: :lsiii S; : ; for. '-'- ' m: 'r : :.., WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT ZIMBABWE. NORAD P.O.Box 8034-Dep 0030 Oslo 1. NORAD P.O.

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1 S; : ; : :ls fe ACTON PLAN for. '-'- ' m: 'r : :.., WOMEN N DEVELOPMENT ZMBABWE NORAD P.O.Box 4970 Harare NORAD P.O.Box 8034-Dep 0030 Oslo

2 PREFACE n Whte Paper No. 96, on Norwegan development cooperaton, the need to mprove the stuaton of women and to ntegrate women more actvely n the development process s frmly underlned. n Whte Paper No. 36, , t s clarely stated that "development ad amed at mprovng the lvng standard and workng opportuntes of women wll be gven hgh prorty n Norwegan development cooperaton." Ths s n harmony wth overrdng goals of Norwegan development assstance, and s further emphassed by the followng statement: "Development ad must be used to exercse the greatest possble development effect on the poorest developng countres and be desgned to create the least possble dependence on contnued ad. The resources put at the dsposal of development ad must be used as effcently as possble, n order to acheve ths goal." t 1 n 1985, the Mnstry adopted a STRATEGY FOR ASSSTANCE TO WOMEN N DEVELOPMENT wth the overall objectve of overcomng the nvsblty of women n socety and of mprovng ther access to resources, n order to provde than wth opportuntes to partcpate n and beneft from economc, cultural and poltcal actvtes wth a vew to changng the manstream of development." As part of ths Strategy, the Mnstry's Representaton n each of the man recpent countres for development cooperaton s mandated to formulate an ACTON PLAN. Each Acton Plan should contan: A B An n-depth descrpton of women's stuaton n the country. To be revsed every 5 years. A crtcal revew of the Norwegan assstance wth

3 C specal reference to ts relevance for women, wth concrete recommendatons and proposals for ensurng a postve mpact for women from the varous projects and programmes undertaken. To be revewed every year. A lst of resource persons, organsatons and research nsttutons workng wth and for women, as well as a lst of relevant lterature. To be revsed every 5 years. Durng the yearly negotatons wth the recpent countres, man sectors and projects/programmes are agreed upon. The WD" ssue and Acton Plan s brought, up for dscusson durng these negotatons, snce ths s specfcally requeste'd n the Terms of Reference for -the delegatons. Thus, the Plan and the WD ssue should be reflected n all COUNTRY PROGRAMMES. Externally recruted personnel for plannng and/or mplementaton of Mnstry development actvtes n the man recpent countres wll have relevant sectons of the Acton Plan appended to ther JOB DESCRPTONS. The Board of Drectors have also emphassed that the Plans be actvely used durng all project and programme revews. t s the Mnstry's hope that ths document wll be of concrete use n helpng to obtan the very ambtous objectves of Norwegan development cooperaton.

4 TABLE OP CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS X LST OF ABBREVATONS 6 LST OF TABLES 9 SECTON A - OVERVEW OP WOMEN'8 POSTONS N ZMBABWE NTRODUCTON AGRCULTURE Commercal and subsstence agrculture The mgrant labour system mplcatons for Women The sexual dvson of labour n precaptalst socety Women's nvsblty as agrcultural producers Post-ndependence agrcultural polcy Redstrbuton of Land Development of the peasant sector Problems faced by women as agrcultural producers Land Labour Cash Crop Producton Extenson Technology Credt and fnance 27 Tables n paragraph A EDUCATON AND EMPLOYMENT Formal educaton and employment Educaton and tranng Employment Post-ndependence polcy Expanson of educaton and tranng Changes n employment patterns The nformal sector Problems of defnton Women's nformal sector actvtes Non-Formal educaton and tranng 39 Tables n paragraph A HEALTH Dfferental access to health facltes Causes of poor health Women's heavy work load Lvng condtons Gynaecologcal problems Problems of nadequate nutrton Post-ndependence health system 47

5 5. WOMEN'S LEGAL STATUS The legal system of the colonal state Marrage Property rghts and nhertance Custody and guardanshp The poston of women under general law Legal changes snce ndependence The Legal Age of Majorty Act (15:1982) The Customery Law and Prmary Courts Act (6:1981) The Matrmonal Causes Act (33:1985) WOMEN'S POSTON WTHN THE FAMLY AND SOCETY Women wthn the household Women and socety 56 Tables n paragraph A WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT POLCY The Mnstry of Cooperatve and Communty Development and Women's Affars Structure and operatons of the MCCDWA Problems of mplementaton Women and Development - ntegraton or Margnalzaton ncome-generatng Projects Farmer Groups and Savngs Club Food and Drought Health Polcy Tranng and Employment Polcy Concluson 65 REFERENCES N SECTON A 66 BBLOGRAPHY FOR SECTON A 69 SECTON B - NORWEGAN ASSSTANCE TO WOMEN N ZMBABWE OVERALL STRATEGY FOR ASSSTANCE TO WOMEN N ZMBABWE Man goals and target groups Strategc sectors Feasble channels for the assstance 75 Tables n paragraph Bl WATER DEVELOPMENT The ntegrated Rural Water Supply and Santaton Programme (ZB 007) Women and the water programme mproved santaton and reduced workload? Headworks (cvl works) Communty partcpaton Strateges for moblsng women Communty partcpaton offcers Mantenance of water ponts and headworks Pump caretakers 81

6 The water pont commttees The pump mnders and DDF store keepers Tranng of the user communtes Personnel and Staff Development Water for productve purposes Strategc events for nfluencng the Water and Santaton Programme The annual and half-annual programme revew meetngs Evaluatons THE POPULATON AND HEALTH SECTOR NORAD's nvolvement n the populaton and health sector Famly Plannng/Maternal and Chld Healthcare (MCH) The Famly Health Project (ZB 015) Women and The Famly Health Project Mnmse women's health rsks and ncrease ther control The new target group: men Tranng Teenage pregnances nfertlty Aborton Other areas for future Norwegan assstance to the populaton/health sector Research on women's health problems Scholarshps for studes n women's health problems MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTVE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES Agrculture Bulk Mlk Tanks (ZB 004 and Ol) Peasant dary development (ZB 017) Dary development Programme Women and dary development Women's say n decson makng at communty level Women's control over cattle/ablty to aqure ther own cows Labour-requrements Payment for mlk delveres Tranng Level of awareness among polcy makers and personnel Jont Zmbabwe/Norway Programme of Acton mproved extenson servces to female farmers Plot Stock-Rasng Project Fsheres (REG 027) The Zamba/Zmbabwe SADCC Fsheres Project Gender ssues n the Fsheres Project 111

7 Soco Economc Studes Fsheres Management plans and long term development plans Tranng and staff development Arrestng envronmental degradaton 116 ' Fuel savng stoves and Solar energy Grazng Schemes EMPLOYMENT ntroducton Prvate sector co-operaton Self employment through co-operatves and other ncome-generatng actvtes Strengthenng women workers Workers educaton for women farm workers (RAF/85/MO2/NOR) 5.5. Creches and Pre-schools j 6. EDUCATON AND TRANNG 121 j 6.1. Norwegan assstance to the sector 6.2. Unversty co-operaton (ZB 303) Scholarshps 123 [ 6.4. Lteracy tranng 124 t 7. ADS 126! 8. RELEF ASSSTANCE CULTURE RESEARCH NORAD's polcy for support to research 129 [ Support for women-orented research actvtes Research programme on women and gender ssues n Zmbabwe Regonal co-operaton 130 j 11. WOMEN'S PROJECTS nformaton/educaton on women's legal rghts 132 j Crss centre for battered/raped women 132 ' 12. PROJECTS OF LTTLE RELEVANCE TO WD 133 f Commodty mport Programme 133 [ nput-output matrx Telecommuncatons (REG 004, REG 043 and REG 024) Power Plan ; SECTON C - WOMEN'S ORGANSATONS NTRODUCTON THE ORGANSATONS Adult Lteracy Organsaton of Zmbabwe (ALOZ) 142 f

8 2.2. The Assocaton of Women's Clubs (AWC) Natonal Federaton of Women's nsttute of Zmbabwe - Homecraft (NFW - Homecraft) Zmbabwe Afrcan Natonal Unon (ZANU PF) Women's League Zmbabwe Congress of Trade Unons Women's Department (ZCTU-Women's Department) Women's Acton Group (WAG) Zmbabwe Women's Bureau (ZWB) CONCLUSON LST OF RELEVANT RESEARCH NSTTUTONS AND MLEUS 148 4

9 LST OF ABBREVATONS AFC Agrcultural Fnance Corporaton AGRTEX Agrcultural, Techncal and Extenson Servces ALOZ Adult Lteracy Organsaton of Zmbabwe APA Afrcan Purchase Area ADA Agrcultural Development Authorty AWC Assocaton of Women's Clubs CASS Centre for Appled Socal Scences CDW Communty Development Worker CDO Communty Development Offcer CP Commodty mport Programme CPC Communty Partcpton Coordnator CPO Communty Partcpaton Offcer DDCO Dstrct Development Commttee DDF Dstrct Development Fund DMB Dary Marketng Board DNPWM Department of Natonal Parks and Wldlfe Management DOF Department of Fsheres DWA Department of Women's Affars FC Forestry Commsson GMB Gran Marketng Board GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technsche Zusammenarbet AS nsttute for Afrcan Studes GP ncome Generatng Project UD ntra Uterne Devces LAMA Legal Age of Majorty Act LRA Labour Relatons Act LWF Lutheran World Federaton

10 p MCCD MCH MEC MET MEWRD MFEPD MT MLARR MLGRUD MLMSW MLGTP MOH MPA NAC NCU NCW NEC NFAZ NFW NGO NMWP ODA PHC SATEP SOM TM Mnstry of Co-operatve and Communty Development Mother and Chld Health Care Mnstry of Educaton and Culture Mnstry of Envronment and Toursm Mnstry of Energy, Water Resources and Development Mnstry of Fnance, Economc Plannng and Development Mnstry of ndustry and Commerce Mnstry of Lands, Agrculture and Rural Resettlement Mnstry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Mnstry of Labour, Manpower Plannng and Socal Welfare Mnstry of Local Government and Town Plannng (now: MLGRUD) Mnstry of Health Mnstry of Poltcal Affars Natonal Acton Commttee (For the Water Decade) Natonal Coordnatong Unt (for water development) Natonal councl of Women Natonal Executve Councl Natonal Farmers Assocaton of Zmbabwe Natonal Federaton of Women of Zmbabwe Non-Govermental Organsaton Natonal Master Water Plan Overseas Development Admnstraton (Brtsh) Prmary Health Care Southern Afrcan Tranng and Employment Programme Savngs Development Movement Tradtonal Mdwfe

11 UNCEF UD UZ VDCO VCW VHW WARDCO WAG WCC ZANU(PF) PF-ZAPU ZCTU ZDS ZNFPC ZWB Unted Natons Chldren's Emergency Fund Unlateral Declaraton of ndependence Unversty of Zmbabwe Vllage Development Commttee Vllage Communty Worker Vllage Health Worker (now:vcw) Ward Development Commttee Women's Acton Group Ward Communty Coordnator Zmbabwe Afrcan Natonal Unon (Progressve Front) Progressve Front-Zmbabwe Afrcan Peoples' Unon Zmbabwe Congress of Trade Unons Zmbabwe nsttute of Development Studes Zmbabwe Natonal Famly Plannng Councl Zmbabwe Women's Bureau

12 1 LST OF TABLES Table A 2.1 Table A 2.2 Table A 2.3 Table A 2.4 Table A 3.1 Table A Table A Table A 3.3 Table A 3.4 Table A 3.5 Table A 3.6 Table A 6.1 Dstrbuton of Land Accordng to Natural Regons and Land Categores (n thousands of hectares) Holder of G.M.B Card n Makonde Dstrct Dstrbuton of rrgaton-based Farmng by Agrcultural Sector n 1981 Agrcultural Fnance Corporaton Lendng by Category of Farmers Proporton of Women n Traned Workforce by Racal Group Enrollments at Prmary and Secondary Schools and Teachers Colleges between 1979 and 1985 Enrollments at Vocatonal and Techncal Tranng nsttutons, Agrcultural Colleges and Unversty of Zmbabwe between 1981 and 1985 Female enrollment by Race at Techncal/Vocatonal Colleges Proporton of Women n Total Labour Force by ndustral Secton 1981 and 1985 Proporton of Women n Total Labour Force by Major Occupatonal Group 1981 and 1985 Female Labour Force by Race and Major Occupatonal Group 1981 and 1986 Percentage Dstrbuton of Heads of Households by Sex 4 Table A 6.2 Table B 1.1 Table B 1.2 Dstrbuton of Decson Makers by Sex Country Programme Allocatons over and above the country programme n 1989

13 10 f SECTON A - OVERVEW OF WOMEN'S POSTON N ZMBABWE By Elnor Batezat and Margaret Mwalo t 1991 ft k.

14 1. NTRODUCTON TO SECTON A Ths frst secton of the Plan of Acton for Assstance to Women n Zmbabwe attempts to descrbe of the economc, poltcal, socal and cultural stuaton of women n Zmbabwe. n keepng wth the format of prevous studes of women's poston n Zmbabwe we present the major ndcators of women's poston as ther partcpaton n agrculture and employment, ther access to educaton and health facltes as well as ther legal status and poston n the famly and socety. Ths s followed by a crtcal examnaton of women and development polcy n Zmbabwe and a dscusson of some of the problems of mplementaton. 11 { L

15 2. AGRCULTURE 2.1. Commercal and subsstence agrculture r Zmbabwe has been haled as an agrcultural success story wthn ' Afrca, wth many years of self-suffcency n food producton (wth the excepton of the recent years of serous drought). n, the lmelght of agrcultural producton before ndependence were the large scale commercal farmers. Ther mportance can be guaged from the fact that n 1980 the commercal farmng sector accounted for 75% of gross output, 95% of marketed surplus, j nearly 100% of agrcultural export earnngs and 33% of natonal formal employment (Mumbengegw 1986:210). r n drect contrast to ths success story s the stuaton n the ' overcrowded Communal Areas (formally known as Trbal Trust Lands or natve reserves) where more than 60% of the country's populaton lves. The land ssue n Zmbabwe s central to an understandng of the co-exstence of the dre poverty of the mass of peasants wth the great wealth of the commercal farmers. Land r was dstrbuted on the bass of fve "Natural Regons". The best j agrcultural land n terms of productvty and ranfall are Natural Regons, and. Natural regons V and V consttute the poorest clmatc zones whch are not sutable for ran- [ fed agrculture. Most of the commercal farmng areas fell 1 under Natural Regons, and whle most of the communal area fell under Natural Regons V and V (see table A 2.1). f Ths dvson of the land whereby Afrcans were pushed nto the most unproductve areas wth poor clmatc condtons was, acheved through expropraton of land by whte settlers durng \ the colonal perod. The so-called poneers who came n 1890 n ' search of mneral wealth soon turned to agrculture when the promse of that mneral wealth was not fulflled. From the 1890's onward they staked out large tracts of land for com- { mercal agrcultural development. The ndgenous nhabtants of the land were moved to what came to be called the "natve? reserves" whch were lkened to deserts. Land alenaton for [ whte settlement was legalzed by the Land Apportonment Act of 1930 whch was superceded by the Land Tenure Act of The Land Tenure Act dvded the land equally between the ndlgenous populaton and the whte settlers so that the settlers, who comprsed a mere 5% of the populaton had an equal amount of land f as the Afrcans who comprsed 95% of the populaton. t s not ( surprsng that land was the major ssue around whch people were moblsed for the natonal lberaton struggle. ; n addton to land alenaton varous polcy nstruments were V used to boost the performance of whte settler farmers. As Moyo ponts out, these took the form of well planned techncal, < fnancal, marketng and nfrastructural support to the large scale whte farmers (Moyo 1986:169). 12

16 t On the other hand Afrcan peasant farmers n the Communal Areas were dened access to the nputs necessary for technologcally advanced and productve farmng methods. Settler agrcultural polcy was drectly responsble for the underdevelopment and poverty of the communal fannng areas. Mumbengegw wrtes that: Whle theoretcally, prcng and marketng polcy nstruments were not dscrmnatory, the nsttutonal framework wthn whch they operated for the communal farmers rendered them just as blatantly dscrmnatory as the nstruments relatng to land alenaton, credt provson, subsdes, taxaton, extenson and general nfrastructural provson (Mumbengegw 1986:208). n the framework of such a polcy t s lttle wonder that agrcultural productvty n the Communal Areas declned and the poor qualty land deterorated even further The mgrant labour system The wrestng of land from the Afrcan people served a dual purpose for the whte settlers - n addton to obtanng huge tracts of land on whch they could base ther agrcultural wealth, they were provded wth a ready supply of labour. The Afrcans had ntally ressted the settler attempts to recrut ther labour because they had adequate sustenance from ther own agrcultural producton. However, dsposesson of Afrcans of ther land undermned the ndgenous economy because the land of the natve reserves was too lttle and too poor n qualty to support the populaton. n addton, the settler Government mposed hut tax on every adult male whch had to be pad n money form. All these factors forced men to sell ther labour for cash n the rapdly developng "modern sector". The process s well outlned n the MCCDWA/UNCEF Report (1982): the husband mgrates to an urban area, mne or commercal farm for wage employment, usually as unsklled or sem-sklled worker. The wfe and chldren supplement hs meager wages through subsst- ence producton. The wfe as de facto head of household, famly farm manager and labourer subsdzes the modern sector by provdng unemployment benefts and socal securty on retrement of the husband (p 3). The Report ponts out that the mgratory labour system has become very much a part of a way of lfe for Zmbabweans - "At the tme of ndependence for example, out of approxmately farmng famles n the peasant sector, about famles operated a splt famly survval strategy" (p 3) mplcatons for Women The Report on the Stuaton of Women n Zmbabwe (MCCDWA/UNCEF 13

17 1982)and "We Carry a Heavy Load: Rural Women of Zmbabwe Speak Out" (ZWB 1981) provde excellent accounts of the effects of the mgrant labour system on Afrcan women. The ZWB report states that: Whle the economc development takng place n the country allowed luxurous and prvleged lfe-styles to the small, whte communty, black women and ther famles were forced to lve out a lfe of grndng poverty n the "reserves" (ZWB 1981:2). The women ntervewed durng the course of the ZWB survey spoke of problems whch affected all peasant farmers n the rural areas, be they men or women, but they also spoke of an addtonal set of problems specfc to women - "those revolvng around women's relatonshp to the land" whch are n part a consequence of settler polces and also a result of the patrarchal values whch preceded colonsaton (ZWB 1981:20). A proper understandng of the poston of women n pre-colonal socety as well as of what they went through durng the colonal perod s central to the apprecaton of ther specfc problems today The sexual dvson of labour n pre-captalst socety The tradtonal economc system of the Shona and Ndebele socetes was based on the household or famly unt. The sexual dvson of labour s descrbed as follows: Women were chefly responsble for the day-to-day actvtes of food producton, processng and preparaton. Men's agrcultural actvtes seem to have been lmted to the sporadc tree fellng, preparaton of new felds and the provson of meat through huntng and/or radng. Although women were valued for ther labour, men controlled the means and nstruments of producton n addton to beng managers, supervsors of women's and chldrens actvtes (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:1). 14 A woman's socal standng n these socetes depended on her ablty to work hard and bear many chldren. Her nfluence n the famly and socety became stronger as she grew older and had thus acheved complete "adulthood'» The ZWB report ndcates that although perpetuaton of the system would not have been possble wthout the labour of women, women's work carred lttle status. nstead prestge was attached to men's work and the authorty and status of fathers and husbands was absolute. Wth the lobola or brde-prce payment the guardanshp of a young woman passed from her father to her husband, so that she was always under the authorty of a man. Despte Women could acqure property such as the "cow of motherhood" (mombe yeuma n Shona and nkomo yohlanga n Ndebele) on the marrages of ther daughters. They could also accumulate some wealth through the payment of mdwfe servces.

18 t ths subordnate status: A set of clearly defned recprocal oblgatons exsted, drawng on labour nputs from the men and chldren of the household, and the women's authorty over certan processes ncludng food storage gave her a certan control over ncome whch strengthened what n many ways was otherwse a weak status and structural poston" (UNCEF 1985:35). The lttle protecton women enjoyed n the precolonal patrarchal socetes was eroded by colonalsm, wth dsastrous socal and economc effects on women Women's nvsblty as agrcultural producers Asde from mgratng n search of wage labour there were lmted possbltes for men to make an ncome from farmng. Whle the Communal Areas were characterzed by general poverty and low levels of productvty, there emerged a certan degree of rural stratfcaton due to both drect colonal polces and nherent nequaltes among the peasantry. Two basc strateges evolved from the early 1920s to accommodate and develop a rural Afrcan mddle class. The frst strategy was the development of Natve Purchase Areas or Afrcan Purchase Areas (APAs) where Afrcans were allowed to buy land on a freehold bass. t was the wealther and more educated elements among the peasantry who bought farms of between 30 and 300 acres n the APAs. The APAs consttuted a tny proporton of total land area and were manly located n the poorer Natural Regons (see Table A.2.1). The other strategy adopted by the colonal regme was to develop the "master farmers'* wthn the Communal Areas. These were the relatvely wealther and more lterate peasants who could afford to mplement nnovatons and adopt modern farmng technques, whch enabled them to engage n cash crop producton. The productvty of the APA farmers and the master farmers vsbly ncreased vs-a-vs other peasants but was well below that of the whte farmers. Women were not recognsed as agrcultural producers n ther own rght but merely as farmers wves, no matter how great the amount of labour they expended on producton. A vvd example of ths was the case of a woman farmer who successfully underwent a Master Farmer tranng course, only to be told that the certfcate would be gven to her husband, a school teacher, as all the tranng she had undertaken was on hs behalf! t was only her persstence and determnaton whch enabled her to eventually be awarded the master farmer certfcate n her own name and became a full member of the Natonal Assocaton of Master Farmers Clubs (Gadzanwa 1982:147). Such cases were exceptons. APA farmers and master farmers were 15

19 generally all men. t was men who could afford to buy land snce they had cash ncomes ether from wage work or cash crop producton. Furthermore, men were n a poston to acqure an unpad labour force by marryng more women. The labour of wves and chldren was used to ncrease producton. Gadzanwa ponts out the attractveness of polygamy as an effectve and economc labour recrutment strategy n the APA's (Gadzanwa 1982:37). We proceed to examne n greater detal the problems whch women face as agrcultural producers n the lght of the colonal experence and post-ndependence polces Post-ndependence agrcultural polcy ndependence n 1980 marked the comng to power of a Government wth a stated commtment to socalst transformaton. However, the constrants mposed by the Lancaster House Agreement mltated aganst any speedy moves n that drecton. The Lancaster House Agreement provded consttutonal safeguards for the whte settlers, ensurng that they remaned a force to reckon wth n newly ndependent Zmbabwe. The new Government was on the one hand faced wth a "pampered, powerful and yet hostle whte agraran bourgeose, whch had to be handled wth extreme cauton" and on the other hand a peasantry whch "saw the essence of poltcal ndependence as the satsfacton of ther land hunger and the reversal of dscrmnatory elements of agrcultural polces" (Mumbengegw 1986:210). The Government's response was to pursue an agrcultural polcy of "growth wth equty" l.e one of preservng the commercal farmng sector whle nsttutng measures to mprove producton n the Communal Areas. Mumbengegw wrtes that there were two sets of objectves outlned n the Government's frst economc polcy statement "Growth wth Equty" 1981 and the Transtonal Natonal Development Plan (TNDP) of 1982/3. The frst set of objectves, amed at preservng the status quo n the commercal farmng sector, are dentcal to those pursued by the Smth regme durng UD,.e stmulaton of growth n aggregate agrcultural output, attanment of self-suffcency n food producton and maxmzaton of foregn exchange earnngs. The second set of objectves, termed "restructurng transformatonst" objectves, amed at "achevng an acceptable and far dstrbuton of land ownershp, elmnaton of dscrmnatory practces n output prcng, nput provson, marketng, credt, extenson, nfrastructure and the provson of other back-up servces and rasng peasant ncomes through productvtyrasng measures (Mumbengegw 1986:211). n vew of the mportance of the land queston, redstrbuton of land was obvously the topmost of the transformatonst objectves. 16

20 Redstrbuton of Land Government sought to address the ssue of land redstrbuton through the resettlement programme nsttuted n The ams of the resettlement programme were outlned n the ZMCORD documents as follows: () Provde relef of pressures on over populated land; (11) Extend and mprove the base of productve agrculture n the peasant farmng sector; (ll) mprove the standard of lvng of the largest and poorest sectors of Zmbabwean populaton; 17 (v) Amelorate the plght of people adversely affected by war and rehabltate them; t (v) Provde, at the lower end of the scale, opportuntes for people who have no land and who are wthout employment and may therefore be classed as desttute; (v) Brng abandoned and under-utlzed land nto full producton as one facet of mplementng an equtable polcy of land dstrbuton; (v) (v) Expand and mprove the nfrastructure and servces that are needed to promote the growth of people and of economc producton; and Acheve natonal stablty and progress n a country that has only emerged from the turmol of war (Gadzanwa:1982:87). Government's target was to resettle famles n three years, but between 1980 and 1988 only peasant famles were resettled. The Government was forced to buy land on a "wllng seller - wllng buyer bass" as a result of the Lancester House Agreement. Whte fanners were reluctant to sell prme land. Thus the Government bought poorer land that had ether been abandoned or under utlzed. After three years fewer commercal farmers were wllng to sell land and by 1985 land purchase prces had shot up by 48% (Mumbengegwl 1986:212). All ths slowed down the resettlement programme. The combnaton of fewer wllng sellers, escalatng prces of land, the effects of three years of drought and the nternatonal economc recesson led to a drastc fall n land acquston durng the 1983/4 perod. However, the declne n purchases of land "can reasonably be assocated wth the economc "structural adjustment" that occurred n 1982, decreasng budgetary outlays to resettlement" (Moyo 1986:185). Consequently the mpact of the resettlement programme has been margnal, beneftng less than 5% of peasant households n the Communal Areas and takng up only 16% of the commercal farm land (Mumbengegw 1986:212). t would appear then, that the resettlement programme has only

21 provded temporary relef to the pressures of over-populaton and the pre-ndependence agraran structure has remaned essentally unchanged. The more substantve agraran changes snce ndependence have been those amed at rasng the productvty of communal farmers (Moyo 1986:187) Development of the peasant sector The post-ndependence polces of credt marketng and extenson facltes for communal farmers resulted n a structural change n the composton of output between the communal farmng and the commercal farmng sectors. The output of the commercal farmng sector has grown n absolute terms but ts contrbuton to total output has declned (Mumbengegw 1986:217, 218). Between 1980 and 1984 the peasant share of crop sales through to marketng boards rose from 6% to 15%. The peasant contrbuton to maze producton ncreased from 3.6% n 1979/80 to 36.5% n 1984/85. ncreases were also noted n the producton of cotton, groundnuts and burley tobacco. Commercal farmers contnue to domnate producton of beef and crops such as tobacco, wheat and frut for the export market. Meanhle peasant farmers are becomng ncreasngly domnant n staple food producton (maze and groundnuts) and are steadly ncreasng producton of newer crops such as soya beans and drought-resstant crops such as sorghum and mllet. Thus peasant farmers are playng an ncreasngly sgnfcant role n the producton of food affordable by the poor (Moyo 1986:178). mpressve though they may be, these ncreases n producton are not ndcatve of a general transformaton of peasant agrculture. The ncreases appear to be confned to a small proporton of peasant households (not more than 20%) n the more favourable natural regons, manly n the provnces of Mashonaland and Mdlands (Moyo 1986:188). ndcatons are that post-ndependence agraran polcy has been characterzed by contnuty rather than change, and the few changes whch have taken place have affected only a small secton of the peasantry. We now focus specfcally on the problems whch women have faced as agrcultural producers and brefly comment: on the extent to whch these problems have been addressed by post-ndependence agrcultual polcy Problems faced by women as agrcultural producers The problems of scarcty and low productvty of land and poor nfrastructure have a specal relevance for women snce they consttute the majorty of the populaton n the Communal Areas Land The massve expropraton of land by the whte settlers caused a stuaton of acute land hunger n the Communal Areas. n the ZWB 18

