Gender Champion hits ground running, contests for ...

Gender Champion hits ground running, contests for senatorial position

Munyaradzi Doma

A Harare woman who was part of the group trained on gender responsive policy making by Women's Democracy Network Zimbabwe with the main goal of promoting women participation in public life, recently put part of her knowledge to work as she contested to be a Senator.

Lilian Gwanyanya, who is also the Director and Founder of Center for Children with Disabilities, was part of the 30 gender champions comprised of both men and women who were trained at the end of July by WDN-ZW.

After the two-day workshop, the gender champions developed action plans which they were expected to implement in their communities so as to apply knowledge and skills gained.

Despite her failure to land the Senatorial seat, Gwanyanya said she was happy with the opportunity.

“Sure in public life we have been trying, I have been trying. I have campaigned to be a Senator representing Persons With Disabilities so that I take issues that have got to do with policy to Parliament for implementation and alignment so that even children with disabilities would be catered for.

“Because once a policy that talks about education is inclusive of children with disabilities, it means it is something positive that will happen for the benefit of such children.

“The same as health policy, is it inclusive of persons with disabilities, especially children with disabilities who may not be afforded medical attention because of poor family backgrounds.

“So, these people should have that free medical attention so that they can grow up well,” revealed Gwanyanya.

She added that they have been engaging a lot with government and the public, to ensure their participation in public life.

As part of her message during the campaigns, Gwanyanya was calling for an inclusive transport policy that prioritises accessible transport for persons with disabilities as mentioned in the National Disability Policy.

She was also calling for free education for persons with disabilities in all public learning institutions and that 15 percent of PWDs on every housing allocation.

Her colleagues are also pushing for the promotion of women participation in public life in their different communities and WDN-ZW is currently running a 10-day activism programme which started on August 28 and ends on September 6.