Elevating voices of Zimbabwean girls and women through education

Anoziva Marindire co-founder of the Usawa Institute, A Zimbabwean non-profit organisation advocating for women’s education and development in Africa, speaks to AWiM about the progress her team has been making so far.

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Currently based in Burkina Faso in West Africa, the second hottest country on the planet, Anoziva Marindire joins our virtual meeting burning from the heat and also the excitement to share the story of the Usawa Institute.

As a firm believer in knowledge is power for all to have, Ms Marindire is a women’s rights activist focused on ensuring all girls and women have access to education and development opportunities.

Growing up in Mufakose, Harare, some of the challenges she faced as a young girl attending school were the lack of chairs and resources. As she became older, the search for opportunities to secure her future, the internships, programmes and jobs were not easy to find. Almost seeming invisible.

“Back then, you probably had to be in certain sectors for you to know that there were opportunities for you,” she explains, “You had to have been exposed to a network for you to have a chance to make your mark.”

In 2014, she was given this opportunity through an invitation to the African Union’s annual Youth Day. Every year one or two young people from each county in the 55 member states were chosen to attend the event.

“At that time, the African Union didn’t have a particular division for Women, Gender and Youth as they do now,” Ms Marindire explains as the union’s current information and communications officer.

From being an invited guest to her securing a job with the union, her initial visit provided various opportunities for the Zimbabwean entrepreneur to do in Africa. Many of these were advocacy projects that lined up seamlessly with her beliefs and values as a feminist.

Whilst attending the International College of Journalism and Business in Zimbabwe, where she studied journalism and communications, the activist met a group of friends through a pilot programme organised by the  Zimbabwe Government. The programme enlisted students from different colleges to provide a pan-African view on teaching journalism.

“The very friends I met through that programme became my first development partners,” she tells us, “We were a group of 20 girls and while studying, we decided to start a digital magazine and platform for women called Para Doca.”

The group of female students from different colleges all understood the challenges and barriers girls and women face in the industry. Seeing a common denominator of gender and economic inequality they came together to provide solutions for each other and other women in the media industry who were going through the same or similar obstacles as them.

“Every time we would go to look for work or if you had gotten an attachment, the majority of the people managing the newsroom were male,” Ms Marindire shares, “Of course as a longstanding issue this was no surprise to us but because the feminist movement in Zimbabwe in 2014 was just being reignited, there was a bigger push for equality and we felt we could speak up!”

Feeling empowered and courageous to stand for their beliefs and ask the right questions, the group of 20 girls decided to go to the US embassy after hearing word of a new programme that was to be launched. The programme turned out to be the Mandela Washington Fellowship.

“We wanted to find out more so we went to the embassy and asked what programmes they had and told them we wanted to start a platform to help students,” Ms Marindire expresses.

After pitching their idea, the team at the US embassy helped them to refine their magazine which successfully became a digital hub for students to practise and get to know their attachments in an environment that was safe.

“We even ended up  getting other young journalists from different countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, and writers from West Africa to contribute to the stories in the magazine.”

Although the Para Doca magazine  wound up in 2017, this was just the beginning for the women right’s activist as her work in woman’s development expanded.

What had initially seemed like a programme created by students was also the start of an organisation she would later be called the director of today.

“From doing the magazine, there was a lot of stories around women’s issues that we got exposed to,” she explains, “that caused me and my best friend who was also part of Para Doca, Theresa Tapfuma, to expand and continue the work with a bigger focus on women.”

The two journalists founded the Usawa Institute together, starting the organisation as a project called Girls Speak Out in 2016 before it became registered in its current name.

Similar to Ms Marindire’s upbringing, Ms Tapfuma grew up in the rural part of Masvingo in Zimbabwe where she faced the same challenges in education and development opportunities.

Both recognising these barriers, they wanted to help young girls from their homelands going through similar issues they went through and help them overcome the new challenges of today.

“Now you have to contend with the same problems, but you are growing up in a digital world so you have more challenges if you’re going to go to university or college,” the communications specialist shares, “this is because you’re coming in at a disadvantage, so we are taking girls that came from that background and teaching them digital skills too.”

50 per cent of the 3.7 billion population in the world who do not have access to the internet are women according to UN Women.

The digital gender divide in Sub-Saharan Africa does not only affect employability for women but their education as well.

For example, in Zimbabwe UNICEF found that 14 per cent of young girls aged between 15 to 18 years old compared to 20 per cent of boys have ICT skills which leave a large percentage of youth without the skills to develop further in a heavily digital landscape.

“Although, today’s space is now filled with platforms with opportunities for Africans that are more visible and accessible through online channels, the issue that still remains is how those without internet access will be able to see these career prospects,” Ms Marindire states.

She adds: “Even the economic inequality that exists within the world disempowers those that do not have information.”

The Zimbabwean-born entrepreneur has always been passionate about issues surrounding justice in information.

She knew she would either become a lawyer or a journalist. Two job titles that have justice at the core. Only pursuing to study law this year at STADIO Higher Education, the co-founder is eager to expand her knowledge in policymaking to tackle gaps in policies that aren’t fulfilling the needs of marginalised girls and women in Zimbabwe.

The Usawa Institute which uses the Swahili word ‘Usawa’ meaning ‘Equality’ has grown to be a non-profit organisation addressing and dismantling the multiple areas in which women are disempowered through education.

“We run a number of programmes for young girls in school and also older women that provide training, mentorship and resources covering women’s health, environmental issues, economic development and more,” Ms Marindire tells us.

Since the Usawa Institute started as the Girls Speak Out project where Zimbabwean girls were taught how to code, it has allowed girls and women to share their stories, experiences and dreams for a world they can be seen and be empowered.

“In 2018, we were recognised by the International Telecommunications Union and for us, that was really an eye-opening moment to see that even the work that we are doing is being recognised.”

Best of all the feedback Ms Marindire and her team which has grown to five broad directors have received from their students has been their biggest motivation to continue: “I have met so many young girls who tell me they want to get into media or become entrepreneurs and to see that light reignited in their eyes is the best joy.”

Progress is being made but the work is not yet over and the team at Usawa recognizes this.

“Recently, we have started to offer training in capacity building with community-based organisations that also get involved in our after-school programmes,” The co-founder says, “But now we are also starting to incorporate research in women’s education”

The activist points out how there is still limited research in women’s education that looks at countries in the African diaspora, covering the different facets of issues impacting women and girls in Africa.

Through the movements, the Usawa Institute has created since its launch, the team have highlighted that knowledge is not only power but the key to achieving an Equitable Africa for everyone.

This article is part of the African Women in Media (AWIM) Graduate Trainee Programme in collaboration with Fojo Media Institute.