22 survey the general land shortage n the Communal Areas was often the frst pont made by women - n the words of a woman from Tshatshan: "Land tself s a great problem, we don't have enough of t" (ZWB 1981:20). Many women complaned that they only had the stands around ther houses amountng usually to an acre, sometmes less. "Four acres, the supposed mnmum under colonal legslaton, was consdered a lot of land n many parts of the country" (ZWB 1981:20). Women ponted out that the overcrowdng n the Communal Areas had left some people landless: We are too crowded. Some of our ssters have no land at all. They want some land so they can help themselves (ZWB:1981:20). The ZWB report comments that the problem of poor qualty and quantty of land affected all peasant farmers n the Communal Areas, regardless of whether they were men or women, but women suffered a second set of problems, the result of both settler polces and the patrarchal values that preceded colonalsm. n the patrarchal Shona and Ndebele socetes, land was communally owned but was controlled and dstrbuted by the male heads of socety. Men had prmary rghts to the land whle women had only use rghts. Ths meant that the chef allocated land to the male head of household. The head of household n turn gave small portons of the land to hs wfe or wves for ther subsstence producton, whle he worked (wth the help of hs wves) on the larger porton and clamed the produce thereof (Kazembe 1986:383). The wfe's pece of land was tradtonally known as zunde, tseu or svande and was used to grow food crops. The wfe controlled any surplus produced from her porton of land. Unmarred daughters had access to ther mothers' land for ther own subsstence untl such tme as they marred and moved to ther husbands's homes, where they n turn would be allocated ther own tseu or svande. Sons were allocated land by ther fathers. 19 The tradtonal tenure system was not necessarly to the dsadvantage of women as long as there was no shortage of land. However n the context of the acute land hunger caused by settler colonal polcy women's land rghts became ncreasngly tenuous as the comments of some of the women ntervewed n the ZWB survey ndcated: The headman won't gve women any land. don' t have any rght to t... They say we Just magne how t hurts to suffer workng on land whch doesn't belong to me, and all the money get from growng thngs s taken by my husband (ZWB:1981:- 21,22). Women marred to APA farmers were at an even greater dsadvantage because the land was owned by the man on the bass of ndvdual tenure. Women's land rghts, tenuous as they were n the Communal Areas, dd not even apply n the APAs and women were

23 20 forced to work hard to "deserve" or "earn" the rght to ther own feld. Falure to do so could mean wthdrawal of the land by the husband (Gadzanwa 1982:39). The Report on the Stuaton of Women ndcated that 99% of the women ntervewed and some men n the rural areas wanted the modfcaton or abolton of the prevalng land tenure system. The eagerness to ncrease women's control over the land was expressed n a questonnare returned from Pfura Dstrct Councl whch had the words WOMEN SHOULD HAVE LAND RGHTS wrtten n block letters and underlned (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:28). Menton has been made of the resettlement exercse undertaken soon after ndependence. To what extent dd ths resettlement exercse beneft women? t would appear that the desgn of the resettlement dd not take nto account the specal needs of women. programmes Accordng to Gadzanwa: t s clear that plannng dd not take cognsance of the dfferent categores of people, ther status and dfferental power wthn and outsde of households. There are no clear plans to cater for old people, young unmarred people and those otherwse nelgble for land wthn the settlement schemes (Gadzanwa 1982:17). Women ntervewed n the ZWB survey reacted angrly to the crtera for resettlement, especally the fact that only men who were not engaged n wage employment were elgble to apply for resettlement: 1 They ponted out that they were the ones who dd much, and sometmes all of the farmng. Land was therefore, n practcal terms, of far more concern to them than ther husbands. t was ponted out that men could be employed, but stll be unable to send home suffcent money that was needed by the famly. Some wves dd not get any money from ther husbands and were therefore entrely responsble for supportng ther famles off the land (ZWB 1981:23). Women were concerned that one of the crtera was that the head of the household to be resettled should own cattle, a scotch cart, a cultvator and a number of bags of maze. The women felt that ths meant that only rch people would be helped and women, wdows, orphans and the poor would be neglected. The depth of women's feelng on the ssue was expressed by the ndgnant comment of a woman from Mutoko: Why s t that only the names of the men who have taken courses and have qualfcatons are beng selected for resettlement? We women have also taken some courses but they (the resettlement offcers) are not takng our

24 1! names. So t means that we women are not counted n any development actvtes beng undertaken n Zmbabwe, we struggled much to wn ths Zmbabwe but t seems that our Government has forgotten that and s not nterested n women's development and needs (ZWB 1981:23). The passonate desre to have some rght to the land on whch they work s easly understandable when one consders the huge nvestment women make on the land n terms of ther labour. The majorty of women who have been resettled are there as wves and not as settlers n ther own rght. More recently moves have been made to resettle wdows and dvorcees n a few resettlement schemes, but the numbers reman nsgnfcant. The wves of mgrant husbands are especally affected snce the provson barrng those n wage employment from places n resettlement schemes stll apples. Consderable land hunger contnues to exst among the peasantry n general and women peasants n partcular. The mgraton of men to commercal farms, mnes and ndustres had the mmedate effect of ncreasng women's already consderable work burden. n addton to carng for chldren and ther tradtonal tasks of food processng and preparaton, women had to take on the work normally done by men. The result s a staggerng workload for women wth a workng day begnnng at 4:30am and endng at 9pm. Research carred out n Wedza produced the followng lst of tasks whch are typcal of women's work n most rural areas of Zmbabwe: Labour All domestc work (cookng, washng etc) Care of chldren Tendng of gardens Takng of maze to mlls for grndng, usually carryng 15 klos up to several mles and back; dong necessary shoppng, agan often at consderable dstance Cultvate "women's crops" Obtan wood for fuel Collect frewood Grnd by hand cereal crops other than maze, and also groundnuts to make peanut butter Keep chckens Do many of the jobs concerned wth the care and processng of "men's crops" (.e. those that wll be marketed) such as weedng and shellng

25 22 n the absence of men to: Herd cattle through the summer months Take cattle to dps once a week Guard aganst baboons Do all agrcultural tasks and marketng (UNCEF 1985:77). Durng perods of drought the task of fetchng water becomes even more strenuous and tme-consumng wth women havng to walk even longer dstances to obtan any water. The same apples to the fetchng of wood n certan areas where populaton pressure has caused the land to become denuded. The burden ths places on rural women was expressed by a woman n Marange who was ntervewed n the ZWB survey: Most women are overworked and they feel tred and weak most of the tme. We want someone to do some of the work for us - fetch and chop frewood and also carry water (ZWB 1981:26). Food preparaton s also an arduous and tme-consumng task, especally the process of shellng and grndng maze and other grans such as sorghum and mllet. Grndng mlls are an attractve alternatve but are often stuated too far away for many women, as one woman from nkoskaz ponted out: t can mean half a days walk to get there, then a long wat n the queue, and maybe even comng back the next day (ZWB 1981:27). The tasks of food preparaton and fetchng of fre wood and water are ntensfed durng large socal gatherngs such as funerals and weddngs and some tradtonal rtuals. The Report on the Stuaton of Women comments that "Rural women's workng condtons n terms of tme and labour demands can best be descrbed as appallng, more so when one consders that women have lttle control over the fruts of ther labour" (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982). There s no ndcaton that there has been any allevaton of rural women's labour burden snce ndependence. f anythng, women's labour burden has ncreased. The crpplng droughts experenced snce 1980 have caused a dryng up of water supples n the Communal Areas to the extent that peasant women n the worst strcken areas such as Gwanda have to spend whole days lookng for water. Non-Governmental organsatons (NGOs) such as the Lutheran World Federaton (LWF) have been actvely nvolved n projects amed at the provdng water n the Communal Areas. However, the problem s so acute that the exstng projects are nadequate. The provson of free prmary school educaton and the resultant ncrease n the numbers of chldren attendng school has had the unfortunate effect of contrbutng to women's work load. Rural

26 23 mothers rely heavly on the assstance of older chldren n household work, especally for the care of younger chldren. Furthermore, rural communtes are expected to contrbute to ther chldren's educaton by provdng labour for such tasks as makng brcks for school buldngs (UNCEF 1985:152). The Early Chldhood Care and Educaton programme run by MCCDWA has gone some way towards assstng women n the care of younger chldren. n 1981 there were Just over pre-school centres n the country, 582 of whch were stuated n rural areas. By 1985 the total number of pre-school centres was estmated at 4 500, of whch were located n the rural areas (MCCDWA 1985:13). Development projects, commendable though they may be, seem to ncrease rural women's work load. The concept of self relance, a term whch nvarably crops up n any dscusson on rural development, s translated n practce nto ncreased labour nput for rural communtes, especally women. Ths wll be dscussed n more detal later n the paper Cash Crop Producton Women's lack of control over the land and the fruts of ther own labour s most apparent through an examnaton of the economcs of cash crop producton. t has already been mentoned that tradtonally women had the rght to a pece of land on whch they grew crops such as beans, groundnuts, sweet potatoes and yams. These crops were manly for famly consumpton and also for barter purposes. t s reported that women had absolute control over these crops but: * The ntroducton of cash crops and general shortage of land n the peasant sector contrbuted to the dsappearance n many areas and reducton n a few others of the women desgnated peces of land and ther crops (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:5). Men's control over the land meant that they could decde to grow cash crops at the expense of "women's crops". A woman from nyat complaned: No, we don't have control over the land. The land s controlled by men. say so because we are gven 2 1/2 acres to plough, but our husbands do not allow us to plant anythng else except maze. So where shall we plant monkey nuts, beans and frut that are good for our famles (ZWB 1981:22)? Male domnaton of cash crop productln can be summed up as follows: Cash crop producton was drected to men by a male domnated and orented extenson servce system. The

27 producton of these crops (maze, cotton, tobacco etc) and ther related technologes was largely n the hands of better-off peasant farmers who could afford the ntal captal, as there were no credt facltes for the peasant sector. The modern farmng methods requred for these crops were mported by male extenson workers through the master farmer approach (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1981:4). Women do not beneft from the sale of cash crop producton though they, together wth chldren, provde most of the labour (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1981:36). Cash crop producton necesstates a consderable amount of weedng, and snce weedng s tradtonally a woman's task, the labour burden of women s greatly ncreased. t s not surprsng that women who were marred to Master Farmers or husbands engaged n some knd of cash crop producton were demandng some money from the marketng of the cash crops. The ZWB survey reported that women were nsstent that they should have ther own Gran Marketng Board (GMB) cards so that they could sell the produce to the GMB themselves and payment would be made to them and not ther husbands as was prevously the case. ncreasng numbers of women are now gettng ther own G.M.B cards. However, most of the women who hold cards are women heads of households, ether wdows or dvorcees. As far as marred couples are concerned, husbands hold the G.M.B cards n the majorty of cases. Research carred out n the Makonde Dstrct confrms ths observaton. The ncluson of rapoko (fnger mllet) and munga (mllet) nto the category of controlled crops has been noted as a sgnfcant change for communal farmers (Mumbengegw 1987:215) but what has not been noted s that these crops are prmarly grown by women. Research s needed to gauge just how much, f at all, women have benefted from ths change. Untl research ndcates otherwse, we can assume that cash crop producton and control of the proceeds thereof, s stll very much a male preserve Extenson Pror to ndependence, agrcultural extenson servces were geared towards mprovng producton of the whte farmers. The extenson servces for peasant farmers were mnmal. Women were especally neglected by extenson workers because the lmted socal contact between men and women made t dffcult for a male extenson worker to address women drectly. Women reled on women's clubs or frends, relatves and husbands for agrcultural nformaton. n cases where women obtaned nformaton drectly from a male extenson worker t was through a group rather than ndvdual approach (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1981:25, 26). Another reason for women's lack of access to extenson servces was that these were manly drected to master farmers, the large 24

28 25 majorty of whom were men, as ndcated by a woman from Chnamora: The extenson worker s not nterested n us. He only vsts those whom he thnks are well up - the people wth fannng cards (Master Farmer certfcates) (2WB 1981:32) Snce ndependence there has been an effort to ncrease the avalablty of extenson servces to communal farmers n order to make up for prevous neglect. Agrcultural extenson servces are organsed and conducted by the Department of Agrcultural, Techncal and Extenson Servces (AGRTEX) whch falls under the Mnstry of Agrculture. Among the prortes of Agrtex s the "ncrease of the productvty of agrculture" wth specal emphass on the communal, resettlement and small scale farmng areas through the meda of agrcultural extenson. t Agrtex s also lnked through the Mnstry of Agrculture to the Department of Research and Specalst Servces whch does research trals n the Communal Areas. Before 1982 agrcultural research had been organsed manly for commercal farmers on a commodty bass. By 1984 the Department of Research and Specalst Servces had establshed a new research approach under the Farm Systems Research Unt, wth the am of establshng a holstc and nterdscplnary analyss of problems faced by the farmers n the Communal Areas. ncreased extenson servces n the Communal Areas has had the effect of ncreasng peasant producton, although ths ncrease s confned to more favourable natural regons. L Women farmers are hghly conscous of the need for knowledge suppled by extenson servces, to mprove ther performance as farmers. n the course of the ZWB survey t was reported that the number of women jonng the Master Farmer Assocaton was ncreasng, because t was seen as a way of gettng access to credt facltes n order to buy labour-savng devces and other nputs as well as techncal advce (ZWB 1981:32). n 1982 t was reported that moves were underway to democratse the Master Farmer Assocaton by makng t a more nclusve and communal organsaton (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:26). The Master Farmers Assocaton has snce been reorgansed to encompass all communal farmers and has been renamed Natonal Farmers Assocaton of Zmbabwe. Despte the partcpaton of some women, ths body contnues to be a male-domnated organsaton. Research on agrcultural extenson servces' support to women farmers n the Makonde dstrcts showed that whle Agrtex s usng the group meetng approach to provde extenson servces, these groups are domnated by men. Agrtex servces are not drected at women's groups and women felt excluded and expressed a desre for mproved access to group servces. Extenson workers vsted master farmers and "elte" farmers more frequently (Mutuma et al 1987). Pror to ndependence there were no women agrcultural extenson

29 workers but the numbers have been ncreasng steadly snce the frst women were admtted to agrcultural tranng at Chlbero College n 1980/81. About 50% of tranees at Chbero College are now women. Ths s a sgnfcant post-ndependence change Technology The UNCEF and ZWB surveys revealed the extent to whch women suffered as a result of lack of the necessary equpment to make ther work less exhaustng and more productve. Women had to rely on very labour-ntensve methods of cultvaton. The task of ploughng, tradtonally done by men, fell to women as a result of male mgraton. The huge losses of cattle durng the war meant that many people had to rely on hoes for ploughng. Only the lucky few had access to tractors. Some women also expressed the need for fertlzer, mproved water supples such as boreholes and rrgaton, as well as labour-savng devces and means of transport such as scotch-carts and wheelbarrows. The problem of transport s a serous one. Women have to walk long dstances to bus stops and wat long perods for rregular and crowded buses to sell produce n town. Transport costs are prohbtve for many women. Women also complaned of dffcultes n marketng ther produce, especally vegetables: f we don't sell our vegetables n town the day we arrve, we have to stay overnght. Some of us have to sleep out n the open because there s nowhere for us to go. Sometmes we have to brng our small chldren wth us. t s no good for them (ZWB 1981:32). Women also mentoned the dangers of havng ther produce stolen as a result of the dsorgansaton at many of the markets. Snce 1980 mprovement n marketng facltes has become the focus n Communal Area development. t s reported that there has been a quanttatve expanson n marketng depots n the Communal Areas. Government plans to construct more G.M.B depots so that each farmer wll be wthn 40 klometers of a depot. Ths target has not been acheved due to fnancal constrants but the GMB does operate a system of seasonal collecton ponts. Whle ths represents a sgnfcant mprovement, hgh transport costs and long dstances to the nearest depots reman the bggest marketng constrant to communal farmers (Mumbengegw 1986:215). The mprovement n marketng depots s more lkely to beneft cash crop producers, who as has already been ponted out, are mostly men. There s lttle evdence of mprovement of marketng and storage facltes for pershable crops such as tomatoes and other frut and vegetables whch are sold mostly by women. The desre expressed by women n the UNCEF and ZWB surveys for mproved water supples has not been fulflled, manly because most of the seven years of ndependence have been characterzed by crpplng drought. Water supples n many Communal Areas have dwndled alarmngly, threatenng any hope of arable agrcultural 26

30 producton n these areas. Snce most of the Communal Areas are located n the low ranfall agro-ecologcal regons the only way to ensure a reasonable output s through rrgaton but as Table A. 2.3 ndcates communal farmers had access to only 2,5% of the controlled rrgaton nfrastructure by Gven the male monopoly of technology one can safely assume that the tny proporton of communal farmers who do have access to rrgaton nfrastructure are men. The provson of safe and easly accessble water supples n the rural areas s an mportant step towards easng women's labour burden. The Government s commtted to mprovng access to water facltes by the rural populaton, and Zmbabwe has joned the nternatonal Drnkng Water Supply and Santaton Decade wth the ntenton of provdng clean water for all ts populaton by Varous mnstres and agences are nvolved n the provson of new boreholes and wells but progress has been slow manly due to problems of co-ordnaton among mplementng mnstres, but more mportantly due to the fact that tremedous resources would be requred for the successful mplementaton of the programme. 27 j Credt and fnance Credt for communal farmers was vrtually non-exstent before 1978/9. Agrcultural credts or loans for women, especally llterate rural women, was unheard of. Women were mnors before the law, and as such could not enter nto any contractual agreements. Women ntervewed n the ZWB survey complaned of lack of fnance for fertlzer, seeds and equpment, and ther nablty to obtan the necessary credt to purchase these nputs: We know nothng about credts and loans. What we know s that we need money to mprove our farmng, so we should be taught about ths (ZWB 1981:32). Extenson workers do vst us f we jon agrculture clubs. But t doesn't help us because we can't afford to buy what they teach us to use, lke fertlzer and mproved seeds (bd). The post-ndependence perod has seen a sgnfcant expanson of credt to communal fanners. Ths expanson s ndcated by Table A.2.4. From the numbers of successful loan applcants ncreased by 98%. However, the expanson s not as mpressve as the fgures would lead one to beleve. Accordng to Mumbengegw: Ths phenomenal expanson, coverng 68,600 successful applcants n 1984/5, represents only 8% of communal farmers, whle the $24,7 mllon s only 16% of total AFC lendng to the agrcultural sector. n per capta terms commercal farmers receve 205 tmes the average loan to communal farmers (Mumbengegw 1986:217). Once agan, t s the relatvely more wealthy peasant households

31 who are n a poston to take advantage of the AFC credt facltes. Mumbengegw ponts out that the AFC s nterested only n easer loan recovery. t therefore wll ssue loans only to those farmers whose scale of operatons results n marketed surplus: the mplcaton s that the expanson of Communal Area credt has been drected towards the larger and rcher peasants, thus rasng the possblty of ntensfed rural stratfcaton (Mumbengegw 1986: 217). What s not mentoned s that the larger and rcher peasants are usually men, whle women feature largely among those communal farmers whose output s only suffcent for ther own consumpton. Women farmers, therefore, have lttle access to AFC credt facltes. Women ntervewed n the ZWB survey complaned that credt was gven to men and they asserted the need to have money n ther own rghts. Some women try to overcome the problem of fnance by Jonng cooperatves and savngs clubs. Women n Mhondoro and Mutasa North sad the local savngs clubs schemes n whch they partcpated enabled them to save for nputs such as fertlzer (ZWB 1981:31). The savngs co-operatves establshed after 1980 quckly became an mportant means of obtanng fnance for women. 16.6% of respondents to the UNCEF survey cted co-operatves as ther fnancal source for seeds and fertlzer, 6% cted vllage savngs clubs, 12% depended on loans from frends and 13% depended on husbands sendng money. Women were obvously anxous to have ndependent sources of fnance rather than be too dependent on husbands. 28

32 Tables n paragraph A2 TABLE A.2.2. HOLDER OF G.M.B CARD N MAKONDE DSTRCT Holder Percentage Wfe/wves Husband Each has own card Other Source (Mutuma et al 1987) j t t

33 3. EDUCATON AND EMPLOYMENT 3.1. Formal educaton and employment Educaton and tranng As was the case wth every aspect of economc and socal lfe n colonal Zmbabwe, the am of whte settler polcy n the felds of educaton and employment was the mantenance of whte settler hegemony. The whte settlers, who consttuted about 4.4% of the populaton, had the best educatonal facltes and employment opportuntes whle the Afrcans, who consttuted 95% of the populaton, had the worst. n the racal confguraton of colonal socety, the Asans and "coloureds" who consttuted 0,16% and 0,32% of the populaton respectvely (percentages based on fgures from the 1969 census) were placed somewhere n the mddle of the racal herarchy. Though they were two dstnct groups, Asans beng manly of ndan orgn and "coloureds" referrng to people of mxed race, they were grouped together for admnstratve purposes, sometmes beng classfed as whte and sometmes as non whte, dependng on what was expedent for the colonal regme. Schools were strctly separated along racal lnes. Vrtually all Government expendture on educaton was nvested n the provson of adequate educaton facltes for the settler populaton. Compulsory educaton for all whte chldren between the ages of fve and ffteen was ntroduced as far back as 1930 by means of the Compulsory Educaton Act. Compulsory educaton for "coloured" and Asan chldren lvng wthn a three mle radus of a sutable school was ntroduced n 1938 (May 1978: 8-10). The whte settlers, or "Europeans" as they termed themselves, had a range of well-staffed, well-equpped schools to choose from. Although there were fewer schools for "coloureds" and Asan, all members of these racal sub-groups dd have the opportunty for educaton. Afrcans on the other hand had very lmted educatonal opportuntes. There were very few Government schools for Afrcans so they reled manly on msson schools for the provson of educaton. The shortage of school places and the consderable fnancal sacrfces parents had to make to send ther chldren to school meant that only a few managed to go to school and among those fortunate few, the majorty were boys, as explaned by a woman from Mhondoro: Very few people used to attend schools. Boys had more tme to go to school than grls, as fathers thought that a grl was a young woman who must work wth mother at home. These grls are now women who cannot even read or wrte ther names. So thnk there should be school for these women now (ZWB 1981:10). Opportuntes for vocatonal tranng were even more lmted. 30

34 There was consderable development of sklls among the Afrcan wage labour force as a result of ther partcpaton n the producton process. Ther sklls however remaned at an nformal evel because the colonal regme could not allow any competton wth whte sklls. The settler regme n fact recruted sklls from outsde the country n keepng wth ts polcy of actvely encouragng whte mmgraton (NMS 1981: Natonal Manpower Survey) Employment n the face of ths polcy of separate educaton, the obstacles whch Afrcan women faced n obtanng any form of tranng or employment were formdable. Women n towns resorted to the llegal actvtes of petty tradng, beer brewng and prosttuton n order to survve. A few women obtaned employment as domestc workers although the settlers generally preferred male domestc workers. Even fewer women managed to obtan employment n factores. The only tranng opportuntes avalable for the small numbers of Afrcan women who dd receve some educaton were n the felds of nursng and teachng. 31 T whte women, as part of the domnant racal group had access to «the best educatonal facltes. Theoretcally they were not barred from entry n any feld of tranng or employment but the W prevalng settler deology whch emphaszed women's sutablty < for certan occupatons prevented them from venturng out of the prescrbed occupatons. Whte women were employed mostly as clercal and admnstratve staff n commercal and ndustral establshments. Asan and "coloured" women also entered the labour market more easly than Afrcan women snce they had better educatonal opportuntes. They easly found employment as sales-workers and admnstratve clercal staff n the prvate sector and Government servce. The most educated among them were manly teachers and nurses. Despte ther prvleged poston vs-a-vs Afrcan women, they were themselves vctms of racal dscr- mnaton, wth lower pay, less attractve workng condtons and fewer possbltes for promoton than whte women. The Natonal Manpower Survey carred out n 1981 provded detals of the sharp dvsons n tha labour market along the lnes of race and sex. The table below ndcates the low proportons of women n the traned workforce as a whole and more specfcally, the low proporton of Afrcan women n the traned workforce. The Natonal Manpower Survey dentfed the most strkng characterstcs of women's partcpaton n the labour force as the followng: The small proporton of women n the traned workforce. Women consttuted 21% of all professonal workers, 15% of all sklled workers and 11% of the sem-sklled. Women were a majorty n only one sector - the health sector.

35 Women were concentrated n a few ndustres (wholesale, retal, restaurants and hotels, fnance and real estate) They were concentrated manly n the clercal and professonal occupatons. All women n pad employment faced the problem of dscrmnatory hrng practces, lack of promoton opportuntes and lower wages than men. However, European women were better pad than men n other racal groups. n the herarchcal wage structure European men were on average hghest pad people n the labour market, followed by European women, Asan and "coloured" men, Asan and "coloured" women, Afrcan men and fnally Afrcan women at the bottom of the ladder. Ths s a generalzed pcture and Afrcan women who were teachers and nurses for example commanded much hgher wages than Afrcan men who were unsklled workers. However, as compared to Afrcan men of a smlar educatonal standard and women of other racal groups, the earnngs of Afrcan teachers and nurses were ptfully low. The lowest pad people n formal employment were women factory workers and domestc workers, wth casual and seasoned workers at the very bottom of the scale. The employment trend for casual labour n commercal large scale and small scale farmng for the perod , ndcates that more than 67% of casual labourers were women (Jassat and Mwalo 1985:19). The use of female labour was also prevalent n the food processng ndustry where Sbanda noted that the majorty of women were "unsklled" casual labourers. He further noted that employers used varous means to ensure that workers were desgnated as "casual" or "temporary" even though they were workng contnuously for long perods of tme (Sbanda 1984). Lower wages for women were justfed by the assumpton that the men were the breadwnners, and women only supplemented the man's wages. The head-of-household or breadwnner, the man, was therefore gven the frst chance of employment before a woman, rrespectve of the fact that a woman mght be the head-of-household due to wdowhood, dvorce or deserton (MCCOWA/UNCEF 1982:46). Gven the lmted amount of jobs n the formal sector, the prevalng atttude s that "why should women get employment when men are out of work?" The followng remark made by a man to women queung to catch a mornng bus nto town s llustratve of ths atttude: Where do you thnk you women are gong so early? You should stay at home and not compete wth us men for jobs (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:47). The concept of femnnty s often evoked aganst women seekng postons of responsblty and authorty. For example a woman graduate was asked the followng queston at an ntervew; What s a sugar cooke lke you dong lookng for an executve job? t's tough and not for the delcate ones lke you (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1981:47). 32

36 The myth of women beng weaker and dependent on men therefore serously affects ther chances of obtanng employment and also lmts the felds n whch they can be employed. When employed ther promoton prospects are affected. Black women are even further dsadvantaged n ths regard because culture can be used as a scapegoat, as ths racst and sexst remark made by a whte man n the prvate sector shows: You are well qualfed and capable, but 1 don't mean to be rude, how can we put you, an Afrcan woman, n a poston to supervse men. t s not n lne wth your culture s t (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:48)? 33 Women of all races were regarded frst and foremost as mothers and housewves who only entered nto pad employment to "supplement" the husbands' ncome. The defnton of men as breadwnners and women as home-makers had adverse mplcatons for women wth regard to payment of tax and penson contrbutons and benefts such as maternty leave. These wll be dscussed n greater detal when we consder the changes made after ndependence n f 3.2. Post-ndependence polcy n evaluatng Government polcy on educaton and employment need to be conscous of two levels of polcy: we 1 a. General polcy amed at the removal of racal dscrmnaton and the provson of equal opportuntes to all Zmbabweans. Afrcan, Asan and "coloured" women, as part of the dsadvantaged racal groups, beneft from these polces. b. Polces drected specfcally at women. Snce these polces am to redress nequaltes on the bass of sex all women, even whte women, stand to gan Expanson of educaton and tranng The most sgnfcant feature of educatonal polcy snce ndependence has been the huge expanson of the educatonal system, n terms of both enrollment and nfrastructure. Ths s ndcated by the huge ncreases n enrollment n every level of nsttuton, from prmary school to unversty. For example prmary school enrollment ncreased by 262% between 1979 and The ncreased enrollment has entaled a massve nvestment n nfrastructure at all levels. Between 1979 and 1984 the number of prmary schools ncreased by 173% whle the number of secondary schools has ncreased by a huge 638% (Jassat and Mwalo 1985:26). Before ndependence techncal/vocatonal tranng was avalable at two man colleges - Harare Polytechnc and Bulawayo Techncal Colleges. There were two satellte colleges n Gweru and Mutare.

