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Mutsawashe Mashandure
Herald Correspondent
Women Affairs, Community and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Permanent Secretary Mavis Sibanda has underscored the critical role that the national handicraft sector and community heritage will play in fostering sustainable economic growth this year.
Addressing the national handcraft center’s strategic review and strategic plan workshop held on Monday at the Mandel Training Centre, Permanent Secretary Mavis Sibanda emphasised the need to develop the centre’s 2025 Annual Plan and to review the progress made in 2024.
“To effectively develop and market handicrafts both locally and internationally, collaboration among the Ministry, the National Handicraft Development and Marketing Centre and all stakeholders is crucial,” she said.
“This collective effort will focus on creating strategic documents that will guide the centre’s initiatives in 2025, ensuring a clear and coordinated approach to promoting our handicrafts She applauded the Centre for its role in preserving Zimbabwe’s cultural identity.
“Its mandate is to collect, promote, and market crafts originating from Zimbabwe to a global audience. This includes the renowned Binga basket, among many other unique crafts from our communities.”
Speaking at the same time, board chairperson of the Handcraft Centre, Ms Sandra Ndebele, highlighted that they are obliged to revive the profitable handicrafts industry under the President’s vision that Zimbabwe is open for business .
“As we aim to bring to fruition Vision 2030 of an upper-middle-income society, it is crucial that we collaborate closely with our parent ministry for policy guidance in order to fulfill the mandates that will be discussed in the coming days,” she said
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