Empowering a woman is empowering a nation

By Billian Matambo, Senior Officer, Zimbabwe Diamond Allied Workers Union

The recognition of woman's entrance in the mining sector became one of the major emphasis at this year's Manicaland Women Symposium on Extractives which was put on spotlight by the Zimbabwe Diamond Allied Workers’ Union (ZIDAWU) in partnership with ActionAid Zimbabwe (AAZ). ZIDAWU with AAZ’s support hosted the second Manicaland Women’s Symposium which took place in Manicaland on the 31st of October to the 1st of November 2019.The event was attended by more than 70 participants with the majority being women from more than 10 mining community-based organisations (CBOs) of Mutoko, Marange, Arda-Transau, Vhimba and Hotsprings in Chimanimani, Chipinge, Penalonga and Mutare.

Representatives from the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, Rural District Councils (RDCs),faith-based organizations (FBOs), community share ownership trusts (CSOT) and members of the media from Manicaland. The women symposium, running under the theme "Empowering women in the extractives industry to eradicate poverty, abuse and inequality," discussed issues of sustainable development in Zimbabwe including the need for women to demand not only food security but food sovereignty. Women are agents of change in remedying challenges in the mining sector.

As the participants of the event, we shared experiences on how mining is affecting our livelihoods. Hence the training we received from different presenters during the symposium equipped us with the ability to deal with our day to day challenges as we advocate for access and control of mineral resources.

Getrude Chimange, an exemplary woman who is the director of Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) for Mutare shared her presentation on how God mandated human beings with the stewardship of natural resources. She also said it is our responsibility to safeguard and become custodians of these resources hence benefiting from them.

The inclusion of legal and policy issues on artisanal small-scale miners and the progress made towards women was an eye opener programme as shared by Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. The Ministry officials present unpacked the procedures that should be followed for women to achieve mineral rights. Culturally, there is stigmatization by the society that hinder women from joining the mining sector and become claim owners. The information shared simplified the processes for women to acquire mining claims thereby opening new gates of opportunities.

David Garwe, who is the Administrator for Zimunya-Marange Share Ownership Trust provided an update on how the community has used the US$15 million mining proceeds for the building of clinics, classroom and toilet blocks as communities are actively benefiting from mineral resources in their areas with support from ZIDAWU in partnership with the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) and AAZ.

ActionAid representatives present stressed on women empowerment, gender equality, social justice and poverty eradication through use of mineral resources. They also emphasized that women should be awarded opportunities in value addition of minerals. Concerns were raised by women regarding government and mining companies’ reluctance in dealing with climate change which is deeply affecting the Manicaland Province.

I won't be doing much justice to myself if I do not compare this year's women symposium to the 2018 one. In terms of attendance in 2018, we only hosted 30 participants and the meeting was for one day only as ZIDAWU had limited resources. AAZ this year supported ZIDAWU which enabled us to increase the number of participants to 56 and the number of days increased from one to two. The support from AAZ enabled us to invite key stakeholders such as Ministry of Mines officials who provided guidance on how women artisanal miners can actively participate in the sector and holding them to account on issues of resource governance.