37 Snce ndependence, three more vocatonal and techncal tranng nsttutons, Kwekwe, Kushnga Phkelela and Masvngo Techncal Colleges have been establshed (MLMSW 1986:4). The agrcultural colleges have been extended and the physcal sze of the Unversty has more than doubled. The expanson n educatonal and tranng facltes has resulted n the openng of new felds of opportunty for women. Ths s most notable n the feld of agrcultural tranng. At the techncal colleges some women have taken courses n the scentfc/techncal departments. However these contnue to be a mnorty. t has been establshed that between 1981 and 1985, 60,7% of female students at the vocatonal and techncal tranng nsttutons were enrolled n the departments of commerce whle only 1,2% of women were enrolled n scentfc/techncal departments. The remander were n the har-dressng and hotel and caterng departments (MLMSW 1986:4). Whle the enrollment fgures show an ncrease n the absolute number of women at educaton and tranng nsttutons a close examnaton wll. reveal that, wth the excepton of the agrcultural colleges, there has not really been a change n the rato of women to men. Table A.3.2 shows that after an ntal ncrease n the percentage of female students at the techncal tranng colleges between 1981 and 1982, the percentage ncrease has declned n subsequent years. A sgnfcant change s the sharp ncrease n the enrollment of black women and the correspondng declne n the numbers of whte women (MLMSW 1986). The ncrease n female enrollment at all levels of educaton s manly the result of the dramatc ncrease n the numbers of black grls and women gong nto tranng Changes n employment patterns Snce ndependence, the Government has taken several steps to remove dscrmnaton aganst women workers through legslaton. n 1981 the Equal Pay for Equal Work Regulatons were ntroduced. Prevously the ndustral Conclaton Act (Cap 246) regulated mnmum wages for women at between 56% and 67% of wages of male workers n the same grade. n 1980 new maternty leave and breast feedng regulatons were ntroduced. The Labour Relatons Act (LRA) of 1985 mproved the maternty leave provsons by allowng women a total of 90 days pad maternty leave at 75% of normal salary. Women on maternty leave now mantan all ther normal benefts and enttlements at work, ncludng penson, senorty and unbroken servce rghts (LO/JASPA 1986:45). The LRA proscrbes dscrmnaton on the grounds of race, trbe, place of orgn, poltcal opnon, colour, creed or sex n relaton to a wde range of job-related ssues such as wages, recrutment, promoton, tranng and retrenchment. Gender specfc job advertsng s llegal under the LRA. Another very postve aspect of the LRA s that t has provsons for the 34

38 protecton of casual and seasonal workers. Untl very recently women were dscrmnated aganst wth regard to pensons and ncome tax. Women workers pad penson contrbutons at a rate of 6% as opposed to the 7% pad by men. Consequently they receved a smaller sum on retrement than men and ther husbands and chldren could not be benefcares n event of death. Ths was changed n July All penson contrbutons were set at 7.5% placng female contrbutors on par wth male contrbutors, thus provdng benefts to wdowers and chldren. The ncome tax law whereby marred couples are taxed jontly, wth the greater proporton of tax beng deducted from the wfe's salary, was changed wth effect from Aprl 1988, and marred couples wll now be taxed separately. 35 Despte Government efforts to remove dscrmnaton on the bass of both race and sex, ndcatons are that women's partcpaton n formal employment has not sgnfcantly ncreased snce Data from the Annual Occupatonal Survey of Employees showed that women were stll concentrated n occupatons such as teachng, nursng and clercal work. Women's partcpaton n the materal producton sectors declned from 13% n 1981 to 10% n 1984 (MLMPSW 1984). The Annual Occupatonal Survey of Employees (1985) ndcated a declne n the proporton of women n the total labour force from 14% n 1981 to 12% n Table A.3.3 llustrates the declne n the proporton of women n every sector except the agrcultural sector. The man declne has been n the clercal occupatonal group (see Table A.3.4) owng to the hgh rate of emgraton of whte women. Whle the overall proporton of women to men n the labour force has not changed sgnfcantly, there has been a dramatc change n the racal composton of the labour force. Table A.3.5 shows the ncrease n the proporton of black women n the labour force from 39% n 1981 to 78% n 1985 and a correspondng declne n the proporton of whte women from 54% n 1981 to 17% n The man feld of employment for black Zmbabwean women has been the Cvl Servce. The Presdental Drectve of May 1980, whch called for ncreased partcpaton of black Zmbabweans n decson-makng postons, had a postve nfluence on the recrutment of women nto the Cvl Servce. The ncrease n women's partcpaton was manly n the hgher echelons of the Cvl Servce. n the establshed offcers category the female to male rato ncreased from 44:100 n 1981 to 78:100 n However, women's partcpaton at the topmost level of the Cvl Servce - that s at the level of Under Secretary and above - contnues to be low, even n the Mnstres of Health and Educaton, whch employ the greatest numbers of women (Batezat and Mwalo 1986:10). n sum, colonal educatonal and employment polces were ds-

39 crmnatory not only on the grounds of race but also sex. The Government has attempted to remove the colonal barrers. However, gven the nherted economc base and the non-expanson of the economy, unemployment s on the ncrease and t has become ncreasngly dffcult for women especally to obtan formal employment The nformal sector Problems of defnton Serous conceptual dffcultes arse from the uncrtcal use of the conventonal labour force defntons when dscussng women's work n the nformal sector. A woman ntervewed n the ZWB survey gave the followng defnton of employment: Employment does not only mean to go and work under someone. When you work n your garden, home, feld, collect frewood or any job that would cost you money to have t done but you do t yourself, that s work (ZWB 1981:38). Formal statstcs do not reflect ths concepton of employment. Because the economy s defned n terms of captalst growth and accumulaton, only those workers engaged n actvtes drectly related to the process of growth and accumulaton are conventonally defned as beng n the labour force. Thus, only 10% of the total female populaton of Zmbabwe s counted as part of the labour force. The remanng 90% are classfed as "economcally nactve". The absurdty of classfyng rural women as economcally nactve s underlned n the MCCDWA/UNCEF survey: n a money based economy such as a hotel or commercal farm, the tasks done by rural women between 4:30am and 9:00pm would requre at least sx people, a cook, a cleaner, a water, farm labourer, a farm manager and a mller (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:31). As already outlned n the secton on agrculture, Zmbabwean women form the backbone of subsstence agrcultural producton. Some women also partcpate n cash crop producton and others work as casual and seasonal labourers on commercal farms. n both the rural and urban areas women carry out numerous unremunerated actvtes - lookng after chldren, carng for sck relatves, shoppng, cleanng, washng, cookng, to name just a few. All these actvtes are defned as non-economc. Women also sustan ther famles through a myrad of actvtes amed at earnng a cash ncome. n the rural areas these actvtes nclude pottery, makng of mats, gardenng and the rasng of chckens, pgs and goats. n urban areas the actvtes consst manly of crochetng, knttng, dress-makng, vegetable and frut-sellng. Such actvtes come under the rubrc of the "nformal sector" There has been much debate as to what exactly consttutes the 36

40 A "nformal sector". We wll confne ourselves to Brand's broad defnton of the nformal sector as: all those "lower-crcut" economc actvtes that are labour ntensve, have lttle dependence on overhead captal, neglgble fxed costs and small nventores of goods and raw materals... t s the low level of nput costs, ease of entry as well as the moblty of operaton that makes t an attanable opton - often the only one - as a means of lvelhood for large numbers of the urban poor and land-hungry rural people (Brand 1986:2-3) Women's nformal sector actvtes One of the crtcsms of the concept of an nformal sector s that t assumes the homogenety of unts. The sexual dvson of labour n the nformal sector to some extent mrrors that of the formal sector n that the women are confned to a lmted range of relatvely less sklled actvtes. Of the 47 actvtes covered n the SATEP study on the nformal sector women were manly represented n tuckshops (50%), knttng (40%), vegetable growng (12%), frewood sellng (16,7), hardressng (16,7%), sellng of clothes (20%) and talorng (14,3%) (SATEP 1984:14). No women were represented n the electrcal repar, shoe repar, buldng, metal sellng, upholstery actvtes, and tn-smthng. Male actvtes n the nformal sector were more n the lne of small enterprses wth sometmes consderable nvestment n captal stock and employment of labour. Male nformal sector operators had the advantage over women operators n that they could call on ther wve's labour whle women could not do lkewse wth ther husbands labour. Usng the advance 1982 census report, Brand calculated that approxmately women and men could be sad to be workng n the nformal sector, showng the preponderance of women n the sector although they may be confned to a few actvtes. t must be noted that these fgures are mere estmates snce t s so dffcult to quantfy nformal sector actvtes. For rural and urban women alke, ncome earned from ther efforts of producng and marketng foodstuffs, handcrafts and clothng tems s extremely mportant for ther famles. As The Stuatonal Analyss Report puts t: for many these actvtes are not smply a convenent means to useful household subsdes, they are a matter of lfe or death for famles where the husband provdes lttle or no ncome. Urban women who 37

41 come under the "dvorced, separated, deserted and wdowed" categores are partculary vulnerable n ths regard (UNCEF 1985:80). For women wth lttle educaton and opportuntes for pad employment, the need to earn some sort of ncome has made them turn to actvtes such as growng and sellng of vegetables, producton and sellng of handcrafts, kntted and crocheted artcles. Menton has already been made of the dffcultes of survval n the urban areas whch forced women nto actvtes such as llegal beer brewng and prosttuton. t has been ponted out that the stuaton of poor women n towns s sometmes more dffcult than that of women n the rural areas because they have nothng to fall back on. Rural women "at least can scratch the land, get money for salt and not have to rely on the husband" (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:51). Women n the rural areas have a long hstory of nvolvement n "women's clubs". These have been manly "homecraft" clubs organsed under the auspces of organsatons such as the Assocaton of Women's Clubs or the varous churches. These clubs endeavoured to tran women to be good wves and mothers by teachng them sklls such as cookery, hygene, sewng, knttng and nutrton. Research carred out by Muchena has shown that "there s a defnte desre on the part of these women for more economc and educatonal actvtes rather than the home and homecraft famlal role actvtes characterstc of women's clubs" (Muchena 1980:64). The clubs have faled to address women's need to mprove ther sklls n ther major economc actvty - agrcultural producton. Snce ndependence there has been a defnte shft n emphass away from home economcs actvtes to what are referred to as "ncome generatng actvtes". These am to provde women wth ncomes n ther own rght, teach them new sklls and rase the standard of lvng of ther famles. Whle women are very enthusastc about these projects they face a number of problems. ncome generatng projects depend heavly on donor assstance and few have acheved the objectve of provdng women wth ncome on a sustanable bass. Some of the problems faced by partcpants n ncome generatng projects are as follows: Market problems women engage n the same type of actvtes and therefore face stff competton for customers low purchasng power of rural markets markets for handcrafts are fckle and vulnerable to sudden changes n fashon Transport hgh costs of conveyng produce to towns 38

42 unrelable and nfrequent bus servce lack of nter-dstrct transport servce Captal and nfrastructure problem of obtanng credt for buyng of materal due to gnorance and to scarcty of credt facltes lack of storage facltes for equpment and marketable produce Sklls lack of management and accountng sklls and qualty control of products Mddlemen nablty to compete wth establshed formal sector enterprses forces women to sell to mddlemen at low prces unemployed gangs of young men (makoronyera) who make exorbtant profts by forcng rural women to sell ther produce at low costs whch they resell to cty vendors The major problem faced by rural women partcpatng n ncome generatng projects s ther heavy work load. Often, projects are based on the assumpton that women have an unlmted amount of tme to devote to the project. ncome generatng actvtes are generally concentrated durng the lmted perod after harvest and before the plantng season. 39 Women traders face the added problems of polce harassment n urban areas when found tradng n unauthorzed places such as bus stops or roadsde. They complan that t s "more strategc and convenent to operate at bus stops and roadsde than n far-off centralsed places where one has to pay rent and not even make a proft due to competton" (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:60). Government polcy documents such as Growth Wth Equty 1981, the Transtonal Natonal Development Plan (TNDP) 1982/ /5 and the Fve Year Development Plan ( ) recognse the relance of large sectons of the populaton on the nformal sector. The Fve Year Plan states the ntenton of Government to "formalse the nformal sector." Ths s to be acheved by provdng the nformal sector wth the necessary nfrastructure and assstance n the hope of promotng employment and allevatng poverty. To date, support for the nformal sector has manly been n the form of tranng amed at mprovng ther performance n ncome generatng projects as well as general lteracy Non-Formal educaton and tranng

43 Both rural and urban women express regret about ther lack of educaton. Educaton s seen as the means to obtanng pad employment and a better standard of lvng: Wthout educaton there s no job, and wthout a job there s no money. How can you lve n town wth no money (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:45)? How many educated women wth courses are prosttutes? f you get dvorced or have a chld out of marrage and you have no educaton you can actually become a prosttute to support your chldren (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:45). Educaton s good due to the fact that an llterate person wll take centures to lve a better lfe, whereas a lterate person can easly get a good job and support her or hs famly (ZWB 1981:10). f was educated would have been workng and earnng money. But my parents ddn't agree wth educatng a daughter, can't even help myself. So have proof that educaton s mportant for grls as well as boys. f possble must go for adult educaton and learn. But now am facng a lot of trouble because want all my chldren to be educated but there are too many of them and there s no one to help me (ZWB 1981:11). Women's strong desre for pad employment or any other means of earnng ncome dspell the noton that women could rely on ther husbands for economc support. Women from varous areas stressed that support from husbands could not be reled upon and emphaszed the need to earn money n ther own rght. Women need to earn money because they are the ones who face the shortages at home because husbands do not earn enough to support the famly (ZWB 1981:28). We don' t want to quarrel wth our husbands day and nght because of money, we need to earn money and bank t through our own names (bd). Women's lack of educaton s seen as the major barrer to ther obtanng pad employment. Snce most Afrcan women were left out of the educaton system, the only form of educaton they can get s through women's clubs, church organsatons and NGOs. n the club learn how to care for my husband and chldren n the modern world. go to the club to learn to cook, sew and meet wth women from hgh and low (classes) and from dfferent parts of the country. n my church, learn how to keep chckens, gardenng, sewng. All these help me to get some money and also feed my famly well (Muchena 1980:65). 40

44 ! f The clubs contnue to play a promnent role n the tranng of women today. Organsatons such as the Assocaton of Women's Clubs, whch had been operatng long before ndependence, contnue to offer courses n nutrton, chld care, frst ad, hygene, cookery, sewng, crotchet, food preservaton and leadershp. These are drected manly towards rural women. On the other hand, Mnstres and prvate nsttutons such as Slvera House, Ranche House College and the Adult Lteracy Organsaton of Zmbabwe, offer what has been termed para-professonal tranng manly for women. The tranng programmes nclude courses n basc hygene, nutrton, chld care, health care, agrcultural extenson work and tranng of adult lteracy teachers. These tranng programmes am to mprove women's domestc sklls and prepare them for partcpaton n ncome generatng projects or cooperatves. Meanngful partcpaton of the ndvdual n development depends upon the ablty to read and wrte. The MCCDWA, therefore launched an Adult Lteracy Campagn n 1982 whch amed to eradcate llteracy. The major benefcares of ths programme were women because out of adults attendng lteracy classes 75% were women (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1985:13). At present the programme faces problems of shortage of lteracy tutors and readng materals. Despte these shortcomngs women enthusastcally attend the courses n the hope of ganng knowledge and sklls that can enable them to mprove ther socal and economc status. 41

45 TABLES N PARAGRAPH A Table A.3.1 Proporton of Women n Traned Workforce by Racal Group Total number of professonal, sklled and sem-sklled workers Number of women n traned workforce Percentaae Source: Batezat 1984 Afrcan European A s a n "coloured"

46 43 TABLES N PARAGRAPH A.3. TABLE A.3.3 Female 1985 Year Enrollment Afrcan by Race at European Techncal/Vocatonal Coloured Asan Total Female Enrollment Colleges Total Enroll ment Source: Compled from the study of vocatonal/techncal tranng n Zmbabwe.

47 44 4. HEALTH 4.1. Dfferental access to health facltes Dfferental access to health facltes between urban and rural areas and dfferent soco-economc groups s a legacy of the colonal system. Well staffed hosptals wth sophstcated equpment are to be found n the major towns whle the rural populaton s plagued by lack of basc facltes such as clncs, ambulances and staff n all rural dstrcts (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982; 76) (ZWB 1981: 13). These dspartes are reflected n the nfant mortalty rate, whch, based on the 1969 census was 2 1/2 to 4 tmes hgher n rural than n urban areas, and n the ncdence of malnutrton whch was 4 to 5 tmes hgher n the Communal Areas than n the urban or per-urban areas (UNCEF 1985). The contrast between urban and rural health servces s made even sharper when the avalablty of medcal practtoners and ther servce delvery systems are consdered. About three quarters of practtoners regstered by the Medcal Councl operate prvately and ther delvery systems are hghly orented towards specalsed hosptal medcne as opposed to communty medcne where the majorty of people lve; urban technologcally ntensve medcne; curatve medcne as opposed to preventve medcne; and personal health servces as opposed to envronmental health servces (Agere 1986:361). Ths orentaton and the dstrbuton and consumpton of health resources reflects not only "racal lnes but also a class dfferentaton wth the poorest persons and blacks consumng about 1/45 of the amount spent by whtes and upper soco-economc classes" (Agere 1986:360). Furthermpre, the health servces were controlled by European men because although they were "numercally the least n the health sector, they controlled the whole system n terms of formulatng and mplementng polces" (Agere 1986:3) Causes of poor health There s a close lnk between soco-economc status and health. The major factors affectng women's health are enumerated below Women's heavy work load Women n the rural areas attrbute ther health problems largely to the physcally strenuous nature of ther work.

48 Hard work makes us old very quckly. We have no tme to rest, so many of us suffer from hgh blood pressure (ZWB 1987:14). How can your BP (hgh blood pressure) not go up or your head not ache all the tme when you are oppressed by poverty. Each day you wonder what you are gong to feed or clothe your famly wth, not to talk of work, work work (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:70) Lvng condtons V j Lvng condtons of most of the populace are not conducve to good health. n addton to the strenuous nature of ther work, rural women cted poor det, workng n the sun and dust as well as nadequate lghtng at nght as causes of general body pans, poor eyesght and backache. Poor santary condtons and unsafe water are major health hazards suffered by the rural populaton (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:72). Club hygene programmes teach women to bol water from unprotected sources. However, even f women are aware of the dangers of unboled water, bolng water for drnkng purposes s an mpractcal, tme consumng process whch requres a larger amount of frewood than may be avalable. Bathng chldren and washng clothes every day are luxury actvtes n many rural areas because of the long dstances and tme nvolved n fetchng water (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:72). Ths problem becomes acute durng perods of drought. n the reports on the Stuaton of Women the general good health of the small sample of whte, Asan and "coloured" women was commented upon and contrasted to the stuaton of rural women (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:112). The overcrowded lvng condtons of lower ncome urban groups also lead to many of the health problems experences by the rural populaton Gynaecologcal problems Women experence many problems assocated wth pregnancy, especally that of excessve chld-bearng as ndcated by the followng comments: The bggest problem facng women s to have many chldren, year after year, when they can't afford to take care of them. And t gves women no free tme to do anythng else (ZWB 1981:14). Many of us women are dyng because of usng medcnes from the nganga to stop pregnances. wsh we could be ntroduced to modern methods of preventng pregnancy (bd). Though many women may want to use famly plannng methods ther lack of control over ther own fertlty prevents them from dong anythng. As one old woman remarked: Your husbands of today are bent on ths a chld a year

49 busness. "Gore mwana, gore mwana" (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:75). Women, especally those engaged n prosttuton, are also vulnerable to sexually transmtted dseases. Rural women also complan of the rresponsblty of men who spread these dseases through contacts wth prosttutes Problems of nadequate nutrton Zmbabwean statstcs on malnutrton are rather paradoxcal n that Zmbabwe has a favourable agro-economc profle n the Afrcan context. t produces a surplus of food on a global level wth a per capta avalablty of calores per day for local consumpton whch compares favourably wth the calores per day n Afrca generally. Moreover, the nfant mortalty rate compares favourably wth that of other countres. Yet the country has a serous malnutrton problem. Statstcs show that 21% of the under fve populaton shows second or thrd degree malnutrton based on weght for age. Stuntng s found n 28% of Zmbabwean chldren compared to 9% n Togo, 18% n Lbera and 21-24% n Lesotho, Serra Leone, Cameroon and Egypt. Wastng s evdent n 9% of Zmbabwe, hgher than n most Afrcan countres (UNCEF 1985:40). Women's access to land, ther control over crops and ther relatonshp wth ther husbands have a bearng on ther chldrens' nutrton as the followng account by a woman from Mutoko ndcates: My chldren suffer from malnutrton because don't have nourshng foods to gve them. My husband came from Salsbury when my chld was 10 months old. He ordered me to stop breast-feedng my chld at once. We have no cattle to get mlk from and no groundnuts. A month later my chld began to get very thn and to vomt when X gave her sadza. came here to Nyadr hosptal and was told that my chld had kwashorkor. was then told to come here to the nutrton vllage to learn how to feed my chld. can see that she s really mprovng but wonder where can fnd these nutrtous foods for my chld when go home. Ths account ndcates that whle a mother may be aware of the nutrtonal needs of her chld, there are factors beyond her control whch prevent her from meetng these needs. Research has ndcated that more mothers than are generally beleved have a far knowledge of nutrtonal ssues so that "unfortunate detary trends" are not due to "nutrtonal gnorance" per se but rather to prevalng soco-economc developments whch make t dffcult for mothers to provde the rght knd of food for ther chld" (UNCEF 1985:52). A study carred out n Gwanda showed that severe malnutrton was sx tmes hgher n famles where the mgrant husband dd not send remttances than n famles whch dd receve remttances. The ncdence of severe malnutrton was lowest n famles where

50 the father dd not mgrate but someone else (eg a son) sent remttances (UNCEF 1985:53). Socal problems characterstc of mgrant households such as hgh alcohol consumpton and broken homes also affect chld nutrton. Money spent on beer consumpton dverts famly ncome away from approprate food purchase and can lead to chld abuse. The shft to market orented cash-croppng has resulted n the declne n producton of tradtonal nutrent rch foods such as sorghum, mllet, groundnuts and the ncreased consumpton of nutrent-poor tems such as whte bread, sugar and carbonated soft drnks (UNCEF 1985:51) Post-ndependence health system At ndependence the Zmbabwe Government sought to redress the nequaltes that exsted n the health sector. The am was to expand and decentralse health care servces so that the majorty of people could have access to these servces. Redstrbuton of technology, manpower, drugs, facltes and other resources to these underservced areas became a prorty for Government to acheve ts stated goal of "health for all by the year 2000". To ths end, the Government adopted the Prmary Health Care (PHC) approach as ts strategy. The Mnstry of Health amed to shft resources from urban to rural areas and from curatve to preventve medcne because 90% of the dseases that were prevalent were found to be preventable. For example water-borne dseases can be prevented by mprovng santaton and havng a clean water supply. Fund allocatons for preventve servces were therefore doubled n the perod 1981/82 to 1982/83 although the larger proporton stll went to curatve servces. n terms of manpower, the expanson and decentralsaton was more problematc because the ncrease n the number of doctors workng n Government hosptals n 1980 to 371 n was very nsgnfcant gven the Zmbabwean populaton. To avod over-dependence on hghly traned and specalsed medcal staff, t was decded that the health servces should be democratsed and decentralsed through the deployment of communty based health cadres. The Mnstry therefore embarked on a programme of tranng vllage health workers (now renamed Vllage Communty Workers, VCW), who were selected from the communty. These became nstrumental n the mplementaton of the water and santaton programme whch nvolved health educaton and constructon of VP Blar tolets and protected wells (Agere 1986:363). Most of the VCW are women who work part tme and do not receve salares but allowances whch amount to much less than the mnmum wage. The extent of the vllage health care programme and the resources allocated to t suggest that there s stll a long way to go before the democratsaton of health care servces s realsed.

51 5. WOMEN'S LEGAL STATUS 48 The laws oppressng women should be changed (woman from Chwundura). t s good to be a woman but am oppressed. am always kcked, as though am stll a chld, because women are not yet ndependent (woman from Slobela). f was a man, wouldn't have to ask for permsson from anyone to do what want to do. But my husband s n charge of everythng that do or can make wth my hands whch s so rough and cruel (woman from Mutoko; ZWB 1981:9) The legal system of the colonal state These sentments, expressed by women from varous areas n Zmbabwe, refer to crcumstances whch arose from customary law. Customary law was the prncpal determnant of the legal status of Afrcan women. To understand the applcaton of customary law, we need to brefly consder the legal system of the colonal state. The legal system of the colonal state was characterzed by the co-exstence of two bodes of law. The general law, whch was applcable to all ctzens, was derved from Roman-Dutch law and nfluenced by Brtsh legal concepts and structures. Customery law on the other hand appled only to Afrcans and was based on pre-colonal customs and tradtons. Brtsh polcy durng the perod of colonal occupaton was to delberately leave as ntact as possble the laws of the colonzed. "Colonal admnstrators had to determne what the customary law of each group of the ndgenous people was, and to translate t nto an nstrument operable wthn a legal system based on Western judcal concepts" (May 1983:42). As elsewhere n Afrca, customary law was dstorted durng the process of codfcaton, wrtten as t was by offcals traned n western legal conceptualzaton. As noted by Cutrufell: The colonal admnstraton opted for a famly polcy amed prmarly at strengthenng partcular rules of customary laws, twstng ther orgnal meanng to accord wth exgences of colonal economy, whle purportng to comply wth tradton (Cutrufell 1983:5-6). Gven that the nformants were Afrcan men, the overall result was the manpulaton of pre-colonal custom and tradton whch "was ntegrally connected wth the perpetuaton of racal dfferences by the colonal admnstrators, but had as an mportant sde effect the ncreased subordnaton of women to men n Afrcan socety" (MCCDWA/UNESCO:1985:10). Under customery law women were reduced to havng perpetual mnorty status. Ths entrenched ther subordnate poston n

52 the famly and socety. As mnors before the law, they had no contractual rghts and remaned under to the guardanshp of men (fathers or husbands) throughout ther lves. f wdowed, a woman could be "nherted" ether by her deceased husband's brother or close male relatve. Ths mnorty status of women under colonal customary law has frequently been equated wth women's subordnate poston n precolonal socetes. However, such a comparson cannot be appled snce pre-colonal socety was based upon entrely dfferent patterns of dstrbuton and accumulaton of wealth and socal relatons. Ths mposed colonal mnorty status had several mplcatons for women as regards marrage, property and nhertance, as well as custody and guardanshp of chldren Marrage n pre-colonal socety the lobola transacton was vtal for any marrage to take place. The man's famly presented cattle and gfts to the woman's famly n exchange for the rghts over the woman's labour and reproductve capacty. Marred women resded at ther husband's homes and chldren belonged to ther father's lneage. Polygamy was the accepted practce, and the mportance of women 1 labour was such that the more wves - and hence chldren - a man had, the greater were hs wealth and status. Under colonal law however, a combnaton of western and Afrcan customs came nto play, resultng n the exstence of three types of marrage. The frst was the typcal tradtonal customary marrage. Ths typo of marrage, though not regstered accordng to colonal law, was nonetheless regarded as vald n respect of the legtmacy of chldren, ther guardanshp, custody and rghts of successon (May 1983:70). The second form of customary marrage was that solemnzed n terms of the Afrcan Marrages Act, Chapter 238. A pre-condton for the solemnzaton of such a marrage was the assurance from the woman's guardan, n the form of an "enablng certfcate", that the necessary customary procedures had been completed to hs (the guardan's) satsfacton. The thrd type of marrage was the cvl marrage. Cvl marrages were contracted under the Marrage Act, Chapter 37. Ths Act governed the marrages of whte settlers, Asans and "coloureds". Unlke customary marrages, cvl marrages were monogamous, and n the event of dvorce the wfe could clam mantenance. Furthermore, a woman could seek dvorce on grounds of adultery whle accordng to customary law ths rght was the prerogatve of the husband. Afrcans could ndeed choose to marry under ths Act, but only on condton that there was no prevous marrage or marrages. Cvl marrages by Afrcans could stll not be contracted wthout an enablng certfcate, and customary law contnued to preval wth regard to mantenance, property rghts and the devoluton of property (May 1983:71).

