adminno stopping them.
One such woman who has decided to step out and make a difference is Rumbidzai Kahari. She will this month launch the Centre for Women Advancement (CAWA), as a platform through which women can mentor and be mentored as they seek to close the gap between their skills and experiences, and the demands of their new positions.
This will be the first such centre in Africa. Ms Kahari is dreaming big and says CAWA will not be an exclusively Zimbabwean project but will spread across Africa, starting initially with this country, where it will be headquartered, South Africa and Uganda.
As she explains the concept, one can easily tell that Rumbidzai knows what she is talking about and is really set on making huge impact in terms of advancing the African woman.
Her experiences in the various African countries where she has worked inspired her to come up with CAWA.
“The aim of this centre is to develop professional African women to a capacity that their decision-making process becomes effective at local as well as national levels.
“Support for the advancement of women at corporate level has been lacking. This is about practical support which assists women to mentor other women, resulting in skills transfer for women in
Africa. There is a gap in helping the professional African women to cope with the demands of the African corporate culture,” said Ms Kahari.
These are facts she established in her work in many African countries.
She said Zimbabwe was one of the countries that have adopted many regional and international policies and agreements that seek to advance women on the social, political and economic ladder.
Other countries such as South Africa had adopted affirmative action models that had elevated women’s status in development. However, she feels women need to develop their own management style that fits into their cultural realities. This, therefore, can be done through sharing of experiences, mentoring and networking in informal settings.
“Although women are making strides, there is need to fully contribute to the growth and development of the African continent through highly skilled performance, become better managers and hence improve the productivity of the continent.”
This is where the centre comes in.
“There is need to have a centre which focuses on practical mentoring, leveraging on vast experiences of women within the African continent,” she adds.
Africa is endowed with women who occupy high positions in such organisations as the United Nations, the World Bank, governments and in private sector organisations and companies, who have lessons to give to upcoming women.
Under the programme, a professional woman who has identified that she has a practical skills gap can apply to be mentored. The concept will be such that a mentee from one country will be mentored by someone from a different country to deal with cases of confidentiality and also a strategy to draw on experiences and expertise from various sources within the continent.
Ms Kahari, a journalist and media consultant by profession, says her experiences, particularly in South Africa, helped her come up with the CAWA project.
“South Africa introduced quota systems and affirmative action programmes to increase the level of black people both men and women’s participation in the corporate structure.
“It was during that time that BP moved me to South Africa. I was, therefore, a participant in the racial and gender integration process that was taking place then and I was also a role model for young black and Coloured South African women.”
It was then that she earnestly began her cross-country mentoring process.
“It was here that I realised that through coaching and on-the-job training it was possible to empower another woman with my knowledge and expertise over a short period of time, and that they could also benefit from the university education that I had received,” said the energetic and zealous woman.
It is with such background that Ms Kahari has established CAWA to ensure that knowledge is passed onto the next generation of women, thereby capacitating other women with the overall objective of contributing to the continent’s well-being.
CAWA will offer mentorship programmes, exchange platforms, facilitate networking, hold conferences and training seminars for women across the continent.
Ms Kahari herself is a beneficiary of Zimbabwe’s gender empowerment programmes that saw her get a scholarship to study Journalism and Public Relations at the University of Technology Western Australia between 1990 and 1992.
A member of the Professional Women Forum SA, she has 17 years extensive experience in formulation and executing communications, awareness raising campaigns, public relations and social responsibility actions.
She has also done event management and media products in Southern and Eastern Africa.
Her enthusiasm, aggressiveness and hard work have seen her achieve what many can only dream of.
Ms Kahari is currently a communications and training consultant.
She believes CAWA is a project that will make a phenomenal difference for women on the continent.
Her passion to see other women achieve great thinks in life will certainly give impetus to CAWA.
Online Reporter