GWEN TRUST is a community-focused organization that supports and provides for the empowerment of adolescent girls and young women through the creation of safe spaces for learning, sharing, and personal development. The organization works to empower adolescent girls and young women in all spheres of life in ways that respect the law to promote, protect, and provide for girls and women.
WHY GWEN TRUST?
- Youth in Zimbabwe constitutes over 60% of the population and accounts for 80% of the unemployment rate (UNDP 2022).
- Despite the existence of progressive policies and laws that present opportunities for youth to contribute in democratic processes, there is limited participation of young people in policy, civic, and democratic processes.
- Girls and young women are still facing challenges taking part in the decision-making processes due to the patriarchal culture.
- Approximately 85% of government sectors, including the Ministry of Youth Sports, Arts, and Recreation, are dominated by men and women over 60 years of age who are unwilling to retire or enable youth opportunities to take up the posts, they are also unavailable to mentor these young people for fear that they will be replaced.
- GWEN will use a holistic approach to address these challenges, including creating safe spaces for young people to thrive, educating young people on democratic processes and unifying them to activate their voices.
Objectives and activities
- Increasing the inclusion and participation of youths in all decision-making processes from local to national levels.
- Creating platforms for engagement for young people to take part in civic and political spaces.
- Raising awareness and strengthening advocacy for the Menu of Possible Commitments.
- Influencing government adoption and implementation of global commitments developed by the Youth Democracy Cohort.
Activity 1: Inception meeting and baseline study
GWEN trust will meet with critical stakeholders to introduce the project. The organisation will also conduct a baseline study to measure the needs and assess the progress margin.
Activity 2: Youth influencing democracy #iParticipate social media campaign
GWEN trust will carry-on a social media campaign to engage youth in social media spaces (Skits, WhatsApp discussions, bulk SMS, local radio programs) about youth participation and engagement.
Activity 3: Colour Run
A colour run, an outdoor, educational and fun activity will be organised, aimed at creating a conducive learning and information-sharing environment between 150 young women and 50 young men between the ages of 16 and 30.
Activity 4: Stakeholders post election engagement evaluation dialogue
The dialogue will engage young people, parliamentarians, permanent secretaries, various ministries, etc, to discuss and advocate for fair and inclusive elections. The dialogue will be framed in a larger advocacy campaign for the adoption of the Youth Act, planning the creation of a youth desk in every government department.
Activity 5: Youth leadership and skills training
Eighty youth selected from previous GWEN engagements will be trained in leadership, public speaking, and issue advocacy in order to increase young people’s vocations to take part in the election process as candidates, election officers, and observers.
Activity 6: Inter-generational dialogues on youth engagement in democratic and governance processes
The activity will engage young people and community leaders (village heads, churches, ministry representatives, …) to discuss the inclusion of youths in the developmental and political decision-making process.
Main deliverables
- Post-election engagement dialogues held, engaging 80 young people, parliamentarians, permanent secretaries, various ministries and partners.
- 80 young people trained on leadership, public speaking, and advocacy campaigns holding leaders accountable etc.
- Social media campaign on youth participation and engagement led.
- Youth Act adopted and a youth desk created in every government department, as promised by the president upon assuming office in 2017.
- Leaders held accountable for their promises to end sexual and gender-based violence in all spheres of life.
- A series of 8 inter-generational dialogues organised to advocate for the adoption and implementation of commitments from the Menu of possible commitments, for inclusion of youth in leadership positions, including the employment of youth in government roles.
- Hosted a multi-stakeholder dialogue to promote the participation of youth from grassroots and marginalised communities.
- Baseline survey report on promoting youth participation in civic and democratic processes.
Don’t miss any of their activities