53 Property rghts and nhertance A woman has no property at home. When she gets dvorced she goes away naked. t s panful that even when she s workng, she stll owns no property of her own (woman from Fngo). f my husband des hs relatves wll take everythng from the home, and am left wth nothng (woman from nyat; 2WB 1981:8). The above comments gve an nsght nto the lack of power and control over famly property suffered by women under customary law. The MCCDWA/UNCEF survey reported almost total agreement among women that property and nhertance laws must be modfed or changed. The tradtonal practce regardng nhertance was that the deceased's property was shared between hs chldren and some relatves. The deceased's brother or another male relatve would hold the property n trust for the chldren where they were too young to admnster ther own affars. The deceased's wdow was enttled to some of the property, especally the ktchen property and any artfacts or artcles produced by her own hand - known as mavoko property (MCCDWA/UNCEF:94). Women were btter about the dstorton of the customs concernng a deceased man's property. Relatves would swarm nto the deceased's home and clam all hs property, often leavng the wves and chldren totally desttute. There were complants by women that relatves were not even watng for the mournng perod of at least one year to expre before clamng property. Rural women n partcular complaned of buldng and mantanng the home whle the men are n town, only to have the property taken away. Urban marred women made smlar complants. Accordng to the MCCDWA/UNCEF report: The ssue of property rghts and nhertance s rather complcated by the fact that the margn between famly and ndvdual property has become blurred wth the acquston of moveable property other than anmals and artcles of small value such as spears and clay pots Ktchen and other women desgnated-property value has ncreased wth the acquston of stoves, refrgerators, sewng machnes and even bcycles bought wth money from women's mavoko property. Because of the monetary or use value of these tems, women are beng dened even that whch they were enttled to keep n tradtonal customary practce (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:95). Women faced the same problems f they dvorced. They could not take anythng except the mavoko property on returnng to ther orgnal homes. 50

54 Custody and guardanshp The bass for custody and guardanshp of chldren was the payment of lobola. Ths gave the father and hs kn absolute rghts to custody and guardanshp over chldren of a marrage. These rghts derved from the fact that lobola essentally gave the husband the rght to control hs wfe's reproductve capacty. Upon dvorce a woman could be granted custody of chldren below the age of seven, but guardanshp remaned the sole rght of the father, and he made the major decsons on ssues such as educaton and the marrage of the chldren. Even n cases where a woman had sngle-handedly brought up a daughter untl adulthood, lobola was stll pad to the father. The mother was only enttled to receve mombe youma (cow of motherhood) as part of the larger lobola exchange. Some women objected to the vew that men were the owners of chldren when as one woman put t: spend nne months carryng the baby n my stomach, and then the next 20 to 30 years lookng after her or hm (ZWB 1981:9). Afrcan women's legal status under customary law deterorated durng colonal rule. The codfcaton of customary law rendered t nflexble and unable to adapt to changng socal crcumstances The poston of women under general law 51 1 Whle Afrcan women were partclarly handcapped due to the applcaton of customary law, the women of the other racal groups were also subjected to certan dsabltes n vew of the patrarchal nature of the general law whch defned the man as head of the household wth superor rghts over the chldren. The subordnate poston of whte women was llustrated by the 1956 "Commsson of Enqury nto the nequaltes or Dsabltes as between Men and Women". The Commsson confrmed that guardanshp was the sole rght of the father, although custody could sometmes be granted to the mother. Furthermore, the father's opnon was always upheld as a matter of law. The Natonal Councl of Women had called for jont guardanshp as well as the rght of recourse to an mpartal body n cases of dsputes of opnon. The Commsson objected, argung that dsputes between spouses mght be encouraged and that the husband's superorty should not be called nto queston: "t s mpossble to have two captans of a shp or two charmen of a meetng" (p 4). Mantenance was a contentous ssue. The Commsson was totally unresponsve to demands for further laws to protect women's nterests n mantenance cases.

55 5.2. Legal changes snce ndependence Wth ndependence and the establshment of the Mnstry of Communty Development and Women's Affars n 1981, the need to change laws that were oppressve to women became urgent. From the onset, the Mnstry stated ts ntenton to remove "all customary, socal, economc and legal constrants" that nhbted women's full partcpaton n the development of the country. A number of legslatve measures to mprove the status of women have so far been passed. These nclude The Customary Law and Prmary Courts Act (6:1981), The Legal Age of Majorty Act (15:- 1982), The Labour Relatons Act (16:1985) (already dscussed under the secton on employment) and The Matrmonal Causes Act (33:1985) The Legal Age of Majorty Act (15:1982) The Legal Age of Majorty Act (Cap:45) whch enabled only whtes regardless of sex to attan the majorty status at the age of 21, was repealed n The 1982 Act gave Zmbabwean men and women of all races full contractual rghts on attanng the age of 18. The passng of the Act was haled as a major vctory for Afrcan women n Zmbabwe because t put an end to ther mnorty status and enabled them to: own property n ther own rght; contract a marrage, f they so wshed, wthout parental or relatves consent; become guardans to ther chldren rrespectve of whether these chldren were born n or out of wed-lock; and sue and be sued as ndvduals Stand n Judco). 52 (the rght known as Locus The Act had mportant mplcatons for the poston of women n the famly and socety as wll be dscussed later The Customery Law and Prmary Courts Act (6:1981) Customary Law and Prmary Courts Act (6:1981) repealed the Afrcan Law and Trbal Courts Act (Cap 287) and amended, nterala, the Mantenance Act (Cap 35). Prmary Courts were nsttuted and took over functons that were prevously performed by chefs, headmen and dstrct commssoners n the admnstraton of customary law. After the passng of the Age of Majorty Act an amendment of The Customary Law and Prmary Courts Act empowered communty courts to order mantenance for deserted and dvorced wves and ther chldren regardless of type of marrage (Kazembe 1986:389). These changes were mportant n that unmarred women can now be granted mantenance for ther chldren. Unlke prevously, when fathers got automatc guardanshp of chldren, today the courts have to decde n the nterests of the chldren.

56 The Matrmonal Causes Act (33:1985) The Matrmonal Causes Act sought to correct the njustces nherent n the customary laws, as dscussed earler. The Act recognses the crucal role whch the woman plays n the accumulaton of martal property and therefore grants her the rght, n the event of dvorce, to part of the property accumulated durng her marred lfe. As Ncube ponts out the Matrmonal Causes Act (1985) "overrdes any customary law on the dstrbuton of property on dvorce". t also gves courts powers of dstrbuton that extend to all general law marrages that are out of communty (Ncube 1987:21). Furthermore, the grounds for dvorce are the same for both men and women. For example a woman can now sue a man for dvorce on grounds of adultery. t s clear therefore that legal changes that were passed after ndependence amed to mprove the women's stuaton. 53 4

57 54 6. WOMEN'S POSTON WTHN THE FAMLY AND SOCETY n ths secton we dscuss the way n whch women's poston wthn the household determnes ther partcpaton n all aspects of economc and socal lfe. 6.1 Women wthn the household Whle the majorty of Afrcan men and women were mpovershed by the nature of economc development durng the colonal era, women suffered more because of ther subordnate poston wthn the household. The sexual dvson of labour wthn the rural household durng the colonal era and ts mplcatons were best summarsed by the ZWB survey: The central role that these women play n mantanng the famly of the present labour force, whch s also carng for the future labour force s badly overlooked. Ths neglect has resulted n the ncreased oppresson of women n the rural areas; more work wth less resources, and declnng rather than mprovng status. Women are seen as economc attachments to men, ther contrbuton s stll seen as supplementary rather than absolutely vtal to the household survval (ZWB 1981:41). Women's socal status was further eroded by what has been accurately descrbed as the supermposton, on the ndgenous cultural models of Zmbabwe, of a predom- nantly male, rather Vctoran, Brtsh vew of women and ther approprate place n socety" (MCCDWA/- UNESCO 1985:8). Cultural practces such as lobola and polygamy whch may not necessarly have been oppressve to women n pre-captalst socetes, assumed new meanngs when practsed wthn the context of a changed set of economc relatons. For example snce part of lobola became payable n cash, the payment of lobola has ncreasngly become a commercal transacton wth parents chargng exorbtant rates for educated daughters. For mgrant households the physcal separaton of spouses was the source of numerous socal problems. Men often faled to send remttances to ther wves and formed relatonshps wth women n town: feel panful because husbands get marred agan n town. When you go to town unasked he chases you away and sometmes he doesn't even brng money home (woman from Fngo; ZBW 1981:16). Though most women ntervewed n the surveys ndcated the desre for ther husbands to come home, resentment of male control was expressed by some women who wanted the contnuaton of male mgraton "on the grounds that t gves them some measure of ndependence and full dgnty as human bengs n a famly stuaton that s otherwse seen as oppressve and dehumanzng"

58 \)1 (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1982:38). A woman from Mutoko expressed ths very smply: t s good for husbands to work away from home as long as they send some money to ther wves. Women don't have so much control from men when they are away {ZWB 1981:17). Women's weak poston n the household s not only a feature of rural households. Women's frequent complants about the drunkenness and nfdelty of husbands s ndcatve of socal and economc vulnerablty of women n urban households. The Stuatonal Analyss reports that: The urban condton mposes upon women a set of problems dfferent n detal but smlar n magntude to that faced by rural women. The detals of ther work-load may not be as extensve or tme consumng. Health servces and educatonal facltes are more readly avalable. On the other hand, they and ther chldren face the health hazards of hgh densty lvng. Ther sense of economc vulnerablty s hgh, and they lack some of the valuable socal support mechansms provded by rural communal lfe (UNCEF 1985:80). As was the case wth employment and educaton, whte women, though prvleged, experenced dscrmnaton on the bass of sex. Legally though they may not have suffered from the extremes of "customary law", they were stll subject to male supremacy wthn the household. The subordnate poston of women n the household s common to all women n Zmbabwe, rrespectve of race, class or ethncty. The varous forms of dscrmnaton suffered by dfferent segments of the female populaton stem from the deology of male supremacy. Ths defnton s used to justfy better employment opportuntes and hgher earnngs for men whle placng the burden of reproducton and mantenance of the household on women. Ths labour of women s not recognzed as work but the natural role of women, hence ts undervaluaton. The home-maker/bread-wnner concept s especally damagng to households where women are the prmary and sole supporters of the famly. These female heads-of-household are responsble for both the so called bread-wnner functons as well as reproducton and mantenance of the famly. The proporton of female headed households s much hgher than s generally beleved. Table A.6.1 llustrates ths pont. Male control over women's labour and sexualty wthn the household s renforced through relgous belefs, cultural practces and educatonal systems (both tradtonal and modern) that assgn to women lesser status and power (Dawn 1985:19). Male domnance over women n the household s often manfested by actual physcal volence aganst women. Research n ths area has been 55

59 neglgble and the whole ssue of the relatons between men and women n the household merts greater attenton. The socal upheavals whch took place durng the natonal lberaton struggle had an mpact on famly relatonshps. After ndependence there appears to be a deep concern wth mantanng the stablty of the famly. Leaders have on several occasons, made pronouncements on the mportance of a stable famly structure to natonal development. Male reacton to legslaton that seeks to change the status of women reflects ther concern to mantan status quo wthn the famly. Men feel the new laws threaten to erode ther control over women's labour and sexualty. There was an outcry over the passng of the Legal Age of Majorty Act n More recently the meda has reported the anger of certan men over the new taxaton regulatons for marred couples. There were complants that the tax regulaton would result n an nflux of women nto the labour market and that they consttuted an attack on man's "natural role as bread-wnners" Women and socety The relatons between men and women wthn the household provdes the key to understandng women's subordnate role n socety. Men's ablty to develop organsatonal structures beyond ther households grew out of ther superor poston wthn the famly and the sexual dvson of labour wthn the household. Pror to ndependence, there was a conspcuous absence of women from publc offce. Afrcan women were vctms of racal dscrmnaton whch prevented Afrcans n general to hold publc offce. They also faced the addtonal obstacle of cultural tradtons whch barred women from the male world of publc decson makng. Whte women, theoretcally had no such obstacles to partcpaton n publc offce. However, the endrocentrc nature of the settler socety, ensured that they remaned socally nvsble, hdden behnd ther husbands. Ther partcpaton n publc affars was mnmal. The Zmbabwe Government's strong commtment to equal rghts marked a new era for Zmbabwean women. t opened a way for ther entry nto areas whch were formally male preserves. Women cabnet mnsters, members of parlament and even a woman permanent secretary was apponted n the frst few years of ndependence. However, seven years after ndependence women n publc offce are the excepton rather than the rule and admnstratve structures from the vllage level up to the natonal level, are almost entrely male domnated as ndcated by Table A.6.2. Male control over women n the household s a barrer to women's effectve partcpaton n publc affars. Women workers have to ask husbands as well as employers for permsson to attend semnars. Women hestate to jon professonal organsatons because evenng meetngs are frowned upon by ther husbands. n most cases husbands have the rght to decde whether ther wves go out to work or not or whether they can stand for pubc offce.

60 The men argue that nobody should tell them how to run ther homes or how to behave towards a wfe for whom large amounts of roora were pad (Kazembe 1986:395). Women's partcpaton n publc affars wll not therefore dramatcally ncrease as long as male supremacy wthn the household remans unchallenged. 57 K

61 58 TABLES N PARAGRAPH A. 6 TABLE A.6.1. PERCENTAGE DSTRBUTON OF HEADS OF HOUSEHOLDS BY SEX Male(%) Female(%) Mancaland Mashonaland Central Mashonaland East Masvngo Mdlands Source: LO/JASPA 1986: 38

62 7. WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT POLCY 7.1. The Mnstry of Cooperatve and Communty Development and Women's Affars The Zmbabwean Government has a strong commtment to the removal of all dscrmnaton aganst women and the promoton of ther partcpaton on equal terms n the socal and economc lfe of the naton. The rulng party ZANU (PF) had long acknowledged the mportance of women's role n the struggle and n keepng wth ts offcal Marxst Lennst deology, saw the emancpaton of women as part and parcel of the lberaton struggle. At ndependence n 1980 women were, for the frst tme n the hstory of the country, offcally recognsed as an oppressed group and as such, were the targets of a conscous Government polcy to change ther stuaton. The Mnstry of Cooperatve and Communty Development and Women's Affars (MCCDWA) was set up to mplement Government polcy. Teura Ropa Mujuru, the Mnster of CCDWA, herself an ex-fghter, summarsed Government polcy and her Mnstry's programme as follows: The polcy of ths Government ams at the transformaton of women's status so that they can assume ther rghtful role n socety as partcpants along sde men on the bass of equalty. The Department of Women's Affars has a programme for the progressve removal of all customary, socal, economc and legal dsabltes that women have suffered n the past and stll suffer now (Afrca Report 1983:18). The major objectve of the MCCDWA was to spearhead the development of the htherto neglected rural populaton and to accelerate the ntegraton of women n development Structure and operatons of themccdwa The Mnstry s comprsed of three sectons namely the Department of Cooperatves, whch was amalgamated wth the rest of the Mnstry from January 1988, the Departement of Communty Development and the Department of Women's Affars. The Department of Cooperatves s responsble for the Government's assstance to the cooperatve movement. The Depatrement of Communty Development ams to moblse both men and women for development programmes such as the early chldhood care and educaton, adult lteracy and ncome generatng projects. The Department of Women's Affars seeks ways and means of ensurng equalty between men and women. Through ts Women's Organsastons Secton, the Department of Women's Affars s also responsble for the encouragement of lason and co-ordnaton between women's organsatons. 59

63 The Mnstry reaches the grassroots level through admnstratve structures known as the Vllage Development Commttees (VDCOS) and Ward Development Commttees (WADCOS). A vllage s consdered to be the basc admnstratve unt consstng of about people or 100 homes whle the ward s composed of sx vllages. As of December 1984, vllages and wards had been formed. The vdcos formulate plans and submt them to the WADC0 whch n turn submts a ward plan to the Dstrct Development Commttee (DDCO). The DDCO comples short and long term plans for presentaton to the Provncal Development Commttee whch n turn draws provncal plans for consderaton by the Natonal Plannng Machnery. The MCCDWA has two types of workers at the vllage and ward levels; the Ward Development Coordnators (WDC) and the Vllage Communty Workers (VCW). The latter was created n 1987 through the amalgamaton of Mnstry of Health's Vllage Health Workers. The functons of the WDCs nclude, among other thngs, the organsaton of VDCOS and encouragng people at vllage level to engage n ncome generatng projects such as fshery, poultery and pggery and moblsng people to dentfy and buld clncs, schools, communty halls and other nfrastructures where necessary. The VCWs on the other hand, are concerned wth the promoton of elementary hygene at the vllage level. They encourage people to mantan balanced dets and to engage n projects that have a drect bearng on prmary health care, such as buldng latrnes and Blar tolets. They also teach people the value of chld spacng and mmunsaton and locally approprate methods of oral rehydraton therapy. n addton to the MCCDWA the Mnstry of Local Government, Urban and Rural Development (MLGRUD) also also has cadres at the communty level; the Local Government Promoton Offcers (LGPOs). Functons carred out by the LGPOs have been termed catalystc because they are supposed to: be n constant touch wth ssues as they evolve at the vllage and ward levels; educate the local populaton on Government polcy and on resources avalable to them through the varous mnstres; assst communtes n contactng the relevant mnstres whch provde the servces needed; and - encourage communtes to undertake self-help projects such as the buldng of foot-brdges, schools, clncs, etc. From the functon of the varous cadres at communty level, t s obvous that there s some overlap and duplcaton of responslbltes. For example both the WDC and LGPO are nvolved n assstng communtes to engage n self-help nfrastructural projects. The consequences of ths overlap and duplcaton are obvous economc waste causng conflct and tenson among workers at the same level n dfferent mnstres and between mnstres themselves. t results n too many meetngs for peasants who are asked to attend dfferent gatherng convened by dfferent vllage 60

64 workers of dfferent mnstres takng up the already lmted tme of the peasants (UNCEF 1985:160) Problems of mplementaton MCCDWA has outlned the followng as the major obstacles to effectve mplementaton of polcy: () shortage of grassroots level manpower to facltate the communty development process; () shortage of funds to ensure project vablty; (H) low salary structure of the Mnstry attractng only nadequately qualfed personnel. The majorty of the grassroots workers currently n offce are poorly qualfed; (v) lack of remuneraton for the voluntary pre-school and adult lteracy tutors. Ths has resulted n a hgh turnover rate of the voluntary workers, thereby adversely affectng the programmes; (v) lack of transport, especally for Dstrct Offcers hampers ther effectveness; (v) shortage of offce and resdental accommodaton for Mnstry's Provncal and Dstrct Staff; (v)the need for greater poltcal backng of the party moblsaton and encouragement of the masses to partcpate n development programmes and n campagnng for more progressve atttudes on women's status and ther contrbuton to development; and 61 (x) de-hard atttudes and dscrmnatory practces make t dffcult to acheve equalty between men and women (MCCDWA 1985). j The Mnstry has had greatest mpact n terms of outreach and materal support for ts adult lteracy and early chldhood care and educaton programmes, "nfrastructural" projects such as the buldng of schools and communty halls and the moblsaton of women to engage n ncome generatng projects. The Legal Rghtsa ans Equal Opportuntes ecton has been actvely nvolved n the advocatng for the removal of dscrmnatory vews aganst women. However, due to staff shortages t s unable to mplement the varous legal changes. For example women have com- planed that legal reforms are not beng upheld n the communty courts due to bases of the presdng offcers who are mostly men. Presdng offcers have been known to sde wth men n mantenance cases and rebuke women for makng clams. Further research s needed to substantate how far the communty courts are upholdng women's nterests.

65 7.2. Women and Development - ntegraton or Marqlnalzatlon ncome-generatng Projects The strategy of promotng ncome generatng projects s largely the outcome of the 1982 Report on the Stuaton of Women n Zmbabwe whch dentfed the need to earn a cash ncome as one of the major needs of rural women. The MCCDWA and some NGOs subseqently embarked on a vgorous campagn through workshops for varous communty and development workers to promote the establshment of ncome generatng projects by women organsed at communty level (Muchena 1985:6). ncome generatng projects exsted before ndependence n the ncpent form of women's clubs. As a result of MCCDWA and NGO encouragement the number of ncome generatng projects has substantally ncreased snce n December 1983 the Mnstry recorded a total of projects wth female partcpants and male partcpants. By December 1985 the number of projects had ncreased to wth women partcpatng and men (Muchena 1985:7-8). However, a break down of project actvtes shows that sewng, knttng and handcraft producton contnue to be promnent n the range of actvtes undertaken by women. The ncome generatng projects have not been very successful and many are on the verge of collapse. A number of studes have been carred out whch ndcate that ncome generatng projects have lttle real mpact n the lves of the project holders and the surroundng communtes (MCCDWA: General Observatons n GPs 1985:2). A clearer percepton of the long term role of ncomegeneratng projects s needed f these are to have drecton and relevance. ncome-generatng projects n urban areas have greater chances of success. n rural areas however, the development of ncomegeneratng projects needs to be weghed carefully aganst the essental need for women to partcpate n the man stream rural economc development programmes Farmer Groups and Savngs Clubs One measure taken to ntegrate women n development has been through farmer groups. Because of the support they provde for women n ther capacty as farmers, the savngs clubs and farmer groups seem to have greater potental to change women's status than do ncome generatng projects. Farmer groups practce varyng degrees of co-operaton partcularly n the marketng of gran and supply of agrcultural nputs. Although they tend to be domnated by older men the greater proporton of the membershp s female and some groups even have female charpersons (Moyo et al 1985:67). Savngs clubs often concde wth farmer groups. Members usually save to purchase fertlzer collectvely. Durng drought years the savngs clubs use ther savngs to purchase food nstead of

66 ! fertlzer (Moyo et al 1985:68). Savngs clubs are a very postve development for women farmers because they provde a method of moblsng resources whch s wthn the women's control. Asde from the fanners groups and savngs clubs, there has been lttle emphass on women's role as agrcultural producers. There has been lttle change n the explotatve relatons under whch women work n the agrcultural sector. n fact ther labour burden has nceased due to development projects that are labour ntensve n nature and take up tme whch should be devoted to agrcultural producton. The ncrease n women's labour as a result of the drought has already been dscussed. Whle there have been dramatc ncreases n the productvty of some peasant households, the larger majorty can scarcely produce a bare subsstence (Moyo et al 1985:44). The combnaton of the drought, the nternatonal recesson and the problem of rsng unemployment has created a crss stuaton for many Communal Area households Food and Drought Food-for-work and emergency drought relef programmes have been the major responses to the drought stuaton. There s however a lack of a specfc polcy on drought management. There s a dre need to preserve and promote drought tolerant ndgenous crop varetes nstead of the present Agrtex approach of promotng hgh yeld crop varetes whch need a lot of commercal nputs. Research ndcates that peasants prefer sustaned nsttutonal support of ths nature to emergency drought relef handouts (Mutuma et al 1986:77). The occurrence of drought should not be treated as a clmatc aberraton but as a recurrent phenomenon that polcy makers should be senstve to and plan for accordngly. The shortfall n food producton has often been attrbuted to drought alone. However, the fact that a sgnfcant proporton of peasant famles fal to grow suffcent food to last the whole year s more than just a short term problem caused by a temporary envronmental fluctuaton. t s more the result of a long term deteroraton n the vablty of the labour reserve economy as a whole (Moyo et al 1985:47). Varous studes ndcate that despte ts reputaton as "the bread basket" of the SADCC regon there exsts a serous problem of malnutrton n Zmbabwe (see Shopo 1986 and Moyo, et al, 1985). The followng comment has been made of Zmbabwe's reputaton as a food surplus naton: t should however be strongly ponted out that ths so called "success" s based on aggregate performance whch on closer scrutny does not reflect the true stuaton and that the actual hunger and related health status of the peasantry, when closely nspected, does not match up to the colourful mpressons created, especally by the nternatonal meda (Moyo, et al 1985:2). 63

67 Agrcultural development plans do not gve an ndcaton of the extent of the hunger problem because of the focus on aggregate performance. The crss n food producton n peasnt households n not addressed. A major reason for ths crss s that women's role as food producers s not acknowledged. Food securty at natonal and household level cannot be acheved unless women's work n food producton s recognsed and women' s needs are coordnated nto a truly ntegrated strategy of rural development, whch specfcally addresses the problem of hunger. The Communal Land Development Plan does not address the problem of land shortage and the partcular dffcultes whch women face n ths regard. The use of the masculne gender to refer to farmers ndcates that women are stll not regarded as farmers n ther own rght. A postve stragegy would be the ncreased dstrbuton of land to women n ther own rght as well as extenson servces, techncal support and credt facltes whch are accessble to the poorest women Health Polcy Government's objectve of makng health care accessble to the whole populaton s commendable. However the present organsaton of health care perpetuates dfferental treatment between dfferent soco-economc classes as well as between urban and rural areas. For the peasantry the burden of health care s placed squarely on the shoulders of women. The Vllage Communty Workers bear a large part of the costs of health care by provdng cheap labour. The prmary health care programme has emphaszed self-help programmes. n ths way the poorest peasants, manly women, are asked to construct tolets, and provde clean water supples usng the meagre resources at ther dsposal. The unequal dstrbuton of responsbltes between men and women contnues because development programmes place the entre responsblty of chldren's health and nutrtonal status on women. The fact that chldren's health and nutrtonal status s also dependent on the extent to whch men exercse ther responsbltes toward ther famles s largely gnored. t s the mothers' supposed gnorance of nutrton or hygene whch s addressed through educaton programmes. No polcy measures are taken to address the fathers alcoholsm or falure to provde fnancal support for the famly. Women are vewed as promoters of health care for ther famles. Lttle attenton s pad to the health of the women themselves. n the area of health care there s a need for a greater redstrbuton of technology, manpower and other resources to areas prevously underserved as well as a redstrbuton of responsbltes between men and women. 64

68 ! f f Tranng and Employment Polcy The polcy of free prmary educaton for all has resulted n an ncreasng proporton of grls attendng school. Ths ncrease at prmary school level has not been matched by a correspondng ncrease at secondary and tertary levels where there s a fall n the proporton of women to men. Tranng programmes run by Government and NGOs focus on leadershp and mprovement of women's status. The legal provsons n the Labour Relatons Act have offered some protecton to already employed women. However, whle the passng of the legslaton s a postve step for women, the enforcement of laws has been weak due to both prevalng patrarchal atttudes as well as the unemployment stuaton. Polces on women's employment therefore have to treat women not as supplementary wage earners but as workers n ther own rghts. Polces should also be senstve to women's unpad and unrecognsed work Concluson An overall assessment of development polcy shows that women's ssues are relegated to the Mnstry of Coopertve and Communty Development and Women's Affars. Few other Government Mnstres address the gender ssue serously. The Mnstry of Justce s a notable excepton n that t has promoted legslatve changes n women's favour, even n the face of male resstance. However, there are many aspects of the law whch contnue to be dscrmnatory to women, some of whch are enshrned n the Consttuton of Zmbabwe. MCCDWA faces the problems of margnalsatlon and neglect experenced by Women's Mnstres and Bureaux worldwde. 65 MCCDWA programmes have low prorty n the allocaton of funds and other resources. n all natonal development plans snce ndependence women have been categorzed together wth youth and mentoned only n connecton wth communty development, health and the nformal sector. Women are margnalsed n natonal development plans as Muchena ponts out: What relatonshp s there between women* projects and local or natonal plans? Usually none and so women contnue n ther pecemeal solated project approach as f they were a separate naton wthn natonal development plans (Muchena 1982:57). Fnally women and development polcy s characterzed by an economstc vew of women's oppresson 1 e women are oppressed by ther poverty and ther problems wll be solved f they can earn a cash ncome. Whle the eradcaton of poverty should be a major goal of any polcy, economc well-beng alone cannot solve the problems of women. Dscrmnaton on the bass of gender cuts across socal class as well as race and ethnc group. Polces amed at transformng women's lves both economcally and socally must also address the sexual dvson of labour and men's control over women wthn the household.

