In April, Zee and l set off on a trip to Zimbabwe and Malawi to monitor women’s organisations that have received grants from AWDF in the last 3 years. Preparations for this visit started in February amidst mixed feelings of anxiety and fear especially about visiting Zimbabwe. There were also additional challenges including some difficulties communicating with grantees in a timely manner, visa issues, and then came the big one; a mix up of Zee’s name on her air ticket two days to our departure.

Having overcome all the hurdles, we were set for Harare. We had no particular expectations of Zimbabwe. Why? Because we relied so much on negative media hype about Zimbabwe and Uncle Mugabe. On the 10^th of April 2011 our plane landed on the territorial borders of Zimbabwe. Wow! It was simply breathtaking, the airport better than most stable African countries l have been to. The green vegetation, the organised city, tarred roads, clean environment, the infrastructure, the warm people; l was just overwhelmed by most of the things l saw. I had a blank mind about what kind of infrastructure to expect, l was highly prejudiced by western media hype and all the negativities about how collapsed the state is.

Unlike most African countries l have been to, we didn’t have to go through the problem of converting dollars into local currency, thanks to the “dollarisation” of the Zimbabwean dollar, it was simply transactions made easy! You could transact business in US dollars anywhere, anytime. Hey but it also had its bad side, we had to deal with getting rid of the extremely old notes by making sure that all of it was used up in Zimbabwe. No bank will accept the over used tired looking US dollar notes from Zimbabwe and obviously not AWDF’s finance department. The other is the issue of change in smaller notes or shillings which were just not available. Be ready to receive your change in the form of coupons or asked to take some sweets at the payment counter! As for the high cost of living we are better off not talking about it, again it is not comparable to any Africa country l have visited. But again it is understandable because of the long economic blackout the country has faced from 2000.

Our Monitoring & Evaluation visit to Zimbabwe encompassed 18 0rganisations including Hope for Africa Katswe Sisterhood, Women in Law in Southern Africa Research and Education Trust (WLSA Zimbabwe), The Women’s Trust (TWT), Creative Centre for Communication and Development (CCCD) and Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ). Most women’s organisations visited in Zimbabwe are just awesome and braving the odds to make impact. Their resilience and determination are encouraging and admirable.

“We find creative ways of making women’s voices heard around GBV issues whilst protecting their identity using the mobigater during the tense moments here” said Gertrude Pswarayi of CCCD.

These organisations have weathered the storm of the long economic crisis, the “dollarisation” of the local currency as a result of the high inflation that have led to most organisations having ‘zero account balances’, the political polarisation of activities and the insecurity around freedom of speech. These organisations are still surviving, passionate about their work and hopeful of a brighter future amidst the political uncertainties. As aptly stated by Luta Shaba of the Women’s Trust,

“We will continue to work on and pursue issues around women political participation and the legitimisation of women in political spaces because in these political spaces critical issues around development and women are made. It is a hostile environment but we will not relent in our efforts”.

Most of these organisations work on issues such as women’s access to land, inheritance rights, political participation of women, access to justice, HIV&AIDS and sexual reproductive rights of women. As an African woman l am proud to be part of these organisations in their struggles and rage to empower women economically. I feel inspired by their fortitude and l want to encourage and support them as l look forward to replicating the lessons learned from Zimbabwe for the benefit of other countries.

By: Nafi Chinery

Capacity Building Officer, AWDF