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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Matabeleland South Bureau Chief
THE National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) is carrying out nationwide gender-inclusive dialogues to identify gender-related conflicts and engage communities to proffer solutions.
The programme is being piloted in Matabeleland South and Masvingo provinces and will be rolled out to other provinces next week.
In an interview in Gwanda yesterday after meeting various stakeholders NPRC Commissioner, Ms Nomaqhawe Gwere who is responsible for policy oversight in the southern region said the target groups for the programme are women, men, youth and people with disability.
She said meetings will be held for each target group so that people can air their views freely. Ms Gwere said in Matabeleland South the targeted districts are Beitbridge and Gwanda.
“The NPRC is carrying out nationwide gender-inclusive dialogues at district and ward levels. These dialogues are aimed at addressing conflict related gender-based violations,” said Ms Gwere.
“Our target groups are women, men, youth, and people with disabilities as they have been identified by stakeholders at district level as marginalised groups who are affected differently by conflicts broadly.’
Ms Gwere said the conversations during the meetings seek to hear the issues affecting them and come up with recommendations to resolve them.
She said two teams have been deployed to facilitate the dialogues, one in Masvingo and the other in Matabeleland South. In Gwanda the areas that will be covered are Garanyemba, Ntepe and Manama.
Ms Gwere said solutions that come from the community are important as they are sustainable. She said these solutions can also be replicated throughout the entire community.
Ms Gwere said some of these resolutions would have been successfully implemented in the past.
“This is the second day of the pilot study. We have other sessions going on in Gutu, Chivi, and Bikita. The week beginning 11 April, we are spreading to Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East and Matabeleland North and then we will spread to the remaining districts,” she said.
“Stakeholders have helped us to identify hard-to-reach areas as we want to cover even the remote parts of the country. As His Excellency President Mnangagwa always says leaving no one and no place behind, as we build towards social peace and cohesion in Zimbabwe we don’t want to leave any community behind.”
Ms Gwere said the commission will then compile a report on their findings.
She said the homegrown solutions will then be adopted by the Commission as part of their conflict management strategy. She said piloting the programme will help the commission to adopt new strategies along the way for a desired outcome from the homegrown solutions. — @DubeMatutu
Online Reporter