69 REFERENCES N SECTON A Afrcan Amercan nsttute (1983) Afrca Report March - Aprl Armstrong A. and Ncube W. (1987) Women and the Law n Southern Afrca Z.P.H, Harare Agere S.T. (1986) "Progress and Problems n the Health Care Delvery System n Zmbabwe: The Poltcal Economy of Transton Batezat E. (1984) "An Analyss of Female Labour n Zmbabwe: Reflectons on NMS Fndngs" Manpower nformaton Servces (MSS) Magazne Specal ssue on Women and the Economy Vol 3 No 3, Aprl 1984 Batezat E. and Mwalo M (1986a) "Fnal Draft Paper on Women n Formal Employment", Department of Research and Plannng, Mnstry of Labour, Manpower and Socal Welfare (MLMSW), paper presented at UNDO workshop on the Role of Women n ndustry n Zmbabwe, December 1986 Brand V. (1986) "The Role of Women n ndustry - Research Fndngs from the nformal Sector", School of Socal Work, Paper presented at UNDO workshop on the Role of Women n ndustry n Zmbabwe, December 1986 Cutrufell M.R. (1983) Women of Afrcan; Roots of Oppresson Zed Press London DAWN (1985) Development. Crses and Alternatve Vsons: Thrd World Women's Perspectves Stavanger Gadzanwa R. (1982) Promsed Land: Towards a Land Polcy n Zmbabwelnsttute of Socal Studes, The Hague, 1982 Jassat E. and Mwalo M. (1985) Educaton. Tranng and Employment Opportuntes for Out-of School Grls n Zmbabwe ZDS Consultancy Report Prepared for the Economc Commsson of Afrca, Harare, 1985 Kazembe J. (1986) "The Women ssue" n Zmbabwe: The Poltcal Economy of Transton edted by. Mandaza codesra Moyo S. (1986) "The Land Queston" n Zmbabwe: Economy of Transton The Poltcal Mumbengegw C. (1986) "Contnuty and Change n Agrcultural Polcy" n Zmbabwe: The Poltcal Economy of Transton May J. (1978) "Where do We go From Here" Artca, Harare, 1978 May J. (1980) The Women 7 s Gude to jlaw Through Lfe Unversty of Zmbabwe, Centre for Appled Socal Scences, Harare, 1980 Muchena 0. (1982a) "nstututons and Women n Southern Afrca - Strateges for Change - the Role of Women's Organsatons" Paper 56

70 j presented at the Women n Southern Afrca Conference, Harare, 1982 MCCDWA, Zmbabwe Government (1985) "Summary of Achevements and Future Projectons" Unpublshed paper, 1985 Moyo S, Moyo M and Loewensen (1985) The Root Causes of Hunger n Zmbabwe Paper Presented to the Churches Drought Acton n Afrca, Geneva Mutuma P. Magonya S and Moyo M. (1987) An Evaluaton of Agrcultural Extenton Servces Support to Women Farmers n Zmbabwe wth Specal reference to the Makonde dstrct ZDS Consultancy Report Muchena 0 (1980) Women n Town: A Soco Economc Survey of Afrcan Women n Hlghfeld Townshp, Centre for Appled Socal Scences, Unversty of Zmbabwe, Harare. Muchena 0. (1985) "Characterstcs of Women's ncome - Generatng Projects - an Evaluaton of Project Processes n Sx UNCEF Funded Projects of Rural Zmbabwe" UNCEF, Harare 67 Monthly Mgraton and Tourst Statstcs , Central Statstcs Offce, Harare ^ Natonal Councl of Socal Servce (1980) Handbook of Socal Servces n Zmbabwe Report of the Commsson of Enqury nto the nequaltes or dsabltes as between men and women: 1956 Government Prnters, Salsbury. Shopo T.D. (1985) The Poltcal Economy of Hunger n Zmbabwe ZDS workng paper No. 1, Government Prnter, Harare Shopo T. (1985) The Poltcal Economy of Hunger n Zmbabwe ZDS Workng Paper No Southern Afrcan Team for Employment Promoton (SATEP) (1984) The nformal Sector n Zmbabwe - ts Potental for Employment Creaton Report for the Mnstry of Labour and Socal Servces, LO, Lusaka, 1984 Sbanda A., 1984 On the Condtons of Work and Lfe n the Food- Processng ndustres n Zmbabwe: A summary MSS Vol 3, No.3 LO/Jaspa (1986) Women's Employment Patterns; Dscrmnaton and Promoton of Equalty n Afrca: The Case of Zmbabwe JASPA/LO, Adds Ababa UNCEF (1985) Stuaton Analyss of Women and chldren n Zmbabwe, Harare, 1985 Zmbabwe Women's Bureau (1981) "We Carry a Heavy Load": Rural women of Zmbabwe Speak Out Harare Zmbabwe Government, Mnstry of Communty Development and Women's Affars (MCCDWA) (1982) Report on the Stuaton of Women

71 n Zmbabwe UNCEF, Harare, 1982 Zmbabwe Government, (MCCDWA/UNCEF 1985) The Zmbabwe Report on the Unted Natons Decade for Women UNCEF, Harare, 1985 Zmbabwe Government, MCCDWA/UNESCO (1985) Women n Constructon and Reconstructon n Post-ndependent Zmbabwe UNESCO, Harare, 1985 Zmbabwe Government, Mnstry of Economc Plannng and Development (1981) ZMCORD - Let's Buld Zmbabwe Together Report on Conference Proceedngs, Zmbabwe Conference of Reconstructon and Development, Government Prnter, Harare, 1981 Zmbabwe Government, Mnstry of Fnance, Economc Plannng and Development (MFEPD) (1983) Transtonal Natonal Development Plan 1982/3-1984/5 Vols 1 and 2, Government Prnter, Harare, 1983 Zmbabwe Government, MFEPD (1986) Fve Year Natonal Development Plan ( ), Government Prnter, Harare, 1986 Zmbabwe Government, Mnstry of Manpower Plannng and Development, (1981) Natonal Manpower Survey Vols 1 and 2, Government Prnter, Harare, 1981 Zmbabwe Government, Mnstry of Labour, Manpower Plannng and Socal Welfare (MLMPSW) (1984) Annual Revew of Manpower Government Prnter, Harare Zmbabwe Government (1981) Growth wth Equty: An Economc Polcy Statement Government Prnters, Harare Zmbabwe Government, MLMPSW, Department of Research and Plannng (1986) Vocatonal/Techncal Tranng n Zmbabwe Unpublshed. Zmbabwe Government, MLMPSW, Government Prnters, Harare Annual Revew of Manpower, 68

72 1 BBLOGRAPHY FOR SECTON A Bond-Stewart K. (1984) (ed) Young Women n the Lberaton Struggle. Stores and poema from Zmbabwe ZPH, Harare Batezat E., Mwalo M. and Trustcott K. (1986b), Draft chapter for forthcomng book Zmbabwe Prospects edted by C. Stoneman to be pubshed n 1988 Cheater A. (1985) "The Role and Poston of Women n Pre- Colonal Zmbabwe" Paper Presented at the Conference on Women n Constructon and Reconstructon n Post ndependent Zmbabwe, UNCEF, 1985 Gadzanwa R. (1985) mages of Women n Zmbabwean Lterature College Press, Harare, 1985 Gutto S. (1985) "Seducton Rulng - What the law means to you" Parade November 1985 Houlhan C. (1983) "A Report on Women's Co-operatvely Organzed Rural ncome-generatng Actvtes n Zmbabwe" Unversty of Toronto, Toronto, 1983 Hwacha H. "The Solemnzaton of Customary Law" Paper presented at the Colloquum on the Rghts of Women n Zmbabwe, November 1984 nsttute for Agrcultural Extenson Dffuson Monograph No. 4 Specal ssue on Women n Agrculture Journal of Afrcan Marxsts No. 8, 1986 Journal of Afrcan Marxsts No. 6, 1984 Journal of Afrcan Marxsts No. 4, 1983 Kazembe J. (1986) "The Women ssue" n Zmbabwe: The Poltcal Economy of Transton by. Mandaza (ed) Lapchlck R. and Urdang S. (1982) Oppresson and Resstance: The Struggle of Women n Southern Afrca Greenwood Press, Connectcut, U.S.A., 1982 MacDonald S. (1970) Sally n Rhodesa Books of Rhodesas, Buawayo (Reprnt of 1927) edton, 1970 Machel S. (1981) Sowng the Seeda of Revoluton ZPH, Harare, 1981 Made P. and Lagerstrom B. (1985) ZPH, Harare, 1985 Zmbabwean Women n ndustry Mahamba. (1984) Women n Struggle ZMFEP, Harare, 1984 Makamure N. (1986) "Women and Revoluton. The Women's Movement n Zmbabwe", Journal of Afrca Marxst No. 8,

73 Mandaza. (1986) Zmbabwe: The Poltcal Economy of Transton CODESRA, London, 1986 Matsepe-Cassaburr. (1981) On the Queston of women n the Southern Afrcan Economy" Afrcan journal of Poltcal Economy No 1, 1981 May J. (1979) Afrcan Women n Urban Employment Mambo Occasonal Papers, Soco-Economc Seres No. 12, 1979 May J. (1983) Zmbabwean Women n Colonal Customary Law Zambezana Seres Vol 14, Mambo Press, Gweru, 1983 May J. (1984) "Chldren and Ther Guardans" Paper presented at the Colloquum on the Rghts of Women n Zmbabwe, Harare (mmeo), 1984 Mub M., Nyakurmwa G., Truscott K., Made P. (1983) Fnal Report "Women n Agrcultural Projects n Zmbabwe" Harare (mmeo), 1983 Moyo N., Daves R., Mhone G. and Pakkr L. (1984) The nformal Sector n Zmbabwe - ts Potental for employment Creaton Report for MLMPSW, Government of Zmbabwe, SATEP, LO, Lusaka, Zamba, 1984 Muchena O. (1979) "The Changng Poston of Afrcan Women n Rural Zmbabwe-Rhodesa Zmbabwe Journal of Economcs No 1, 1979 Muchena O. (1982b) Zmbabwean Women: A Soco-Economlc Overvew Afrcan Tranng and Research centre for Women, Adds Ababa, 1982 Muchena 0. (1984) An Annotated Bblography of Women n Zmbabwe ECA/AFRTCW Adds Ababa, 1984 Mugabe R. (1983) Our War of Lberaton. Speeches, Artcles and ntervews Mambo Press, Gweru, 1983 Mwalo M. (1986) "Women n Zmbabwe" Unpublshed mmeo, 1986 Mkandawre T. (1983) the nformal Sector n The Labour Reserve. Economcs of Southern Afrca; wth Specal Reference to Zmbabwe, Harare, mmeo, 1983 MCCDWA, Zmbabwe Government, (1984) "Summary Revew and Future Projectons for the Mnstry's Programmes", Unpublshed paper, 1984 Natonal Federaton of Busness and Professonal Women of Rhodesa (1975) Profles of Rhodesa's Women,1975 Sachkonye L. Batezat E. and Sbanda A. (1984) The Workng Condtons of Female Labour n The Food Processng ndustry n Zmbabwe ZDS Consultancy Report prepared for the LO, 1984 Sanders, D. (1982) The Orgns of Malnutrton n Zmbabwe, Central Afrcan Journal of Medcne, Vol 28 No 8,

74 Truscott K. (1983) "Women n the Wedza Project" Paper wrtten for the Women n Agrcultural Projects Workshop, AGRTEX, Harare, August 1983 Truscott K. (1985) "Soco-economc Factors Related to Food Producton and Consumpton: A Case Study of Wedza Communal Land" AGRTEX mmeo, Harare, 1985 Wenrch A. (1979) UNESCO, Pars, 1979 Women and Racal Dscrmnaton n Rhodesa Wess R. (1986) The Women of Zmbabwe, Nehanda Publshers, Harare, 1986 Women's Acton Group (1984) Women of Zmbabwe Speak Out Report of the Women's Acton Group Workshop, Harare, May 1984 Women's Acton Group (1985) Women at Work, Women's Acton Group (1985) "Unwanted Pregnances and Baby Dumpng, Whose Problem?" Report of the Women's Acton Group Workshop, Harare, 1985 w ZANU (1979) "The Role and Hstory of Zmbabwean Women n The Natonal Lberaton Struggle" ZANU Women's Semnar, Xa Xa, 1979 ZANU (PF) Department of nformaton and Publcty (1985) Zmbabwe News Specal ssue on the Narob '85 Manfesto, 1985 ZANU (PF) (1985) Rebuldng Zmbabwe: Achevements, Problems and Prospects at Fve Years of ndependence ZANU (PF) Department of the Commssarat and Culture, 1985 Zmbabwe Government, MCCDWA, (1983) Communty Acton No 1, Harare, 1983 Zmbabwe Government, MCCDWA, (1984a) Communty Acton No 2, Harare, 1984 Zmbabwe Government, MCCDWA (1984d) "Statement by the Honourable Mnster of Communty Development and Women's Affars at the Colloquum on the Rghts of Women n Zmbabwe" Harare, 1984 Zmbabwe Government, MCCDWA, (1985) "Recommendatons on the mplementaton of the Forward Lookng Strateges for the Advancement of Women up to the year 2000 n Zmbabwe" MCCDWA Report Back Workshop on the UN Decade for Women Conference, Harare, 1985 Zmbabwe Women's Bureau (1981) "We Carry a Heavy Load": Rural Women of Zmbabwe Speak Out, Harare, 1981 ZNCC/VOCE (1987) Drectory of NGO Tranng Centres and Programmes Zmbabwe Non-Governmental Organsaton Co-ordnatng Commttee (1985) Zmbabwe NGO Actvtes: Women's Decade

75 72 Zmbabwe Government MCCDWA October 1987, Harare (1987) Report on Women's Semnar

76 J SECTON B - NORWEGAN ASSSTANCE TO WOMEN N ZMBABWE f f. 1

77 1. OVERALL STRATEGY FOR ASSSTANCE TO WOMEN N ZMBABWE 1.1. Man goals and target groups Norway's strategy for assstance to Women-n-Development (WD) was presented by the Mnstry of Development Co-operaton (NORAD) at the UN Conference on Women n Narob The document stresses that a strategy for women n development must buld on women's strengths, needs and nterests, and thus put stronger focus on human and socal aspects of development than s usually beng done. t further emphasses the mportance of recognsng the nterrelatonshp between the productve and reproductve roles of women, and of facltatng womens' ablty to organse and partcpate n poltcal actvtes so as to fght for ther own rghts. Norwegan development assstance to Zmbabwe should therefore seek to utlse the strenghts of women n the development process, as well as makng sure that Norwegan funds contrbute drectly to gvng women a better lfe. For ths reason, the Norwegan development assstance to Zmbabwe should have two man goals n relaton to women:. To allevate the poverty and heavy work load of the majorty of the women.. To reduce the oppresson of women as gender. Women's soco-economc condtons can be mproved through programmes wth the objectve to: ncrease ther producton, productvty and ncomes by developng nfrastructure and avalable servces (such as water supply, health facltes, transport systems and marketng depots); reduce the demands on ther labour - partcularly for domestc work - n order to release more tme for productve, educatonal and socal actvtes. Male domnance and oppresson of women can be reduced through programmes wth the objectve to: ncrease women's control over ther own tme, body, means of producton and ncomes; ncrease women's nfluence n socety. t follows that not only the poorer sectons, but also well educated and better-off groups of women can be targets for the assstance. The latter group often plays an mportant role n the struggle for legal rghts and equal opportuntes for women Strategc sectors n some sectors women-orented assstance makes greater mpact and s easer to mplement than n other sectors. The strategy s to concentrate nput where development potentals are the greatest. The Norwegan country programme for assstance to Zmbabwe should contan several of these strategcally mportant 74

78 sectors. Strategcally mportant sectors are agrculture and management of natural resources lke forests, game and fsh, water development, health and famly plannng, educaton and employment. The state of the economy, and the level of development of e.g. electrcty supply, communcaton networks and the ndustral base lmt the polcy optons wthn the above sectors, t s therefore mportant to desgn programmes wthn these sectors whch specfcally ncreases women's acess to goods and servces, and whch makes goods and servces more relevant to the specfc needs of women Feasble channels for the assstance As outlned n Secton A, t s stated as the overall polcy of the Zmbabwe Government to acheve equalty between men and women, and ncreased equty n socety n general. MCCD and other Government nsttutons carry out actvtes wth the specfc am to mprove the lot of women. Programmes such as the Natonal ntegrated Rural Water Supply and Santaton Programme and the Famly Health Project have women as ther stated major target group, and are consdered to have substantal postve mpact on women. t s therefore both possble and desrable for NORAD to channel the bulk of the assstance to women n Zmbabwe through Government nsttutons. However, despte the Government's overall polcy of promotng equalty between women and men, most of the sector polces and programmes mplemented by Government nsttutons tend to favour men and therefore reproduce the tradtonal dvson of labour and oppresson of women. NORAD should therefore montor the programmes the agency supports thoroughly, and where necessary recommend changes to make them more benefcal for women. The strategy should be to support mnstres, nsttutons and ndvduals who fght for women's nterests so as to strengthen ther ablty to reach these goals. There are n Zmbabwe varous nsttutons, mleus and NGOs whch work for women's nterests. Some of them are mportant pressure groups lobbyng for change of dscrmnatory and oppressve laws, procedures and practces. NORAO should gve hgh prorty to support for ther actvtes, by utlsng the varous schemes over and above the country programme allocatons such as the schemes for NGOs, women n development, conservaton of envronment, research, culture and scholarshps. t t

79 TABLES N PARAGRAPH B. TABLE B... ZMBABWE COUNTRY PROGRAMME (NOK mllon) 76 Plannng fgures Carred over from At dsposal 90 Total Account Antclp- Plannng Fgures commt- dsburse ated ments ments Dsburse up to 90 ments NO 1 1 O Water/Santaton Prog. ZB 007 (15.0) (35.0)( Commodty mport 90.0 Prog. ZB 016/100 (80.0) (40.0) (40.0) ( ) ( ) 3. Famly Health Prog. ZB 015 (50.0) (3.0) (7.0) (10.0) ( Agrculture/Nat. Resources Bulk Mlk 20.0 Tanks ZB Dary Dev. Prog. ZB (6.0) Women's Ext. Programme (4.5) (1.0) (1.5) (1.5) (0.5) 4.4 Envronmental m Proj. ZB 025 (2.8) (0.5) (1.0) (0.8) (0.5) 5. Women's Programme ZB 027 (9.0) (1.5) (3.0) (3.0) (1.5) 6. Other Projects: 6.1 Wood Tech Ctr ZB CSO n/out Matrx ZB Fertlzer Project Plannng and Consultancy Servces TOTAL OVERPLANNNG UNALLOCATED (0. 3) (0.9) ( ) ( ) ( )

80 77 2. WATER DEVELOPMENT 2.1. THE NTEGRATED RURAL WATER SUPPLY AND SANTATON PROGRAMME (ZB 007) NOK 190 mll, has been granted for the programme for the perod The programme s based on the recommendatons n Zmbabwe's Natonal Master Plan for Rural Water Supply and Santaton (NMWP), and the grant s a contnuaton of Norway's prevous extensve engagement n the water sector. The man objectves of the programme are: 1. mproved health condtons Reduced workload for women and chldren. mproved soco-economc condtons. mproved health condtons requre that health educaton and better santaton facltes are ntroduced as ntegrated components together wth clean water supply. One mportant component of the programme s therefore constructon of pt latrnes at the homesteads, schools and other natural assembly ponts such as water ponts and busness centres. ( Reduced workload: The NMWP states the target that all households n the Communal Lands and Resettlement Areas shall have clean water supply from tap, borehole or well wthn reach of 500 m. from the homestead wthn 20 years. Cvl works, such as washng stands (for laundry) and washng rooms (for personal hygene) near the water source wll also ease the workload by reducng the amount of water one has to carry home. The objectve of mproved soco-economc condtons ponts to water used for productve purposes; namely for waterng cattle and for rrgaton. Cattle troughs are usually erected n close proxmty to the the well/borehole. Apart from ths, the NORADsupported programme concentrates generally on water for domestc use, though excess water from naturally hgh-yeldng boreholes have also to a lmted extent been exploted for mjlcro rrl- ga- *toj>. Water from such sources s usually used for hand-waterng of \small gardens. More comprehensve mcro rrgaton schemes would requre~constructon of small dams. The Zmbabwean Government has decded not to nclude dam constructon for mcro rrgaton n the water~and santaton programme, but to develop such rrgaton through separate programmes. The nsttutons nvolved n the mplementaton of the programme are the Mnstres of Health (MOH), Energy and Water Development (MEWRD), Communty and Co-operatve Development (MCCD) and Local Government Rural and Urban Development (MLGRUD), together wth the Dstrct Development Fund (DDF) and Department of Agrcultural Extenson Servces (AGRTEX). The mplementaton takes place at the dstrct level, co-ordnated by the Dstrct Admnstrator, the Dstrct Development Commttee and the Dstrct Councl. At the natonal level, all the ntegrated dstrct water and santaton programmes are coordnated by the Natonal Acton

81 Commttee and ts secretarat Natonal Co-ordnaton Unt stuated n MLGRUD. The benefcares are to partcpate n the plannng process by presentng dentfed needs to the dstrct admnstraton and sterequrements to the~~planners. They are also to take part n ne constructon works by" dggng the frst three meters for wells, provdng sand and stones, and mouldng brcks for headworks. They are also to dg pts, mould brcks and hre bulders for constructon of ther own pt latrnes. A professonal contractor wll be responsble for borehole drllng and well snkng. Fnally, the communtes, through ther elected pump caretakers wll be responsble for basc mantenance of the pumps and headworks. Each water pont shall have a voluntary water commttee, whch s a permanent sub-commttee under the Vllage Development Commttee (VDCO) Women and the water programme mproved santaton and reduced workload? The programme s consdered to be most benefcal for women, as one of ts man objectves s to reduce the workload for women and chldren. Shorter dstance to a clean watersource undsputedly reduces the tme requred for collectng water. Ths s to a large extent labour saved for women, as most chldren today attend school and assst ther mothers only to a lmted extent. n order to mprove peoples' health and santaton standard, the programme ams to ncrease the households' water consumpton. Ths would agan ncrease the women's workload, partcularly f there s an ncreased demand for warmed water for personal hygene, requreng more frewood. However, recent research ndcates that the shorter dstance has so far lead to only margnally hgher domestc water consumpton, and that gradual changes n consumpton can only be expected to occur as a result of long term efforts to provde health educaton. However, the provson of clean drnkng water, constructon of Blar latrnes and health educaton have together wth other preventatve health programmes mproved the average health standard, and ths mght have mpled a reducton n the workburden of women whch s of greater sgnfcance than the effect n tme saved from the shorter dstance between homestead and water pont. Recommendatons: NORAO should encourage NAC to contnually montor the effects of the water programme on women's, chldren'sandmen's work burden respectvely. Ths should be done as part of NAC's regular montorng of the programme NORAO should encourage NAC to put hgh prorty on provson of health educaton under the water and santaton programme.

82 Headworks (cvl works) The choce of headworks (also called cvl works) n connecton wth the water pont has crucal mpact on the extent to whch women beneft from the programme. The headworks requre contrbuton from both the communtes (labour) and the mplementng mnstres (cement, wages for bulders etc.). There are dscussons and dsagreements both wthn the vllages and the mnstres as to whch headworks should be ncluded. Women and men often have dfferent prortes, but the conflct lnes would, n many cases, also reflect dfferent socal strata and dfference between tradtonal/modernsng orentatons. Washng stands and washng rooms near the water pont are of partcular value to women, as such facltes wll reduce the amount of water to be carred to the homestead. Constructon of such facltes should therefore be encouraged n the water programme. Washng stands are farly uncohtroversal and they are often ncluded both n the ntegrated dstrct programmes. There s far more dsagreement over the value of washng rooms; whether they wll be used, wll be kept clean etc. Such facltes have, however, been ncluded wth success n a DANDA/UNCEF-funded water programme n Mdlands and Matabeleland. There s suffcent provson of funds for constructon of washng rooms n NORAD's programme budget, but t has so far not been systematcally encouraged. f washng rooms are establshed near the water ponts, pt latrnes would also be requred, to avod that the washng rooms are beng used as tolets. Pt latrnes near the pumps are also useful by themselves, as women and small chldren spend long hours at the washng stand. Latrnes at publc places can furthermore have an mportant educatonal functon. They are commonly ncluded n the ntegrated dstrct programmes. Cattle troughs are frequently constructed near the water ponts. As the chldren now spend a large part of the day at school, the women have had to take over most of the herdng. Cattle troughs are lkely to be labour savng devces, as they may enable women to water the cattle and collect water for domestc use smultaneously. But there are also strong arguments for keepng cattle away from the pumps, as they wll easly pollute the water. Specal water ponts for cattle would be a better soluton from ths pont of vew. Some vllages have establshed small gardens near the pumps for hand-waterng, but there has not yet been any attempt to systematcally explot the use of excess water from hgh-yeldng boreholes for mcro*rrgaton. There s a great need for [rrgaton n the Communal Lands, so the potentals need to be Jlooked nto. The watered areas would be very lmted, and mostly sutable for vegetable gardens, a tradtonal women's doman. One should avod that such opportuntes are exploted by one or- a few nfluental people, but ensure that the rrgated felds are earmarked for collectve gardenng by for nstance women's groups. Women's groups already run many collectve gardens as ncome generatng projects or as part of the supplementary feedng programme. 79

83 Recommendaton:,- NORAD should encourage NAC to nclude fnancal E oysons ' for bqth washng, stands7"^a^kfg''~r6prns"''an3'' pt "latrnes as standard headworks at the water ponts. NORAD should contnue to provde suffcent funds for such facltes. NORAD should furthermore encourage NAC to nclude n ther gudelnes for the ntegrated dstrct programmes recommendatons that all three types of headworks be offered as an opton to the user communtes Communty partcpaton Communty partcpaton too often degenerates nto a mechansm for moblsng free labour for constructon of communal facl-tes n the rural areas. But communty partcpaton wll only be a substantal tool for development when the communtes are gven a decsve say n the plannng process and also get access to tranng as part of the project. The Mnstry of Communty and Cooperatve Development has over the last couple of years done research nto ways and means of moblsng the dfferent sectons of the communty to partcpate n the water programme. The fndngs are background for the gudelnes MCCD currently s preparng for communty parcpaton Strateges for moblsng women Due to tradtonal values, few Zmbabwean women speak ther mnd n communty meetngs where men are present. Furthermore, women are a prmary target group for the water and santaton pro- ' gramme. At the same tme, women and men wll often have dfferent prortes as regards headworks and sutable stes for water ponts. There s, therefore, a need to make specal efforts to r moblse the women n the-user communtes to take actve part n \ all stages of the communty partcpaton process, n partcu-lar n the plannng stage. One potental strategy could be to organse segarate_jnfatlnas. for 'the women n the vllage n order to ensure that ther prortes are expressed. However, ths strategy runs the danger of generatng great resentment asong the local men, and thus create great dffcultes'for the whole communty partcpaton process. An alternatve strategy could be to conduct separate workshops at dstrct eyftlfoje" &!. ex.tensj! o.n staff (e.g. VCWs, WCCs, HAs, LGP5s), women's representatves (Women's League, women's clubs, female VDC0-, WARDCO- and Dstrct Councl members) and other outstandng women to dscuss the women's needs n the programme, and how to moblse women to fght for ther nterests. Reoommendaton; NORAD should advce NAC to put partcular emphass on moblsng the women of the user communtes to partcpate n both plannng and mplementaton of the programme at the vllage and ward level. MCCD should be encouraged to dentfy sutable strateges and systematcally test dfferent models for moblsng the women. 80 r '!.

84 2.2,3.2. Communty Partcpaton Offcers MCCD has the responsblty for coordnaton of the communty partcpaton, and the Mnstry's staff at dstrct, ward and vllage level (DCDOs, WCCs and VCWs) are gven a crucal role n the ntegrated dstrct programmes. As most of the staff s female, they wll hopefully encourage women vllagers to express ther needs and prortes. n order to strengthen MCCD's otherwse rather weak. ej*t gnson apparatus, NORAD provdes funds for 6 specally traned Communty Partcpaton Offcers (CPOs) n the project dstrcts," ard 2 Communty Partcpaton Coordnators (CPCs) n 2 provnces. The CDOs and CPCs are engaged on "local consultancy contracts durng the plannng and mplementaton phases of the projects. Despte certan (lmted) efforts to recrut women, all the CPOs and CPCs recruted so far are male. Recommendaton: NORAD should strongly advce MCCD to make more efforts to recrut female CPOs and CPCs. Where more than one CPO s postoned n a dstrct, at least one of them should be a woman. Ths s of partcular mportance n dstrcts where the DCDO and several of the WCCs and VCWs are men Mantenance of water ponts and headworks Dstrct Development Fund has establshed a three-ter mantenance system consstng of: 1.) Two unpad, voluntary pump caretakers per water pont, wth responsblty for the most elementary mantenance together wth keepng the area around the well/borehole clean; 2.) Pump mnders employed by DDF. Each pump mnder covers today 2-3 wards, or an average of 50 water ponts; 3.) Moble DDF-teams n charge of repars and more complcated aspects of mantenance Pump caretakers The task as pump caretaker s today earmarked for women. As the man users of water, they are beleved to be more relable than men. Two women per pump are selected for an ndefnte perod, and the work s expected to be done on a voluntary bass, lke most other collectve tasks n the vllages that women are expected to carry out (e.g. pre-school teachng, lteracy tranng). t s n reasonable to expect the caretakers to perform these tasks on a permanent bass wthout any knd of remuneraton. t s, therefore, lkely that after' some tme they wll abandon ther responsblty, and wth nobody wllng to take over, the threeter mantenance system wll collapse. Ths has been the case wth both pre-school teachers and lteracy traners. However, the remuneraton wll haye_ to be organsed locally, as t wll be mposs&e to cover such expenses over the central Government budget.

