing young people’s access to sexual reproductive health services and information, including contraception, HIV and gender based violence services,” he said.
“We will have a panel of judges who are being derived from different sectors who have expertise in the different areas of competition. We will have national winners in the various categories as drama, music, poetry and public speaking.” Mr Munyonho said after the competitions, they will help winners record, master their productions through the services of expertise and promote the winners content.
“We are also expecting big artistes to grace this occasion, the likes of Zimdancehall sensation Freeman, Alick Macheso, who is one of the renowned sungura artiste in the land, and Enzo Ishall, a young man who commands a following in the ghetto,” he said.
The top three winners of the CRAFT festival will have their performance played on national media platforms and they will produce collaborations with seasoned artistes.
At the competition, there will be an array of service providers including HIV and AIDS testing, as well as counselling.
CRAFT festival is organised by SAYWHAT with support from the Swedish Embassy in Zimbabwe.
CRAFT refers to the creativity that young people seek to influence positive behaviour in their respective communities for purposes of transforming a gender based violence free society, as well as a sexual reproductive health conscious community.
Online Reporter