85 Recommendaton: NORAD should recommend ntroducton of a system of locally generated remuneraton for the pump caretakers. One feasble form of remuneraton could be to gve them land for prvate vegetable gardenng close to the water pont, where they could explot excess water for hand waterng. Ths s also recommended n the Natonal Master Water Plan The water pont commttees The NMWP recommends that three ou, of four members of the water pont commttees should be women. However, the^ commttees^ wll ngt be mportant bodes n ' t'he plannng and decson makng process, as they are normally establshed af_^er the decsons regardng stes for water ponts, headworks etc. have been made. Strong representaton by women n the commttee wll therefore not be a mechansm to ensure that women's needs and wshes are gven prorty. Ther over-representaton s rather motvated by the belef that they are more relable and wllng to do voluntary work than men. There are no extra benefts for the commttee members. The recommendaton of three women to one man wll furthermore have the effect of renforcng the majrgnal-satpn of ssues related to domestc water supply from the men's sphere and consoldate the tradtonal atttude that provson of water rests 'wthn the women's doman. Recommendaton: NORAD should recommend NAC to advce the user communtes to elect an equals number of women and men n the water pont commttees The pump mnders and DDF store keepers The pump mnders are employed at the dstrct level by DDF. Although they are unsklled, local people who are gven only three months tranng, ther wage has been fxed at a relatvely hgh, level, three tmes as hgh as the level for the Vllage Communty Workers, who have" three months of tranng as well. The pump mnders are apponted by the Dstrct Councls, and so far only men have been selected. However, DDF has also establshed stores for tools, dynamte and other materals requred for the water ponts n the project dstrcts. The stores are manned by pa&d store keepers (employees of DDF), and the Fund has made great efforts to recrut w men_ as ^store keepers, as they are consdered to be more relable and less (lkely than men to steal from the stores. Recommendaton: NORAD should reconunend NAC to encourage the Dstrct Councls to select at least as many female as male pump mnde 9> For nstance women wth experence as pump caretakers would be sutable canddates. 82

86 \ Tranng of the user communtes The water pont commttees and other local resource persons n the programme are gven short tranng sessons amed at gvng them a basc understandng of the programme, the need for mantenance and for mproved health and santaton standards. A large proporton of these partcpants are women. Pump mnders, blasters (for constructon of deep wells) and bulders (of pt latrnes and smple headworks) are gven more comprehensve tranng whch provdes them wth a bass for an t ncome afterwards. So far, only men have ben traned as pump "mnders. DDF has, however, n some dstrcts made efforts to tran female blasters, and n Mount Darwn Dstrct 18 out of 40 blasters are women. Few women have so far been traned as bulders. The user communtes are themselves to select canddates for the varous forms of tranng. Unless they are ^ _ nomnate women, tradtonal values and perceptons of sexual "dvson of labour wll n most cases mply that only men are selected. Recommendatons: NORM) should recommend NAC to encourage the vllages to come up wth an equal^ number of ma.a and fem? 1 cand 4-^a5 e s for tranng as Bulders, Blastersand pump mnders." NORAD and NAC should n the annual revew meetngs for the water programme set jont tranng targets, specfyng the proporton of women fotae"" traned "*n tbe* varous relevant sklls. The annual reports from the ntegrated dstrct projects should specfy the number of women andmen who have been traned "and the sklls t h n f T ' T l T ^ Personnel and staff development There s a shortage of women wth the necessary qualfcatons for the professonal jobs n most of the felds wthn the water and santaton sector. There s a number of women employed by MCCD and MOH, but few of them have extensve qualfcatons n the sklls requred for plannng and mplementng the comprehensve, ntegrated dstct projects. n order to ensure that the water and santaton programme adresses the needs of the women of the user communtes, t s consdered more essental to recrut a hgh number of women n the areas of plannng and montorng, communty partcpaton, santaton and health educaton, than n the strctly techncal felds. Prorty should thus be gven to tranng and recrutment of women n the above felds at both natonal, provnce and dstrct levels. Recommendatons: NORAO should encourage NAC and other relevant Government nsttutons s s to adopt p a polcy y 2Z^^ tq tor_gt_ leaat 50% of the prgfesstonal^ postons nvolved n the plannng and mplementaton of the water programme, n partcular for the postons as as CPOs, CPCs, DCDOs,

87 Envronmental Health Offcers and Assstants to the Dstrct Admnstrators. Concrete targets should be set Jontly by NAC and NORAD n the annual revew meetngs for the programme. NORAD should advce NAC delberately to use th Manpower Development Fund to tran potental, female canddates who at the moment have nsuffcent background to qualfy for the professonal posts n the sector. NORAD should recommend NAC and the Tranng Centre for Water and Santaton at the Unversty of Zmbabwe to encourage women to attend courses at the Centre, t should be consdered to offer specal scholarshps for female canddates, ether from wthn or outsde the Manpower Development Fund Water for productve purposes As stated n paragraph 2.2. above, mproved soco-economc condtons s one of the man objectves for NORAD's support to water development n Zmbabwe. Ths objectve can best be acheved through mprovng water supply for productve purposes, notably for mcro rrgaton, andftattoobwe.the large productve potental les n explotng the rvers and streams, and Zm- babwe's Government has decded to develop these resources n programmes separate from the Natonal Water and Santaton Programme. However, some of the boreholes too can yeld enough to rrgate gardens of a reasonable sze. These resources have only to a lmted extent been utlsed, all though the scope and budgets for the ntegrated dstrct programmes n prncple can nclude such facltes. More emphass should be put on systematcally explotng these water resources. Recommendatons: NORAD should advce NAC to systematcally encourage NGOs, Local Government Authortes and any other able bodes to utlse excess water from hgh-yeldng boreholes by establshng mcro-crlga^qn..f^lgme, a NORAD should allocate suffcent funds for such schemes wthn the annual budgets for the water programme Strategc events for nfluencng the Water and Santaton Programme The annual and half-annual programme revew meetngs As refered to above (para 2.2.), NORAD's assstance to the water sector n Zmbabwe has the character of budget support granted for programmes desgned and mplemented by Government mnstres. Due to ths mode of co-operaton, NORAD's ablty to nfluence the detaled plannng and mplementaton of the programme s qute lmted. The programme wll only be a tool for mprovng the stuaton of rural women f such objectves and targets are adopted by the Zmbabwean nsttutons whch are responsble for the programme. NORAD "s best opportunty to nfluence the programme are the halfannual and annual programme revew meetngs, durng whch the plan 84

88 of operaton for NORAD-funded actvtes n the followng budget year s to be agreed upon. n the annual meetng 1990, t was agreed to set up an ad hoc commttee under NAC whch s to dentfy the pertnent ssues relevant to women, and recommend measures, ncludng concrete targets for tranng, employment of staff etc. Recommendatons: NORAD and Zmbabwe should n the annu^l^j^y^w^jgatnos agree upon concrete measures and tajrget*^ned at ensurng that the programme s^beneffca to women. The advsor on women-n-development ssues n NORAD's resdent representaton should partcpate n these meetngs and the preparatory dscussons on the plans of operaton proposed by the Zmbabwe Government Evaluatons n addton to the ongong, regular montorng of the ntegrated dstrct projects, specfc evaluatons should be carred out by ndependent teams from tme to tme. n 1990, the Natonal Coordnaton Unt ntends to evaluate the ntegrated dstrct projects n Makon and Mt. Darwn dstrcts, both of whch have been funded by NORAD. 85 Recommendaton: NORAD should strongly advce NAC/NCU to gve explct attenton to the mpact the water programme n general and the ntegrated dstrct projects n partcular, have had oj women an4. mgn_ respectvely n the user communtes.

89 TTLE OF PROJECT / PROGRAMME: ntegrated Water Supply and Santaton Programme (ZB Startng date: July Duraton: Phase 1: 4 years Budget: NOK 190 mll. mplementng agency: Natonal Acton Commttee (NAC), concstng of representatves from MFEPD, MLGRUD, MEWRD, MCCD, MOH and AGRTEX. Secretarat: Natonal Co-ordnaton Unt (NCU) n MLGRUD. The project purposes stated n the project document concernng women: Phase 1: To mprove health condtons and to reduce the physcal burden of fetchng water, partcularly for women and chldren. Phase 2: To be formulated 5. Techncal assstance: External assstance to the project over the last 12 months: External assstance wth competence on WD over the last 12 months 6. Specal funds for women have been used n connecton wth the project for: Sum: Nl Other / specal funds that have been used n connecton wth the project: Sum: Wll be used n 1991 Persons-months (splt on M/F) 60M Nl Professonal feld Water- and santaton engeneers 36

90 87 3. Concrete results obtaned (ref. purpose) (data broken down by gender): Physcal development: By end 1989 some 600 new waterponts have been establshed, servng about persons or approx households, where the women and chldren are n charge of fetchng water and washng clothes. All new water ponts nclude washng stands for laundry; some also cattle troughs. Washng rooms for personal hygene are rare. Communty partcpaton: Vllage water commttees: 3F to 1M Pump caretakers (unpad): 3F to 1 M. Tranng and educaton: Pump mnders (pad): Only M. Bulders and blasters: Vares from dstrct to dstrct. n Mt. Darwn 18 of 40 blasters are F. Techncans: Only M. 9. Effects and mpacts obtaned concernng measures or through ndcators): Health mpact montorng n progress. women: (drect J j 10 [ To what degree have the recommendatons from the last Acton Plan been followed up? Most relevant recommendatons have been followed up. NAC nas agreed to establsh a short-term workng group for formulaton of specfc strateges for nvolvement of women n all actvtes. Constrants: Department of women's Affars has been transferred from MCCD to Mn. of Poltcal Affars, thus weakenng the concentraton on WD-ssues n MCCD. The poston of Department of Communty Development n MCCD s nsecure, and the Deptartment as a whole s weak. Tradtonal/sococultural atttudes towards women are barrers aganst ther actve nvolvement n tranng, decsonmakng and n pad labour. Recommendatons: NORAD to follow up the work of the NAC WD-group. Programme Offcer: Ruth Kove Date:

91 3. THE POPULATON AND HEALTH SECTOR NORAD's nvolvement n the populaton and health sector The provson of prmary health care and mother and chld healthcare (MCH) has been a hgh prorty snce ndependence, and several donors have been nvolved. The populaton sector has strong lnks to the health sector through the comprehensve famly plannng programmes whch Zmbabwe s nternatonally well known for. The provson of modern famly plannng methods and adequate servces relatng to reproductve health s the sngle most mportant factor n reducng morbdty among the large majorty of Zmbabwean women. The Norwegan support for the populaton and health sector wll n the foreseeable future be concentrated to: 1. Famly Plannng/Mother and Chld Healthcare 2. mproved santaton standards, as part of the water programme. Ths programme has been descrbed n chapter 3 above Famly Plannng/Maternal and Chld Healthcare (MCH) THE FAMLY HEALTH PROJECT (ZB 015) Norway have supported the Famly Health Project, whch s a large project mplemented by the Mnstry of Health (MOH) and the Zmbabwe Natonal Famly Plannng Councl, and coordnated by the World Bank. t ams to ncrease the avalablty and use of famly plannng servces, mprove the health status partcularly of mothers and chldren, and strengthen Government's nsttutonal capacty to plan, manage and evaluate MCH and famly plannng servces. The project has the followng components: Upgradng of eght dstrct hosptals and 66 rural health centres, located n one dstrct n each provnce. mproved famly plannng and maternal care servces n the plot dstrcts, through tranng of 2250 nurses n mdwfery, 2670 nurses and a large number of Vllage Communty Workers (VCW) and Tradtonal Mdwves (TMs) n famly plannng motvaton and technques, and fnally general upgradng of the TMs sklls as brth attendants. mproved famly plannng servces at 22 urban hosptals through tranng of doctors and nurses n famly plannng methods, ncludng sterlsaton methods (doctors only) and ntra-uterne devces (UD). Publc nformaton and educaton n famly plannng. Expanson of the cytology servce from the present capacty of screenng to screenng women per year, n order to be able to dscover and treat cervx cancer at an early stage.

92 Strengthenng management of MoH at natonal, provncal and dstrct levels. Norway has granted NOK 80 mll, for the fve-year perod to ths project, whch s budgetted to cost altogether US$ 52,6 mll. Other fnancers are The World Bank, ODA, GTZ, The Netherlands, and the Zmbabwe Government tself. 89 Norway fnances the followng components: All costs for upgradng the rural health clncs. Part of the costs for tranng, management strengthenng and publc nformaton/motvaton. The Norwegan contrbuton s fnanced wth NOK 40. mll from the blateral country programme and NOK 40 mll, as a grant n a cofnancng scheme wth the World Bank. All the Norwegan support s admnstered by the World Bank. t s prmarly through partcpaton n the jont donor supervson mssons (held twce annually) that NORAD can exercse some nfluence on the programme. FHP wll be concluded n 1991, and Norway has been asked to contnue support for the sector through the new FHP. Norway has ndcated wllngness to contnue the co-operaton n the sector, possbly from both the country programme and mult-blateral grants channeled through the world Bank Women and The Famly Health Project Mnmse women's health rsks and ncrease ther control Famly plannng programmes can have three dfferent objectves: 1. To reduce natonal/global populaton growth, 2. To mprove the famles 1 soco-economc and health status. 3. To ncrease women's ablty to exercse control over ther own lves. The objectves may well be combned. However, they may also lead to dfferent strateges and choce of technques. For example programmes prmarly amng at reduced populaton growth have n some cases tended to force or fool women nto sterlzaton, wthout properly explanng to them the medcal consequences. A programme wth the man objectve to ncrease women's ablty to control ther own lves could not have chosen a smlar strategy. The objectves also nfluence choce of famly plannng technques. From the perspectve of women's health, one should be careful about recommendng nserton of UD, whch gven the present santaton standards and hgh level of sexually transmtted dseases (STD) may lead to ncreased severty of the STDs. Stll, UDs are a good alternatve for some women. t s costeffectve and should be ncluded as one of the methods offered. The Famly Health Project explctly ams to ncrease the avalablty of a vared spectrum of famly plannng methods. NORAD should am to ensure that ths ambton s gven suffcent prorty n the mplementaton of the project. The objectves of Zmbabwe's famly plannng polcy are a

93 combnaton of objectves 1 and 2. Thus, the Famly Health Project emphaszes both famly plannng, n order to reduce populaton growth and mprove health facltes for mothers and chldren. Famly plannng as a tool to ncrease women's control over ther bodes and lves s not a stated objectve. Women's role as mothers, and ther medcal needs dervng thereof, s beng recognsed n the MCH-concept. Research has shown that the rsks of morbdty and mortalty are hghest for delverng mothers below 18 or above 35 years old, for women wth four or more brths, and women who last delvered less than two years earler. More than 80% of Zmbabwean mothers fall nto one or more of these hgh-rsk categores, for example 1/3 of all chldbearng women have ther frst baby before reachng the age of 18. t s therefore the Government's polcy to am at postponng the frst pregnancy and ncrease the space between each chld. Whereas Zmbabwe n the last ten years has managed to reduce the nfant mortalty rate mpressvely from 140 to 68, there are no ndcatons that women's health status has mproved accordngly. Brthgvng women stll have a hgh mortalty rate, and the Famly Health Project ams to reduce ths through: 1. Tranng of 2250 nurses n mdwfery; 2. Provdng tranng of the TMs, who are estmated to cater for more than 50% of the brths n the rural areas. n addton, the component of expandng the cytology servce ams to reduce women's mortalty from cervx cancer, today the most common form of cancer n Zmbabwe. Recommendatons: NORAD should recommend famly plannng strateges and technques whch mnmze women's health rsks and maxmze ther ablty to exercse control over ther own bodes and lves. NORAD should am to ensure that the Famly Health Project fulflls ts stated nteton of provdng a vared spectrum of famly plannng technques. NORAD should support the Government's efforts to mplement ts polcy of postponng the frst pregnancy and create greater brth ntervals The new target group: men The whole famly plannng exercse s to date geared towards women. Most of the Vllage Communty Workers (VCWs) and Communty Based (Pll) Dstrbutors (CBDs) are women, and for soco-cultural reasons many of them fnd t dffcult to approach men on the ssue. Women n Zmbabwe are generally far more postve to famly plannng than men. Men often prevent ther wves from usng contraceptves, and only a small mnorty accept to use condoms themselves wthn the famly settng, although the use of condoms have ncreased tremendously wth the spread of the HV vrus. There has been no campagn for male sterlsaton, and ths s not an offered servce. 90

94 ! : However, the atttudes have mproved a lot snce ndependence, and the acceptance rate among women s today the hghest n Sub- Saharan Afrca (above 40%) The mpresson among health personnel s that men's atttudes are also changng, as they realse that gven the present condtons of expensve educaton, land shortage and hgh unemployment rates, havng many chldren s more lkely to lead to poverty than prosperty and a secured old age. Zmbabwe Natonal Famly Plannng Councl (ZNFPC) has recently decded to drect ther nformaton and educaton efforts more towards men. As the nformaton, educaton and communcaton component of the Famly Health Project s the jont responsblty of ZNFPC and the Health Educaton Unt n MoH, ths wll hopefully ensure that men are made an mportant target group for the materal to be produced. Recommendaton: NORAD should stress the need to drect the nformaton and educaton on famly plannng more towards men. Ths should be proposed as a recommendaton n the supervson mssons for the Famly Health Programme Tranng As shown above, tranng of exstng health personnel s a very mportant component n the programme. Tranng not only s offered to the modern health personnel, but also to the TMs, who are gven recognton for ther mportant role n the health system. n order to reach men wth famly plannng, specal emphass should be put on tranng male nurses and VCWs n famly plannng technques, partcularly n motvatonal technques. 91 Recommendaton: NORAD should recommend MoH to encourage male health workers to partcpate n courses on motvaton for famly plannng, perhaps by settng quotas and gvng them preference Teenage pregnances Very lttle educaton n famly plannng s gven n schools, and young grls who fall pregnant are regarded as examples of bad morals and expelled from schools and colleges. They are not gven any publc assstance, and ther future educatonal and professonal career s blocked or at least made very dffcult. The majorty are accepted and looked after by the famly, but many others are abandoned even by them. The most desperate resort to baby'dumpng, the most frequent reason for mprsonment among female nmates. _4 Recommendatons: NORAD should recommend to the MoH and Mnstry of Prmary and Secondary Educaton that famly plannng be gven much more emphass n all secondary schools. NORAD should f requested be wllng to allocate funds for such actvtes. Ths could be fnanced from the country programme or, on a

95 short-term bass, from the specal scheme for women. NORAD should support organsatons and nsttutons whch work to change the polcy of expellng pregnant grls from schools and colleges. The actvtes could be supported va the NGO-budget or the specal scheme for women nfertlty As Zmbabwean women, to a great extent, obtan ther status through producng chldren, nfertlty s a great socal and personal tragedy for the women affected by t. A large percentage of the nfertlty s caused by STDs and can be treated. n many other cases the problem could be overcome through bologcal nformaton or smple treatments such as temporary use of plls. Recommendatons: NORAD should recommend to MoH that smple bologcal educaton on how to make chldren be ncluded n the currculum n famly plannng courses gven under the Famly Health Programme. t s partcularly mportant to nclude ths n the courses for VCWs and TMs. Health personnel n the vllages and clncs should also be nformed about exclstng methods for treatment of nfertlty, and encouraged to refer cases to the hosptals for treatment. As part of the tranng n famly plannng technques, doctors and nurses should also be taught relevant methods for treatment of nfertlty Aborton Aborton s llegal n Zmbabwe unless there are strong medcal grounds Justfyng t. One result of ths s a large number of llegal abortons every year, of whch an alarmngly hgh proporton ends wth sterlty and other severe complcatons. The only way to prevent ths, s through ensurng that abortons are done early and under medcally safe condtons n hosptals or health centres. t s partcularly mportant that HV postve women are offered the opton to take aborton., as pregnancy and chld brth carry the rsk of turnng the latent vrus nto actve ADS (ref. paragraph 10 below). Recommendaton: NORAD should support the actvtes of groups and nsttutons workng for lberalzaton of the exstng laws on aborton. Such actvtes could be supported from the NGO-budget or the specal allocaton for women. 92

96 TTLE OF PROJECT / PROGRAMME: Famly Health Project (ZB 015) 1. Startng data: Duraton: Phase l Budget: NOK 80 mll. Phasse 2: 3. mplementng agency: Mnstry of Health Budget: Proposed 80 mll. 4. The project purposes stated n the project document concernng women: Phase l: Phase 2: 5. Techncal assstance: External assstance to the project over the last 12 months: Persons-months (splt on M/F) 60 pm, M 12 pm, F Professonal feld Medcal, Buldng Medcal External assstance wth competence on WD over the last 12 months Consultances ca.4 pm Planners Specal funds for women have been used n connecton wth the project for: sum* Nl. 8 Other / specal funds that have been used n connecton wth the projectt Sum: Nl Concrete results obtaned (ref. purpose) (data broken down by gender)»

97 9. Effects and mpacts obtaned concernng women: (drect measures or through ndcators): To what degree have the recommendatons from the last Acton Plan been followed up? Constrants: Recommendatons: Programme Offcer: Mona Gledtsch Date:

98 . f * t Other areas for future Norwegan assstance to the populaton/health sector Research on women's health problems Although women's medcal needs as mothers are recognsed, women stll receve lttle recognton of ther health problems as women, related to both ther productve and reproductve roles. n addton to the problems descrbed above, women have specal medcal problems as women dervng from: 1. The combnaton of many chldbrths and hard physcal work on the land, resultng n degeneratve dseases and general exhauston. 2. Women's role as subservent and subordnate to men, whch results n for example women beng allocated/allocatng themselves nsuffcent food. n recent years there has been much focus on malnutrton among chldren, as a result of the custom of gvng the adult men the best food. However, women tend to gve themselves even less nutrtous food than the chldren, though ther need for nourshng food, especally durng pregnances, s hgh. So far, not much research has been done nto women's nutrton status n Zmbabwe. However, aggregate fgures ndcate that the levels of malnutrton, and n partcular anaema, are hgh. A component amng to mprove the nutrton status of the rural populaton was ncluded n the orgnal project proposal for the Famly Health Project, but was cut n the fnal and approved verson. Ths decson has been crtcsed by many, and the component would possbly be ncluded n FHP. Recommendaton: NORAD should support or commsson research on women's health and nutrton status and on causes for bad health among Zmbabwean women. Such support should not be seen as a step towards general nvolvement n new areas of the health sector, but as assstance to establsh more precsely whch are women's health problems and subsequent needs for assstance. Support for such research can be fnanced va the country Programme's allocaton for consultances or the specal allocaton for women Scholarshps for studes n women's health problems Wth the large commtments to the Famly Health Project and santaton n the water programme, NORAD s extensvely nvolved n the health sector. As the project support s restrcted to a few felds, t s feasble also to restrct the scholarshps to these areas. The support for the Famly Health Project, beng channeled through the World Bank, does not nclude scholarshps for studes at hgher levels. 95

99 Recommendatons: As complmentary to lower level tranng supported through the Famly Health Project, NORAD should offer a lmted number of scholarshps for studes at hgher levels n populaton studes, famly plannng and maternal and chld healthcare. NORAD should offer scholarshps for studes on women's health problems. Male canddates should not be excluded. 96

100 4. MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTVE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES 97 4.X. AGRCULTURE Agrculture s a partcularly mportant sector for assstance to women, as more than 80% of all Zmbabwean women lve n the Communal Areas as peasant farmers. Norway's strategy for development assstance to Eastern and Southern Afrca also gves prorty to assstance for agrcultural and rural development. The target group for the assstance s the poorer sectons of the rural populaton. There are Zmbabwe: two basc constrants nhbtng women farmers n 1. The shortage of land n the Communal Areas. 2. Women's lack of control over land. To overcome the frst constrant, a comprehensve land reform s requred, where a substantal proporton of the land n the Large Scale Commercal Areas s transferred to peasant farmers. The second constrant can only be overcome - or reduced - by women obtanng prmary land rghts; that s access to land n ther own rght, not only through the husbands' allocaton of a porton of ther land to the wves. n the mgrant labour households t mght be reasonable to transfer the prmary land rghts to the woman, as she s the man user of the land. But another, and perhaps more realstc, soluton would be to establsh jont land use rghts for husband and wfe/wves to the land. Jont ownershp (freehold ttles) s at present not an opton, as all land n Communal Areas belongs to the State and the communtes only have use rghts to t. Both of the above ssues are hghly poltcal ones, and descsons can only be made by the poltcal authortes. Reforms n both areas wll offend mportant nterests and are bound to face strong resstance. Donor agences can put pressure on Government to ntroduce reforms, but ther nfluence wll n most cases be qute lmted. Most donors are n any case not nterested n advocatng such radcal reforms, rather the contrary. Women also tend to lack control over other means of producton, such as cattle and ploughs, and have very lmted access to monetary ncomes, credt and extenson servces. They have n addton very lmted ablty to moblze other people's labour. However, donor-funded programmes can assst n reducng the latter constrants n the project areas, f desgned well BULK MLK TANKS (ZB 004 and Ol) Untl 1990, the only drect Norwegan assstance to the agrcultural sector has been NOK 53 mll, for the supply of approx. 530 Norwegan farm mlk tanks to the Dary Marketng Board (DMB). The tanks were part of a strategy to modernse the commercal dary ndustry, and made possble a shft from delveres of mlk n small cans to bulk delveres n cooled tanks.

101 1 The project wll be termnated n 1991 wth the dsbursement of NOK 2.5 mll, for spareparts and tranng n operaton and mantenance of the tanks. The ntroducton of the bulk mlk tanks may possbly have lead to reduced employment on the commercal farms. Apart from that, the programme has not had any obvous mpact on the stuaton of the farm labourers. Female labourers are not to any sgnfcant extent nvolved n commercal dary producton. The avalablty of relatvely cheap mlk of good qualty, has a postve mpact on famly nutrton among the poorer groups n the towns. Recommendaton: The Bulk Mlk Collecton Scheme s consdered to have had nether postve nor negatve effects for female farm workers, and t s not feasble for NORAD at ths stage to attempt to nclude new components to make the project more women-orented. 98

102 t TTLE OF PROJECT / PROGRAMME: Bulk Mlk Tanks (ZB 004/011) 1. Startng date: 2. Duraton: Phase 1: Budget: NOK 3. mplementng agency: Dary Marketng Board The project purposes stated n the project document concernng women: Phase 1: None Phase 2: N/A Techncal assstance: External assstance to the project over the last 12 months: External assstance wth competence on WD over the last 12 months Persons-months (splt on M/F) Nl Nl Professonal feld Specal funds for women have been used n connecton wth the project for: Sum: Nl Other / specal funds that have been used n connecton wth the project: Sum: Nl Concrete results obtaned by gender): (ref, purpose) (data broken down

103 Effects and mpacts obtaned concernng women: (drect measures or through ndcators): _ 10. To what degree have the recommendatons from the last Acton Plan been followed up? Constrants: Recommendatons: Programme Offcer: Date:

104 PEASANT DARY DEVELOPMENT DARY DEVELOPMENT The commercal dary farmers rent the tanks from DMB, and the rentals generate a counterpart fund whch has been earmarked for dary development n Communal and Small Scale Commercal Areas. The annual rent ncomes to the counterpart fund s estmated to be approxmately 2$ for the next 15 years. For the perod NORAD has n addton granted drect allocatons of NOK 22 mll, from the country programme. The Dary Development Programme started n 1983, and was orgnally mplemented by DMB. n 1989, the Dary Development Unt was transferred to the Agrcultural Development Authorty (ADA). The objectves of the Dary Development Programme are: 1. To mprove the soco-economc standard of peasant producers through the development of systematc mlk producton for domestc consumpton and local sales. 2. To ncrease the avalablty of dary commodtes n the rural areas. The programme has a very flexble and process-orented approach, and the desgn s adapted from one project area to another. The scope for ensurng that the projects are desgned also to beneft women s therefore qute good. The strategy of the programme s to develop mlk producton n the peasant areas through mproved management of the exstng stock, and gradual mprovement of the stock through cross-breedng. The programme does not attempt to create specalsed dary farmers, but to add another source of ncome for the peasant households. One of the most mportant components of the programme s mproved feedng. The peasants are encouraged to grow hgh-yeldng grasses and legumes, and establsh grazng schemes so the cattle can be kept n paddocks. Grazng schemes reduce the labour requred for herdng and protectng the crops. They also have an mportant conservaton value by preventng overgrazng, one of the most serous envronmental problems n Zmbabwe Women and dary development t s a challengng task to ensure that women beneft from projects nvolvng cattle, as cattle generally s male property. Only elderly women are lkely to have some cows on ther own, aqured as the "cow of motherhood 11 n the brdeprce pad for ther daughters. Whle women's rghts to land are lmted, ther nfluence on the management of cattle s tradtonally even more restrcted. There s thus a real danger that the mpact of dary development on women may only be ncreased labour demands and no mprovement n ther det or ncomes. Sx ssues are of partcular mportance f women are to beneft from the programme:. The degree of nfluence women have n decsonmakng regardng the mplementaton of the programme at communty level.

105 . Women's ablty to acqure own cows/to nfluence decsons regardng cattle management n the household.. The amount of labour requred for mlk producton. V. The way n whch the payment for mlk delveres s made. V. Who s gven tranng and n what areas. V. The level of awareness of women's specal needs among the decson-makers and personell nvolved n the programme Women's say n decson makng at communty level The mplementaton of the programme s ntended to be democratc and decentralsed, wth the producers organzng themselves to collectvely manage the mlk collecton centres and fx the local producer prce. The producers are themselves expected to establsh or request others to establsh necessary nstallatons and support servces such as dp tanks and veternary servces, clean water supply, transport and plants for smple processng of dary products. t s mportant to ensure that the membershp of these fanners groups are made up of the actve partcpants, not just the cattleowners. n mgrant labour households and many others all the labour wll tend to fall upon the wves, whereas the husbands n general are the owners. Meetngs n the groups - as most communty meetngs - are lkely to be domnated by mddle-aged and elderly men. A strategy to balance ths could be for the dary development team to arrange separate semnars wth women n the project areas where they are asked to dentfy ther needs and constrants n relaton to cattle and dary producton, and recommend solutons. Such semnars would create awareness and nterest among the women, and provde the project team wth useful nformaton. Recommendaton: NORAD should recommend ADA to set as a crteron for support to a farmers group that only actve contrbutors to the dary development project can be members. Passve cattleowners (resdent or non-resdent) should be excluded. NORAD should recommend to ADA that separate awarenesscreatng semnars for women are arranged at regular ntervals n all project areas Women's control over cattle resources and ablty to aqure ther own cows The women's degree of nfluence on decsons n the household regardng utlsaton of the cattle has great mpact on ther ablty to gan from the project. Nether NORAD nor ADA are able to create nterventons whch wll strengthen the women's general control over the famly's cattle. However, more lmted nterventons are possble. One strategy would be to make t easer for women to acqure ther own cows. Ths could be facltated by settng very soft condtons on loans n the planned dary credt scheme, and earmarkng a reasonable proporton for women. Earmarkng 50% of the credt for women mght not be suffcent to secure that they are able to acqure cows etc. t s lkely that 102

106 t A. V women wll be unable fully to utlse ther 50% of the credt offered. f that proves to be the case after a 1-2 years tral perod, establshng a specal credt faclty for women, wth condtons even softer than those n the general dary credt scheme, should be consdered. Recommendatons: NORAD should set the followng condtons for contrbutng to the planned dary credt scheme: The loans should be gven on soft terras, wth a substantal grant component and long repayment perod. 50% of the credt should be earmarked for women. f the scheme after 1-2 years proves to be nsuffcent to ensure that women get 50% of the credts, t should be consdered to establsh a specal faclty earmarked only for women Labour requrements Mlk producton s labour ntensve. t requres that one mlks twce a day, delvers to the collecton centre daly, and brngs the cattle to a dp tank every week. Most of the work wll fall upon the women, as the chldren are n school and many men are absent on mgrant labour. Mlkng s also tradtonally a women's task. However, dary development wll not only mply ncreased labour demands. Establshment of grazng schemes substantally reduces the amount of labour spent on herdng and protectng the crops. n order to mnmze the labour requrements the dstance from each farm to a mlk collecton centre, dp tank, grndng mll and artfcal nsemnaton centre should not be too great. Ths requres constructon of many small and ntermedate facltes rather than a few relatvely large ones. Ths wll be more expensve both to construct and run, and wll surely be an ssue of conflct both at local and natonal level. Farmer groups should also be encouraged to establsh co-operatve systems for collecton and transportaton of the mlk to the collecton centre. Recommendatons: NORAD should recommend ADA and the Mnstry of Agrculture to set up a decentralsed servce structure of a number of small mlk collecton centres, nsemnaton centres and dp tanks. NORAD should allocate suffcent funds to fnance such a decentralsed structure n the project areas. NORAD should support women's groups and other local cooperatve assocatons who want to set up grndng mlls for crushng maze stovers, snapcorns etc. nto fodder. Such projects could be fnanced from the NGO budget, or preferably ncluded n the overall support for the dary development programme Payment for mlk delveres 1 Wves say n the dsposton of the famly's ncomes obvously vares from one household to another, but the general trend s that the husbands make the basc decsons and also keep some of

107 the money asde as ther own. Wves are usually allowed to keep ncomes from "ther" gardens and the so-called ncome generatng actvtes asde as ther own. However, these ncomes tend to be very lmted. 104 The way the payment for mlk delveres s made greatly nfluences the women's ablty to dspose of the money. f payment s made once a month or wth even longer ntervals, there s a great probablty that the husband wll lay hs hands on the money and often keep t all to hmself, as the cows belong to hm. But payment done weekly or at the daly mlk delvery may ncrease the wfe's ablty to keep t. Frequent payments wll requre extra work for the accountant of the collecton centre and also ncrease the rsk of fraud. Stll, the postve effect for women of small and frequent payments s lkely to be great enough to make up for the negatve effects. Recommendaton: NORAD should advce ADA to recommend the dary co-operatves to choose systems of frequent payment for mlk delveres Tranng _ Mlk producton s relatvely complcated, and much tranng and supervson s requred f the programme's objectves are to be acheved. Tranng s requred both n cattle management, fodder producton, mproved santaton, co-operaton n producton and decson makng, and management of co-operatve and commercal unts. t s mportant to ensure that women are gven at least as good tranng opportuntes as men. t s desrable to gve them preference to many of the courses, n order to balance ther dlsadvantaged poston n relaton to cattle ownershp. One must am at partcpaton from both sexes n all areas of tranng, and avod a stuaton where women are traned only n for example fodder producton and mproved santaton, and men not at all n tradtonal "women's areas". The content of the courses should explctly adress women's specal needs and constrants as dary farmers. Nyarungu Tranng Centre (ADA'S tranng center for smll scale dary development) must have chld-care facltes to allow women M to partcpate n the courses gven there. AGRTEX has today hardly any extenson workers who are traned n dary producton, so specal courses for extenson personnel have to be establshed as a component of the programme. Female extenson workers are more lkely to adress the partcular problems faced by female farmers. An attempt should therefore be made to have a hgh proporton of women extenson workers at these tranng courses. n addton all extenson workers should be gven specal tranng n methods for reachng women farmers. Recommendatons; NORAD should recommend to ADA that: A mnmum 50% of the partcpants n the tranng courses should be women.

108 Partcpaton from both men and women n all areas of tranng should be encouraged. The tranng courses should explctly address female peasant farmers' specal problems and contrants n dary producton. Female canddates should be gven preference on the tranng courses for extenson workers. Both male and female extenson workers should be gven specal tranng n methods for reachng women farmers. Nyarungu Tranng Centre should be expanded wth creches and more dormtores for women Level of awareness among polcy makers and personnel The Dary Development Unt n ADA s aware of the above ssues and does attempt to gve the varous components of the programme a desgn whch ensures that women also beneft from t. However, ths unt s not the only body nvolved n the dary programme, and the atttudes and level of conscousness n the relevant nsttutons vary a great deal. t would therefore be useful to arrange a specal awareness-creatng semnar for polcy makers such as the Natonal Dary Co-ordnatng Commttee. One should also arrange workshops for extenson workers and other personnel wth the am to create awareness of female farmers' specal needs and constrants n relaton to dary producton. Female personnel nvolved n the desgnng and montorng of the programme wll ncrease the probablty that the needs of female farmers are catered for. Of the seven project offcers the programme employs as organsers n the feld, only one s a woman. But of the nne lason workers - the real feld workers* as many as fve are women. Two of the four mlk centre attendants (n charge of the operatonal Mlk Collecton Centres) are women. n the central Dary Development Unt n Harare one out of sx professonal staff members s a women. Wth the ongong expanson of the programme, the staff s gong to be expanded and plannng actvtes to be decentralsed to the provnce level. 105 Recommendatons: NORAO should encourage ADA to organse an awarenesscreatng semnar for polcy makers nvolved n dary development. NORAO should also recommend that awareness-creatng workshops for extenson workers and other personnel are ncluded as a regular component n the programme. NORAD should be wllng to earmark funds for such semnars/ workshops. NORAD should recommend ADA to ensure that all the dary development teams n the provnces and plot areas nclude women n ther staff. 4* Jont Zmbabwean/Norwegan programme of acton The recommendatons n ths Plan of Acton wll only commt NORAD. n addton, there s need for a jont Zmbabwean/ Norwegan programme of acton that wll commt both partes.

109 106 Reconunendat on: Norway and Zmbabwe should work out a jont programme of acton to cater for the needs of women n the Dary Development Programme. Ths programme should be approved and subsequently updated n the annual revew meetngs between for two partes for the Dary Development Programme.

110 107 TTLE OF PROJECT / PROGRAMME: Dary Development Programme (ZB 017) 1. Startng date: November Duraton: Phase 1: Budget: NOK 22 mll. 3. mplementng agency: Agrcultural Development Agency (ADA) 4. The project purposes stated n the project document concernng women: Phase 1: Phase 2: 5. Techncal assstance: Persons-months (splt on M/F) Professonal feld External assstance to the project over the last 12 months: Nl 6. External assstance wth competence on WD over the last 12 months Specal funds for women have been used n connecton wth the project for: Sum: Nl. 7. Other / specal funds that have been used n connecton wth the project: CP fund for consultances for LFA workshop Sum: Wll be used n 1991

111 - 108 * 8. Concrete results obtaned (ref. purpose) (data broken down by gender): m 9. Effects and mpacts obtaned concernng women: (drect measures or through ndcators): To what degree have the recommendatons from the last Acton Plan been followed up? Constrants: _ Recommendatons: Date:

112 MPROVED EXTENSON SERVCES TO WOMEN FARMERS Zmbabwe has n the later years expanded the agrcultural extenson servces substantally, and the rato of peasant households to extenson worker s now 1:600, whch s close to the target o: one extenson worker per ward. AGRTEX 1 expanson n the Communal Areas has been gven much of the credt for the mpressve ncrease n producton of maze and cotton n the peasant sector snce ndependence. n Norway part-fnanced a mult-blateral FAO-proJect on how to mprove the agrcultural extenson servces to women n Afrca. Zmbabwe was one of fve countres selected as cases, and the followng were dentfed as the man problems: More than 90% of the extenson personnel are men, and they often do not meet female farmers wth a very constructve approach. Lttle attenton s pad to the partcular nformaton requested by female farmers, such as advce on tradtonal women's crops, on rearng of small anmals and poultry, and on the nutrton value of the dfferent food crops. Due to tradtonal cultural values, female farmers fnd t dffcult to approach the male agrcultural extenson workers (AEWs), or to speak n meetngs where men are present. 4. NORAD has made a prncple decson to fund a three years' project wth AGRTEX wth the am of reorentng the male staff and mprovng the Department's servces to female farmers. The project s currently n the fnal descson-makng stage wthn NORAD. The man components wll be: n-servce tranng of AEWs and other staff members n order to 1) enable them to dentfy and handle effectvely the extenson needs of female farmers; 2) fnd ways of overcomng cultural barrers that mpede the extenson contact between male AEWs and women farmers. Producton of requred tranng materals, ncludng manuals to be used by the AEWs n the feld. dentfcaton and nsttuton of measures that wll make t more attractve for female AEWs and Extenson Offcers to stay n the feld. As the low level of lteracy among female farmers makes communcaton between them and the AEWs more dffcult, t s also consdered to nclude n the project a component of adult lteracy tranng wth a bas towards agrculture, together wth producton of specal agrcultural lterature amed at the llterate/sem-lterate farmers. n addton to the measures above, t s seen as mportant to ncrease the proporton of women among the extenson personnel, as they are more lkely to address themselves to women farmers' specfc needs. The number of female students at agrcultural colleges and nsttutes s lmted by lack of dormtores etc. for women. The number s also lmted by lack of fnance, as few famles are able and wllng to fnance grls' hgher educaton, partcularly n an untradltonal feld.

113 110 Recommendatons: NORAD should contnue to gve hgh prorty to collaboraton wth AGRTEX on preparaton and mplementaton of the project on mprovng extenson servces to female farmers. NORAD should consder grantng scholarshps to female students at the agrcultural tranng nsttutons n Zmbabwe. The grants could be fnanced from the general tranng and scholarshp budget. NORAD should gve prorty to female canddates for the dploma course n agrculture JOTSHOLO PLOT CONSERVATON PROJECT. NORAD has agreed to fund a plot conservaton project n Jothsolo Ward n Matabeleland North. The plot project has been developed by the Mnstry of Envronment and Toursm, and has as an overall objectve "to secure a future sustanable development wth suffcent producton of food and energy". The short-term objectves are mproved water retenson, reduced sol eroton, mproced vegetaton cover, ncreased productvty of cattle, enhanced food producton for the poorer famles, eased burden for women. t s assumed that lvestock development and establshment of vllage vegetable gardens and woodlot wll form the man components of the project. No nformaton has yet been collected regardng the dfferentaton of the target group n terms of needs, expectatons, abltes, etc., and no attenton has so far been pad to the gender aspects of the project. The project s beng funded by NORAD on the assumpton that the sole responsblty for plannng and mplementaton shall rest wth Zmbabwe. The possbltes for NORAD to nfluence the project n respect of nvolvement of women, therefore lays manly n the later project preparaton stages. Recommendatons: NORAD should recommend that the Project Steerng Commttee nto the followng ssues: look 1) The composton and the socal stratfcaton of the households; 2) the dvson of labour between the genders wthn the household and the vllages; 3) the lkely mpact of the varous project components n terms of labour requrements and changes v dvson of labour; 4) measures to ensure that the cattle development component also wll beneft women; 5) to what extent and n what ways the nutrton gardens wll beneft women of the varous socal strata;

114 6) mechansms for nvolvng women n the plannng of the varous actvtes, 7) possble alternatve or addtonal actvtes that may secure that the women beneft from the project. ll 4.2. FSHERES ZAMBA/ZMBABWE SADCC FSHERES PROJECT (REG 027) t NORAD and DANDA have recently granted NOK 25 mll, each for a project whch ams at creatng structures for a sustanable management of the shared fsh resources n Lake Karba. A preproject phase was funded from 1988 by the same donors, durng whch the project was desgned n detal. The project s planned for fve years startng 1991, wth possble extenson for another fve years. The objectve of the project s to develop and set n operaton a jont Zamban/Zmbabwean strategy for sustanable explotaton and management of the fsh resources n Lake Karba. The project wll prmarly look at the ndustral fshery for kapenta, but wll also look at the artsanal fsheres. t has the followng man components: Soco-economc studes of the communtes lvng on the lake shores. Research on bologcal aspects and stock explotaton models for both kapenta and nshore fsh stocks. Establshment of a common system for collecton and analyses of fsheres statstcs. Preparaton and adopton of management plans for the respectve fsheres. Preparaton and adopton of long term lake and lake shore development plans. Tranng of staff n the relevant Government departments n both countres. Upgradng and equpment of the relevant fsheres research and tranng nttutons n both countres. The project s mplemented jontly by the Zamban Department of Fsheres (DOF) and the Zmbabwean Department of Natonal Parks and Wldlfe Management (DNPWM), and co-ordnated by an expatrate techncal expert provded by the project. The soco-economc studes are to be carred out by the Centre for Appled Socal Scences (CASS) at the Unversty of Zmbabwe Gender ssues n the fsheres project Of the above project components, gender ssues have the greatest sgnfcance n relaton tot the soco-economc studes: the fsheres management plans and long term development plans for the lake and lake shore areas; the tranng and staff development.

115 Soco-economc studes The kapenta fshery s a captalsed form of producton, carred out by men as hred labourers. However, a number of women are ndrectly engaged n the producton, as employees n fsh processng plants. Although women do not take part drectly n the artsanal fsheres as fshermen, they are more heavly engaged n ths sub-sector through gllnet mendng, and dryng, preparng and tradng (often llegally) the fsh. The artsanal fseres are furthermore an ntegrated element of the households' total productve actvtes, to whch women also contrbute as (subsstance) farmers. Women's economc contrbuton n the artsanal fshng communtes s generally not recognsed, nether by Government authortes or by the communtes themselves. t s therefore essental that the soco-economc studes take nto account all the elements of producton n the households and communtes. The actvtes show marked seasonal varatons, partcularly n Zmbabwe where the women are often absent from the fshng camps n the rany season, farmng n the hnterland. The studes must thus collect data durng dfferent seasons to get a complete perspectve. The studes must am to dentfy the nature of the dvson of labour between the genders and between dfferent socal strata n the communtes. Recommendatons: NORAD should ensure that the soco-economc studes adequately cover all productve and reproductve actvtes whch the households and communtes n lake shore areas are nvolved durng n the dfferent phases of the year (fshng, processng and tradng, farmng, chld rearng etc). They should also study the transactons between the communtes and the wder economy (through trade, mgrant labour etc). The studes should explctly address the dvson of labour between the genders wthn the households and communtes. NORAD should ensure that the team of researchers nclude at least one expert on gender relatons Fsheres management plans and long term development plans _ The communtes n the lake shore dstrcts make ther lvng from a combnaton of fshng, farmng, huntng and other economc actvtes. The Government authortes n both Zamba and Zmbabwe acknowledge that the artsanal fsheres alone are not lkely to provde a reasonably hgh ncome for a large number of households, and that long term development plans must place fsheres wthn a much wder pcture of economc actvty. t s essental that the plans take nto account the fact that the varous economc actvtes usually are combned wthn each household, and that one-sded development of one economc actvty wll have mpact on the other ones. The most vsble actvtes (e.g. fshng) are carred out by the men, and unless

116 t delberate efforts are made to dentfy and develop the actvtes performed by women, the women are lkely to become margnalsed and ncreasngly dependant through the development efforts. The plans must therefore be prepared n close lason wth the soco-economc research team and representatves of the communtes themselves. 113 The management plans for the respectve fsheres are by nature less comprehensve and more techncal. However, also these plans should explctly take nto consderaton the (nvsble) contrbuton from women, partcularly n the artsanal fsheres. Recommendatons: NORAD should ensure that the long term development plans are prepared n close lason wth the soco-economc research team and the affected communtes. NORAD should strongly recommend to DOF and DNPWM that the long term development plans have as one explct objectve to strengthen the stuaton of women n the lake shore communtes. NORAD should am to ensure that the development plans take nto account the nterphase between the dfferent productve and reproductve actvtes carred out by each household Tranng and staff development One of the objectves of the project s to strengthen DOF and DNPWM through staff development and upgradng of physcal facltes. The tranng component nvolves bologsts, techncans, statstcans, socal scentsts and planners. The number of women nvolved vares between the departments and dscplnes. Delberate efforts should be made to recrut and tran women n all felds of the project. t s partcularly mportant to nclude female socal scentsts and planners. Recommendatons; NORAD should recommend DOF and DNPWM to prepare specfc targets for recrutment and tranng of female staff n connecton wth the project. Tha annual reports should break down tranng fgures on gender. Partcular efforts should be made to recrut and tran female socal scentsts and planners. NORAD should ensure that female staff n all dscplnes and at all levels n the nsttutons nvolved n the project get at least as good tranng opportuntes as ther male counterparts. Female canddates should be gven preference to the dploma course n fsheres bology n Bergen.

117 TTLE OF PROJECT / PROGRAMME: Zamba/Zmbabwe SADCC Fsheres Project (REG 027) 1. Startng date: January Duraton: Phase 1: Budget: NOK 50 mll, 3. mplementng agency: Department of Fsheres, Zamba Department of Natonal Parks and Wldlfe Management, Zmbabwe 4. The project purposes stated n the project document concernng women: Phase 1: Phase 2: Techncan assstance: Persons-months (splt on M/F) Professonal feld External assstance to the project over the last 12 months: External assstance wth competence on WO over the last 12 months 12 pm, M Nl Nat.Scence Specal funds for women have been used n connecton wth the project for: Sum: Nl Other / specal funds that have been used n connecton wth the project: Tranng Funds SUM:

118 Concrete results obtaned (ref. purpose) (data broken down by gender): B 1 9. Effects and mpacts obtaned concernng women: (drect measures or through ndcators): 10. To what degree have the recommendatons from the last Acton Plan been followed up? Constrants: Recommendatons: * Programme Offcer: Mona Gledtsch Date:

119 4.3. ARRESTNG ENVRONMENTAL DEGRADATON 116 The most severe envronmental degradaton n Zmbabwe s found n the Communal Lands, manly as a result of the hgh populaton densty there. The three problems consdered to be the most serous are: deforestaton; sol eroson, and sltaton of dams and rvers. Deforestaton and sol eroson have partcularly negatve effects for rural women, who have to walk longer dstances to collect frewood and cultvate larger felds (f land s avalable) to harvest enough to feed the famly. n addton to grazng schemes (partally ncluded n DDP) fuel conservaton have been dentfed as an area of nterest to women Fuel-savng stoves and solar energy 1 fl Frewood s by far the most mportant source of energy n rural and low-ncome urban households. Although there s qute a range of fuel-savng stoves whch are or could be produced locally, these are not yet n wdespread use. The vast majorty of the rural households cook on open fre. There s today not so much a need for assstance to develop new types of stoves, but for assstance for dstrbutng the already exstng ones. NORAO has over the last few years granted support for subsdsed producton and dstrbuton of one fuel-savng stove, the Tsotso stove. A dfferent, and yet not much explored fuel savng technque, may be found n the utlsaton of solar energy for domestc purposes. Some research and expermental trals on ths are currently beng carred out n Zmbabwe, and NORAO should support the efforts. Recommendaton: NORAD should contnue to encourage dssemnaton of cheap fuelsavng stoves. NORAO should also support research and expermental trals on utlsng solar energy. Both types of projects should be gven prorty for fnancng under NORAD's specal allocatons for Non-Governmental Organsatons and envronmental projects Grazng schemes The most mportant factor creatng sol eroson s overgrazng by domestc anmals. One soluton to ths would be destocklng. However, t s very dffcult to persuade ndvdual farmers to reduce or lmt ther herds, partcularly as they consder most of the land occuped by the commercal farms as rghtly belongng to themselves and ther ancestors. Compulsory destockng was several tmes attempted by the colonal regme wth lttle success and great resentment from the local peasant farmers. The most feasble strategy seems to be to encourage the establshment of grazng schemes and development of collectve management of the grazng resources at the vllage level. n the grazng schemes the anmals stay wthn fenced paddocks, whch protects both crops, grass and other plants from the anmals. Consequently, grazng schemes also reduce the tme requred for herdng. Ths

120 means a reducton n rural women's workload, as today many men are mgrant workers and most chldren above 6-7 years are n school, so a lot of the herdng tend to fall upon women and ther very young chldren. There s today a rapdly growng nterest for establshng fenced paddocks n Communal and Resettlement Areas all over the country. However, lack of sutable fencng materal or money to buy t hampers the development of grazng schemes. Recommendaton: NORAD should encourage the establshment of grazng schemes, for nstance by provdng money for fencng materal. Such support could be channeled through NGOs or Government agences such as AGRTEX or Department of Natural Resources. t should be an area of prorty for fnancng under the specal allocatons for Non- Governmental Organsatons and for envronmental projects. 117 k

121 EMPLOYMENT 5.1. ntroducton The hgh and ncreasng level of unemployment s probably the most serous soco-economc problem facng Zmbabwe. n paragraph 1.4. employment was also dentfed as one of the most strategc areas for mprovng the stuaton of women. Norway grants substantal ndrect support for mantanng the level of employment through the commodty mport support programme. But gven the macro-economc focus and geopoltcal objectve of ths programme, t s not feasble n the current phase to attempt to change t nto a more women-orented actvty,by makng specal allocatons to women's enterprses (done by other donors n Zmbabwe) or by makng employment of women a condton for allocaton of foregn currency to the ndvdual companes. Norway also s generally nterested n supportng other ntatves wth the ntenton to mprove the employment stuaton, but so far no concrete projects have been dentfed and approved wthn the country programme. There s some support for ths under the NGO-allocaton. Recommendaton: The planned evaluaton of the CP programme, and replannlng exercse for the years after 1992, should look at the feasblty of makng specal allocatons for women's enterprses, or stmulatng ndustry wth a hgh level of female workers Prvate sector co-operaton There has so far been lttle nterest among Norwegan prvate companes for jont ventures or other forms of nvolvement n Zmbabwe. The Nordc-SADCC ntatve and n partcular the establshment of fnancal mechansms such as the NORSAD fund mght trgger off greater nterest n the future. However, one should not expect establshment of a great number of jont ventures, as Afrca usually s consdered to be a market of lmted nterest to Norwegan and nternatonal captal n general. Due to ths fact, no jont venture projects n the Southern Afrcan regon s lkely to come about wthout fnancal and possble other support from NORAD. Recommendaton t s doubtful whether - and n case to what extent - t would be feasble for NORAD to set as condton for support that the new companes employ women. Such condtons should n any case not be set exclusvely for projects n Zmbabwe, but would have to be ncluded n NORAD's general gudelnes for assstance to prvate sector co-operaton. However, NORAD should encourage companes to employ women and recommend them to pay equal salary to male and female employees. Where requred n order to facltate employment of women, NORAD should offer addtonal support to establsh servce facltes such as creches and separate bathrooms/tolets for men and women at the workplace. 118

122 5.3. Self employment through co-operatves and other ncomegeneratng actvtes Many Zmbabweans today attempt to solve ther need for employment and ncomes by settng up co-operatves and so called ncomegeneratng projects (GPs). The Government encourages such ntatves, and gves them support through MCCD. NORAD receves a number of applcatons for fundng from NGOs and ndvdual cooperatves and groups nvolved n such actvtes. The full-tme producer co-operatves tend to be made up of men, often sklled or sem-sklled workers who recently have lost ther jobs and joned the ranks of the unemployed. Women more often partcpate n small, part-tme GPs. The most common actvtes are sewng of school unforms, vegetable gardenng and homecraft. Many of the projects n both categores are nadequately planned, and lack the necessary analyses of skll requrements and market for the products. Almost all these projects fall nto what s labeled "the nformal sector", where they face very hard market competton. t s consdered to be even more dffcult to make good busness n the nformal sector n Zmbabwe than n most other Afrcan countres, as ths country's economy s more heavly penetrated by chans of advanced captalst producers and dstrbutors. However, there should exst possbltes n such felds as agroprocessng, producton of buldng materals, furnture, household utensls and clothng for local rural and sem-urban markets. t would be partcularly useful to look nto the possbltes at the recently establshed growth ponts, where there often s a certan demand but lmted supply. And n more remote areas, where the commercal producers do not delver bags of maze meal, co-operatve grndng mlls could be other feasble projects. 119 f Many donors, NGOs and Government mnstres grant support for GPs, no matter how nadequately they have been planned, so the feld s at the moment well funded. However, NORAD has dentfed a need for support to the establshment of structures ntendng to support and professonalse the co-operatves and GPs. Ths could be ndependent co-operatve channels for nput supply, credt and marketng, and nsttutons offerng relevant tranng n professonal project plannng and management, n addton to techncal sklls. For 1991 NOK 4 mll, has been allocated for fundng of Zmbabwean NGOs' projects, and actvtes amng to support and professonalse co-operatves and GPs are one concentraton area for ths scheme. NORAD wll as a rule not grant support for small and ndvdual GPs, but rather to programmes planned, supported and montored by or wth the support from larger NGOs wth experence n ths feld. A large proporton of the fundng goes to projects run by women's groups or groups and co-operatves wth hgh female membershp.

123 Recommendatons: 120 NORAD should contnue to consder actvtes amng to support and professonalse co-operatves and GPS as the major area of concentraton for support to Zmbabwean NGOs. At least 50% of ths fundng should go to projects whch have the ntenton of benefttng women. NORAD should keep a contnuous dalogue wth the relevant NGOs and actvely encourage them to develop and support projects amng to offer women employment and ncreased ncomes.norad should as a rule avod the very small and often nadequately planned GPs, but concentrate on supportng the promoton of a lmted number of medum sze and relatvely professonal co-operatves and GPs. n the later years NORAD has granted close to NOK 20 mll, annually to projects supported through Norwegan NGOs, and a large proporton of these as well fall n the category of ncomegeneratng actvtes. Many of the projects explctly am to beneft women. Redd Barna and Norwegan People's Ad - the Norwegan organzatons wth by far the largest programmes n Zmbabwe - put partcular emphass on ths. Redd Barna for nstance attempts to recrut female feld workers where possble, and NPA has for several years co-operated closely wth local women's organsatons such as Assocaton of Women's Clubs. Recommendaton: 1 All Norwegan NGOs are generally encouraged to gve hgh prorty to actvtes whch beneft women. Apart from ths, NORAD's ablty to nfluence the large NGOs 1 projects are lmted, as the NGOs are delberately granted large scope for ndependent dscreton. From the perspectve of women-orentng the assstance to Zmbabwe there s no argument for changng ths polcy, as the large Norwegan NGOs are just as concerned as NORAD to beneft women wth ther assstance strengthenng women workers Workers educaton for women farm workers (RAF/85/MO2/NQR) Norway has snce 1986 fnanced, through LO, a multlblateral project on provdng workers educaton and organsatonal sklls for female workers on plantatons and large scale commercal farms. The frst phase ( ) comprsed actvtes n Kenya, Ghana and Zmbabwe, for whch Norway granted NOK 3.5 mll. Norway has recently granted addton NOK 6.4 mll, for a seconds phase, durng whch actvtes wll take place n Uganda, Ghana and Zmbabwe. n Zmbabwe the General Agrcultural and Plantaton Workers Unon (GAPWUZ) s the mplementng agency. The farmworkers are consdered to have the worst soco-economc condtons n the country, and women farm workers are generally worse off than ther male colleagues, as the majorty of them are only seasonal and casual labourers, wthout the socal benefts the law proscrbes for permanent labourers.

124 1 121 The project ams to educate the women on ther rghts and encourage them to organse to fght for better securty and mproved workng and lvng condtons n general. n the second phase, the project has expanded ts scope to also assst the women n settng up vable ncome-generatng projects for those perods of the year when they are not engaged as seasonal farmworkers. Recommendaton: Norway should contnue to follow up the support for the project, whch ams to meet the needs of a partcularly weak group of women.! Creches and pre-schools Wth urbansaton and the rapd dsntegraton of the extended famly, responsblty for chld care s ncreasngly becomng a constrant on women's partcpaton n the labour market. There exst some creches run by large employers, cty councls, church groups and other NGOs, but these are a far cry from fylly meetng the needs for chld care facltes. Ths s prmarly a constrant for women n low-ncome employment, as workng mddleand upper class women n Zmbabwe can overcome the constrant by employng low-pad housemads to look after ther chldren. Although the problem n prncple s one of both mothers and fathers alke, n practcal terms t only represent an mmedate problem for the women. MCCD stared soon after ndependence a pre-school programme, under whch ca pre-schools have been set up all over the country, caterng for ca. 10% of the total number of chldren n preschool age of the centres are n the Communal and Resettlement Areas, but the majorty of those only stay open 4-5 hours per day. Of the approxmately 2000 pre-schools n the towns, mnng- and farm compounds, a larger proporton stay open full day. Where the pre-schools functon well, they offer valuable educatve actvtes to the chldren and some hours' relef for ther mothers. However, the need s far from satsfed. And further, as most pre-schools only stay open half day, they do not cater for the needs of mothers n full-tme employment. The pre-schools also tend to be rather unstable wth hgh turnover of teachers, as they are expected to perform the servce on an unpad voluntary bass. The pre-school programme was n 188 transferred to the Mnstry of Educaton and Culture (MEC), and that Mnstry has expressed ntenton to gradually engage the teachers and pay them a small allowance, hopng that wll reduce the turnover rate. To facltate partcpaton n wage employment for women workers a system of creches should be bult, partcularly n the mnngand farm compounds, hgh densty suburbs and ndustral areas. Some creches should also be constructed n the low densty areas, to cater for the needs of domestc workers and other low pad workers.

125 Recommendat on: NORAD should offer NGOs, local muncpaltes, MEC and other relevant nsttutons fnancal support to establsh creches. One should encourage cheap solutons, as NORAD ought not offer support for runnng costs. The grants could be fnanced from the scheme for local NGOs or the specal allocaton for women. 122

126 EDUCATON AND TRANNG 6.1. Norwegan assstance to the sector As stated above, educaton and tranng are strategc areas for mprovng women's stuaton. However, NORAD does not plan to enter nto general nvolvement n the educaton sector n Zmbabwe n the foreseeable future. The Norwegan support s currently lmted to: Unversty co-operaton between the unverstes of Zmbabwe (UZ) and Oslo (UO). Scholarshps for tranng n selected areas Unversty co-operaton (ZB 303) NORAD has granted NOK 2.1 mllon for for co-operaton between Unversty of Zmbabwe (UZ) and Unversty of Oslo (UO). The grant covers tranng of Zmbabwean students n Oslo, and staff exchange for shorter perods n eght departments. Where the counterparts fnd t of nterest, the co-operaton can also be expanded to cover research. Perhaps the most successful area of co-operaton so far has been n Law, where t has strengthened the areas of women's law and famly law consderably at UZ, and at the same tme gven the Department of Women's Law at UO nsght nto women's legal problems n Southern Afrca. One very postve outcome of ths s the new dploma course n women's law, nstgated by the UO, now a jont responsblty of UO and UZ, now beng offered to canddates from Norway's man co-operatng countres n Eastern and Southern Afrca. The areas of collaboraton between the other departments do not specfcally focus on women's ssues. However,a far proporton of the students beng traned n Oslo are women. The mplementaton of the collaboraton s delberately beng left to the unverstes, so NORAD's ablty to nfluence choce of canddates s lmted Scholarshps t s NORAD's polcy to concentrate scholarshps to the followng areas: 1. Tranng of personnel n programmes recevng substantal fnancal or techncal assstance from Norway. 2. Tranng of personnel on areas of specal concern/n sectors Norway generally would lke to see strengthened, e.g. conservaton of envronment, and women n development. 3. Canddates attendng dploma courses n Norway. Outsde these areas Norway would generally not grant scholarshps. Tranng of personnel n NORAD-funded programmes should n prncple take the form of a systematc staff development component n the programme, and be fnanced as part of the

127 programme. The chapters on water development, natural resources and health all suggest some prortes for tranng of female personnel. NORAD offers dploma courses n Norway n Professonal Shppng, Pulp and Paper Technology, Hydropower Development, Electrc Power Dstrbuton Systems, Marne Cvl Engeneerng, Management of Natural Resources and Sustanable Agrculture, Petroleum Exploraton, Anmal Husbandry, Sol Scence, Fsheres Bology and Fsheres Management, and Women's Law. Most of the courses fall wthn tradtonal male areas, and the proporton of women attendng them s very low. Recommendatons: NORAD should actvely use scholarshps to promote tranng of more female personnel n tradtonal male areas. NORAD should where possble gve female canddates preference to such tranng courses. NORAD should actvely use scholarshps to ncrease the level of knowledge on women's ssues n mnstres, tranng and research nsttutes and other Government nsttutons by grantng scholarshps for the specal courses n women's studes at relevant nternatonal nsttutons, e.g. nsttute for Development Studes n Sussex and nsttute for Socal Studes n The Hague. NORAD should am to fnance at least 4 canddates at such courses n NORAD should put pressure on Zmbabwean authortes to nomnate female canddates for the dploma courses n Norway. NORAD should am that at least 50% of the canddates n are women Lteracy tranng The lteracy rate among women s much lower than that among men n Zmbabwe. The hgh llteracy rate * especally among rural women - nhbts ther ablty to mprove ther technologcal (e.g. agrcultural) sklls and ncrease ther producton and ncomes. t also lmts ther ablty to be nformed about natonal development and socal and poltcal changes wth mplcatons for ther own lves. t further restrcts ther ablty to take part n the poltcal nsttutons at all levels. Consequently assstance to abolsh llteracy s also assstance to mprove women's control over ther own lves and ther ablty to nfluence the soco-economc development of the naton. n NORAD earmarked NOK 2.4 mll, of the country programme as support for the Natonal Lteracy Campagn, whch was mplemented by the then Mnstry of Conununrt Development and Women's Affars. However, the campagn gradually faded away, and n 1987 the request was wthdrawn by the Mnstry. NORAD has expressed wllngness to postvely consder a new request n ths feld at a later stage. Furthermore, NORAD has snce 1986 supported on a very small scale lteracy tranng of a group of women n Mbare hgh-densty suburb n Harare. The Adult Lteracy Organsaton of Zmbabwe (ALOZ), whch works n close lason wth both relevant 124

128 Government nsttutons and other NGOs, gves tranng to a large number of groups at grass roots level all over the country. 125 M Recommendaton: NORAD should support the work of ALOZ and other Government- and non-governmental nsttutons offerng lteracy tranng to adult women. 1 4 t».

129 7. ADS The spread of the HV vrus and the ADS pandemc s a new and threatenng development to everyone. The socal and economc costs are lkely to be consderable n Zmbabwe. To women ADS poses unque problems whch have, so far, been gven lttle attenton n the nternatonal debate. No major studes have been done so far on the partcular consequences of ADS on women n socety. ADS attacks the people of sexually actve, and therefore productve, age. Snce t has no cure the nsttutonalsed health servces have lttle to gve. Most ADS patents wll not be taken nto hosptal, but are expected to be cared for at home. Ths places an addtonal burden on women, who must also learn to care for the sck wthout becomng nfected themselves. To women, beng nfected by the HV vrus s not only a threat n the medum to long run, but also a serous problem n the short run because of ther reproductve role. Pregnancy and brth carry the rsk of turnng the latent vrus nto actve ADS, and should be avoded. n addton to the rsk for the women, a large percentage of the chldren born by HV postve mothers are also HV postve, and are most lkely to de before they reach the age of three. HV postve women should therefore be gven the opton to termnate pregnances. As gvng brth to many chldren s a very mportant bass for women's status, HV postve women who are marred but are advsed not to have chldren, and women who are advsed not to marry, wll fnd themselves n a dffcult poston n Zmbabwean socety. They are lkely to face socal solaton as well as economc hardshp. Recommendatons: NORAD should support producton and dssemnaton of nformaton drected at women on ther partcular problems related to ADS. NORAD should support actvtes by Government agences and NGOs for counsellng and for establshng productve and ncome generatng actvtes for the HV postve. The agences should be encouraged to make specal efforts to assst HV postve women who are abandoned and face socal solaton and poverty as a result of ther nablty to fulfll ther reproductve role. NORAD should gve support to studes on the consequences of ADS on women n Zmbabwe. 126

130 ( 8. RELEF ASSSTANCE Norway has n the later years gven relef assstance to Zmbabwe for : 1. Vctms of drought, n partcular n the southern regons 2. Refugees from Mocambque, who are assembled n fve large camps along the border. The amounts granted for these puposes have n the later years been of a lmted magntude, normally less than NOK 2 mll. As women and men have dfferent roles and areas of responsblty, a relef stuaton wll have dfferent mpact on the two. There s for nstance reason to beleve that gven the practce of allocatng more and better food to adult men and chldren, food shortage s lkely to have a more mmedate negatve mpact on women's food ntake than men's. And further, among the sufferng people there wll be a larger proporton than normal of sck people, and consequently a greater demand on women to fulfll ther carng role. However, the target group for Norwegan emergency relef assstance s normally all sufferng people n an area. The ad usually conssts of food, clothes, blankets and shelter and other basc facltes n the refugee camps. Apart from ensurng that pregnant women are allocated extra food ratons, t s not feasble to am at women-orentng the emergency relef ad. _ Recommendaton: t s not feasble to am at women-orentng the emergency relef ad. 127.

131 9. CULTURE NORAD has a relatvely small scheme for support to cultural programmes n Norway's countres of co-operaton. n 1990 NOK ,- was spent for such actvtes n Zmbabwe. Ths ncluded support for producton of a theatre performance by Amakhos Theatre Group of a play, "Sttsha!" dealng wth the problems that a woman faces today when wantng to go her own way and defyng her peers. NORAD has also supported the producton of a flm produced by Meda for Development Trust on women and law ssues - "The Wnds of Change", based on a scrpt dea by Tstsl Dangaremba. The flm takes up the problems a wdow faces n modern Zmbabwe socety. The remanng funds have not specfcally been earmarked for women ssues. Recommendaton: NORAD should encourage female artsts and promote art that hghlghts womens stuaton such as communty theatre productons, flm and vdeos on gender ssues, female tradtons n the collecton of oral tradtons and short term scholarshps for female wrters and artsts. The women wrters of Zmbabwe have recently formed ther own Unon, Women Wrters Unon, and NORAD should consder supportng ther venues. 128

132 10. RESEARCH NORAD's polcy for support to research n the prevous chapters on water development, natural resources, health and ADS, some topcs have been lsted on whch NORAD should commsson research. The studes could ether be fnanced wthn the sector-/project allocatons, through the specal scheme for women's projects, or through NORAD's general scheme for research. t s NORAD's polcy to use the general scheme for research to: 1. Strengthen research capacty and competence n Norway's countres of co-operaton; 2. Promote regonal research co-operaton, partcularly n Southern Afrca; 3. Establsh and mantan a research base n Norway n areas of relevance to NORAD's actvtes. The total research budget s qute lmted, so the allocatons for research n Zmbabwe wll be rather small. Up to 1990 nothng had been granted for research as such n Zmbabwe, whereas a substantal amount had been allocated for regonal semnars/workshops wth venues n Harare, and other forms of support such as provson of books and journals for research lbrares. None of the semnars focused on WD ssues Support for women-orented research actvtes Research programme on women and gender ssues n Zmbabwe Whereas n the Western world n the last few decades a tremendous amount of research on women and gender ssues has been done, research on these topcs n the Thrd World s stll qute lmted. There s very lttle relable data on the varous aspects of women's lves and poston n Zmbabwean socety, on relatons between the gender wth regard to dvson of labour, responsbltes, property and spheres and degree of nfluence. As shown n the prevous chapters on water development and agrculture, these are all ssues where more sold knowledge s requred n order to enable planners to desgn development projects to best beneft women. Today, some studes n ths feld are beng carred out by varous departments at the Unversty, at the Zmbabwe nsttute for Development Studes, and n some Government mnstres. However, the projects tend to be solated and of qute lmted magntude. Consequently, a multdsplnary research programme on women and gender ssues n Zmbabwe would be of great value. Furthermore, as many of the researchers n ths feld are young and nexperenced t would rase the level of competence wthn the area of research f they are gven the opportunty to partcpate n a coherent programme where they would co-operate and be supervsed by more senor and experenced researchers. Some of the topcs to be studed under such a programme could be: Women's partcpaton and nfluence n poltcal processes n the local communtes. Women n pad labour; where, whch rate and how to ncrease 129

133 t? Women's partcpaton n ncome-generatng projects and other actvtes n the nformal sector; any scope for greater ncome-generaton? Women's access to land, cattle, money and other means of producton. The consequences of male labour mgraton on the dvson of labour and spheres and degrees of nfluence wthn the households. The effects of the tremendous expanson n school enrollment on women's work load and stuaton n general. The mpact on rural women of the expanded agrcultural * output from the peasant sector snce ndependence. Women's health status and women's specal medcal problems. Development and dssemnaton of labour savng devces wthn women's areas of responsblty. Women's socally accepted roles and how can they be broadened. Such a programme should be developed by and based n a local nsttuton. t should be desgned wth the combned am of \ generatng more vald and relable data, and strengthenng the *' Zmbabwean research competence n ths feld. A reasonable total budget for the programme would be n the range of NOK 2-3 mll. r NORAD s currently fnancng a research programme along these! lnes n Narob. Recommendaton: NORAD should consder to fnance a 4-5 years' multdsplnary research programme on women and gender ssues n Zmbabwe. Such a [ programme could be fnanced ether through the general scheme for research, through the specal allocaton for women, or through a combnaton of the two Regonal co-operaton As the number of establshed female researchers n Afrca s very ] small, the few who exst tend to be nvted to a large number of > nternatonal conferences of both great and small relevance to ther work. Consequently, they cannot be sad to be solated from r the nternatonal debates, as s often clamed n the frequent j applcaton donors receve for fundng of such events. NORAD should therefore gve low prorty to such applcatons. However, there s an unfulflled need for a much broader group whch ncludes junor researchers and resource persons n mnstres and other Government nsttutons workng on women and gender ssues to meet at regonal workshops where they can exchange experences and develop jont and/or comparatve projects - both studes and appled actvtes such as tranng, nformaton and expermental development projects. Recommendatons NORAD should gve low prorty to ndvdual applcatons for fundng of partcpaton n nternatonal conferences. n order to promote research competence and regonal cooperaton n research, tranng and expermental actvtes 130 r! t t j

134 131 on WD, NORAD should offer to fnance a few regonal workshops for researchers and other resource persons n ths feld. The workshops should prmarly be fnanced through the general research scheme, subsdary through the specal allocaton for women.

135 11. WOMEN'S PROJECTS Producton and Dssemnaton of materals on Legal rghts for women. As outlned n paragraph 5.2. n Secton A of ths document, the Government has snce ndependence passed several progressve laws mprovng the legal poston of women. But, although publc debates have made the general and superfcal awareness of the changes qute wdespread, very few people are famlar wth the full consequences of the legal changes and the new rghts they grant to women. Consecuently very few women demand ther rghts. The Department of Women's Affars (DWA) n Mnstry of Poltcal Affars therefore plans to embark upon an nformaton/educaton campagn wth the am to educate the communtes n general and women n partcular on the full mplcatons of the changes. n addton, the Mnstry ams to use the campagn to rase debate about the unfar and dscrmnatory laws that stll exst, such as the laws regulatng nhertance- and property rghts. NORAD has made an allocaton of NOK 90 mllon for the project over three years, and t s planned to start up n md The project wll nclude the followng elements: Producton and mass dstrbuton of topcal leaflets n all major languages; Producton of some short flms for educatve purposes; Producton of a handbook on the most mportant legal questons; Tranng of cadres n the mplcatons of the laws and n the use of the handbook; Publc meetngs at ward and vllage level; Promoton of communty theatre productons topcs of relevance to the campagn. t s planned to start as a plot project n one dstrct, and then be gradually expanded untl t has actvtes all over the country. Key mplementors are to be the staff of Mnstry of Poltcal Affars tself, n addton to communty workers (WCCs and VCWs), ZANU-PF Women's League, other women's organsatons and any other local resource persons. NORAD has worked closely wth DWA n the plannng of the project Crss centre for battered/raped women There are plans to develop a crss centre for battered and raped women n Harare. NORAD s n touch wth the ntators, and has expressed postve nterest to fund such a project. Recommendaton: NORAD should support establshment of crss centres for battered/raped women. The support could be granted from the NGOscheme or the specal allocaton for women. 132

136 { 12. PROJECTS OF LTTLE RELEVANCE TO WD Commodty mport Programme (CP) (ZB 100) As stated above, the objectves of Norway's Commodty mport Programme (CP) n Zmbabwe are: To support strategc supples and producton wth a vew to decrease the economc dependence on South Afrca. To stmulate the development of regonal complementary ndustres and trade. For 1991 an amount of NOK... mllon has been allocated from the country programme for ths purpose. The programme s made up of two components: 1. A commodty assstance scheme under whch NORAD shall provde Zmbabwe wth mport of goods and servces from overseas. The scheme s n prncple unted, but Norwegan producers wll be gven prorty to the extent that they can delver the requested commodtes at compettve prces. 2. An mport support scheme under whch NORAD provdes foregn currency for mport of goods and servces from other thrd world countres, prmarly wthn the SADCC and PTA regon. Zmbabwe s responsble for procurement of these commodtes and servces andnorad shall re-mburse the mport bll. t s envsaged that approxmately 25% of Norway's total grant for the CP shall be spent on ths component. The two Governments have establshed general gudelnes for selecton of goods and servces under the CP. Elgble for support are sub-sectors that: Have a natonally or regonally strategc poston. Have macro- and soco-economc mportance, partcularly wth regard to employment. Are mport-dependent, partcularly upon South Afrca. The commodtes/servces/nvestments must: Stmulate ntra-regonal trade. Promote development of complementary, not compettve, producton structures. Support delnkng from South Afrca through long term restructurng and/or short term contngency measures. Funds shall be drected towards the prvate as well as the publc sector. Companes wth South-Afrcan ownershp are as a rule excluded from the programme. The focus s on provson of commodtes rather than servces and nvestments. However, the CP may also cover the latter categores, partcularly when supplementary to commodty provsons. 133 Zmbabwe (Mnstry of Fnance) shall each year submt tonorad for approval proposals regardng mports to be undertaken durng the subsequent year, dstrbuted on the commodty assstance and mport support schemes. The proposals are to be based on and justfed wth explct reference to the gudelnes. Recommendaton; Gven the macro-economc focus and geopoltcal objectves of the ], Norwegan CP n Zmbabwe, t s not feasble to attempt to change the programme nto a more women-orented actvty n the V

137 current phase. n the planned evaluaton and replannng exercse for a new phase, after 1992, the feasblty of makng specal allocatons for wome's enterprses, or allocatons to stmulate ndustres wth a hgh proporton of female workers, should be looked nto nput-output matrx NORAD has, snce 1986, fnanced a small project on assstng the Central Statstcal Offce n the Mnstry of Fnance n the development of models for analysng the natonal accounts. Onefemale - expert from the Norwegan Central Bureau of Statstcs was employed on the project for one year n 1987/88. The project conssts of developng models for analysng exstng materal at a very aggregated level, and has not n tself any drect relevance for women's stuaton n Zmbabwe Telecommuncatons (REG 004, REG 024, REG 043) NORAD has, snce 1982, granted altogether NOK 60 mll, for establshment of drect telecommuncaton lnks between Francstown - Bulawayo - Lusaka and Harare - Tete - Blantyre. Pror to these lnks, all telecommuncatons between these areas had to connect va South Afrca or va a lmted number of telephone lnes. The projects are part of the PANAFTEL system, and am at developng mproved regonal telecommuncatons as well as mproved servces at the natonal level. They are of lmted drect relevance to women's stuaton. However, by emphaszng on employment and tranng of female techncans n PTC they can contrbute to mprove women's optons for employment. The ntroducton of new technology n the REG 004/024 has been followed up NOK 9.2 mll, for Techncal Assstance to the Zmbabwe Post and Telecomuncaton Corporton (PTC) (REG 043). The man objectve of ths project s transfer of knowledge to staff at PTC. Recommendaton: NORAD should encourage PTC to select at least as many female as male canddates for any NORAD-funded tranng. 134

138 f TTLE OF PROJECT / PROGRAMME: Techncal Assstance to Zmbabwe's Post and Telecommuncaton Corporaton (REG 043) 1. Startng date: Aprl 1988 Duraton: Phase 1: 2 1/2 years Budget: NOK 9.2 mll, 3. mplementng agency: Zmbabwe's Post and Telecommuncaton Corporaton 4. The project purposes stated n the project document concernng women: Phase 1: Tranng of women not specfed 5. Techncal assstance: Persons-months (splt on M/F) Professonal feld 135 External assstance to the project over the last 12 months: External assstance wth competence on WO over the last 12 months 36M Nl Telecommuncaton. Specal funds for women have been used n connecton wth the project for: f 1 Sum: Nl Other / specal funds that have been used n connecton wth the project: Sum: Nl 8. Concrete results obtaned (ref. purpose) (data broken down by gender): The tranng of telecommuncaton engeneers has nvolved women at a rate of approx. 2F to 8M

139 Effects and mpacts obtaned concernng women: (drect measures or through ndcators): N/A 10. To what degree have the recommendatons from the last Acton Plan been followed up? NORAD has requested the Norwegan Tranng Advsor and Plannng Advsor n PTC to submt proposals for scholarshps for female telecommuncaton techncans. Constrants; No applcatons receved so far. Recommendatons: NORAD should follow up wth new requests to PTC. Programme Offcer: Ruth Kove Dates

140 12.4. Power Plan Zmbabwe Electrcty Supply Authorty (ZESA) has snce 1988 receved Norwegan assstance for a fve year project on mprovng the generaton and transmsson capacty of the electrcty supply system. The project wll manly beneft urban and major rural centres. Norway has granted NOK 44.4 mll, for engneerng servces and consultancy studes. The project s co-fnanced wth the World Bank, and Norway's contrbuton s gven as a ted grant. The project conssts of developng a resource at natonal level, of lttle drect relevance to women's stuaton, especally as rural electrfcaton s not ncluded n the project. 137,

141 TTLE OF PROJECT / PROGRAMME: Power Plan 1. Startng date: July Duraton: 138 Phase 1: Budget: NOK 44.4 mll, 3. mplementng agency: Zmbabwe Electrcty Supply Authorty (ZESA) 4. The project purposes stated n the project document concernng women: 5. Phase 1: Nl Techncal assstance: External assstance to the project over the last 12 months: Persons-months (splt on M/F) 80M Professonal feld Engeneerng External assstance wth competence on WD over the last 12 months Nl 8. Specal funds for women have been used n connecton wth the project for: Sum: Nl Other / specal funds that have been used n connecton wth the project: Sum: Nl Concrete results obtaned (ref. purpose) (data broken down by gender): N/A Effects and mpacts obtaned concernng women: measures or through ndcators): N/A (drect

142 To what degree have the recommendatons from the last Acton Plan been followed up? The last Acton Plan dd not contan any partcular recommendatons regardng ths project. Constrants: N/A Recommendatons: t s not feasble to attempt to make ths project - or components of t - nto a women-orented project. Programme Offcer: Sonja McLeod Date:

143 140 SECTON C - WOMEN'S ORGANSATONS AND RELEVANT RESEARCH NSTTUTONS By Elnor Batezat and Margaret Mwalo 1991

144 NTRODUCTON TO SECTON C n the precedng secton we examned Government polces and attempted to show what successes and constrants the Government has experenced n mplementng ts polces. n addton to the Government machnery dscussed, there exst a number of other women's organsatons whch encourage women n economc, socal, relgous and poltcal actvtes as well as actng as pressure groups to preserve the rghts of women. We now proceed to descrbe some of these women's organsatons n order to llustrate how women have organsed themselves n an attempt to change ther stuaton. t s mportant to menton that well over 250 voluntary organsatons exst n Zmbabwe accordng to the records compled by the Mnstry of Labour, Manpower Plannng and Socal Welfare. These organsatons promote programmes amed at mprovng women's ncome earnng capacty as well as the welfare of ther famles. They stem from dfferent backgrounds. There are relgous voluntary organsatons whch stem from churches; poltcal organsatons whch are manly women's wngs of poltcal partes or trade unons; assocate organsatons whch do not strctly concentrate on women's ssues but do help n fundng, techncal advce, educaton and tranng of women, and non-governmental voluntary organsatons whch fall n nether of the categores stated above.

145 2. THE ORGANSATONS 2.1. Adult Lteracy Organsaton of Zmbabwe (ALOZ) 94 Cameron Street, Box 4480, Harare Phone / ALOZ, known as the Adult Lteracy Councl at ts ncepton n 1963, was establshed to teach lteracy sklls to adults who had no chance to go to school. Gven the fact that the colonal state dd not thnk t necessary to provde resources and facltes for adult lteracy classes, the councl had to operate from only two offces n Harare and Bulawayo concentratng ts efforts n developng lteracy courses and materals and tranng adult lteracy teachers. At ndependence, wth the knowledge that there were approxmately 2.5 mllon llterate people, most of whom were women - the Government set one of ts objectves as the need to eradcate llteracy. Ths objectve concded wth the major am of ALOZ whch s to promote lteracy among dsadvantaged groups n the country. By takng an actve part n the plannng and development of the Adult Lteracy Campagn whch was launched n July 1983, ALOZ actvtes became ntensfed and wdened to embrace most of the country. Workng closely wth the MCCDWA, ALOZ actvtes nclude tranng lteracy teachers for ndustry, agrculture and rural and urban communtes. nstead of teachng only the basc sklls of readng and wrtng, the orentaton s now to teach lteracy for functonal purposes. Thus ALOZ now supports lteracy related ncome generatng projects through advce, tranng, loans and grants. To oversee ts programmes, ALOZ has a management commttee whch apponts a Drector for plannng and executon of ts functons. The majorty of ALOZ staff are women and are responsble for runnng lteracy programmes n whch 80% partcpants are women The Assocaton of Women's Clubs (AWC) 64 Selous Avenue, Box UA 339, Causeway, Harare Phone Formerly known as the Federaton of Afrcan Women's Clubs, the AWC was founded n 1952 wth the am of assstng Afrcan women n both rural and urban areas to: exchange deas and teach each other domestc sklls such as cookng, sewng, knttng and chld care; and partcpate n the prevalng economc atmosphere. After 1980, the organsaton revewed ts ams and approach so that ts actvtes could ft n wth Government polcy. To date ts objectves have expanded to nclude: promotng ncome generatng projects; promotng lteracy; coordnatng club actvtes through shows, tranng and workshops; and representng club members at natonal and nternatonal fora. 142

146 Generally these objectves are meant to enable women to partcpate n development programmes. To fulfll these objectves, the Assocaton has a natonal executve body and a leadershp composed of voluntary workers. n addton t has an admnstratve staff comprsng of the Natonal charperson, Natonal Executve Secretary, Accountant, Programme Offcer, Project/Tranng Offcer at head offce and Regonal Organsng Secretary, Demonstrators and non-salared Area Traners. The functons are facltated by the exstence of fve regonal offces n Mashonaland, Matebeleland, Mancaland, Mdlands and Masvlngo whch are lnked to the grassroots level through dstrct and area commttees. Such an organsatonal structure enables t to cater for as large a membershp as 23,000. Tranng appears to be the major actvty of the Assocaton because t offers courses related to agrculture, nutrton and health, craft work and management and admnstraton. These courses are generally lnked to ncome generatng projects Natonal Federaton of Women's nsttute of Zmbabwe - Homecraft (NFW - Homecraft) 13 Fve Avenue, P O Box 8263, Causeway, Harare Phone l NFW, Zmbabwe chapter s nternatonally afflated to the Assocated Country women of the World and was frst establshed n ts major objectve was to encourage women to effectvely partcpate n the development process of the country. To do so, the NFW encourages actve partcpaton of women n matters pertanng to health, educaton, rural development, equty, self relance and self mprovement. Organsatonally, the NFW s composed of two sectons: the women's homecraft clubs and the women's nsttutes. The homecraft secton draws t membershp, whch stands at 8 000, mostly from Afrcan women, 99% of whom are based n the rural areas. The functons of ths secton have not changed much because ts man nterest - to mprove the status of rural women - s attaned through tranng n agrculture and home management. The women's nsttute has manly been nvolved n tranng communal farmers, youths, commercal farmers, mne workers and NGO staff n agrculture, santaton, nutrton and health. Ths has been done through 40 women's nsttutes spread n varous parts of the country. For operatonal purposes the women's homecraft clubs are asssted by staff at the natonal level. These organse tranng programmes for feld workers - ther staff at the grassroots level. Due to lack of funds the NFW has had to lmt t functons although currently some of ts feld staff work on a voluntary bass.