The Sunday Mail
Tendai Rupapa in ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
IN 2019, Zimbabwe’s trailblazing and innovative First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa was voted Vice President of the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) because of her hardworking spirit, as she executed her duties with distinction until the end of her tenure.
During her stint and up to now, she has continually stressed the significance of regular visits and meetings among First Ladies to share ideas, learn from one another and shift from the common scenario of meeting on the sidelines of meetings of Heads of State and Government.
These sideline meetings afford First Ladies less time to deal with pressing issues exhaustively as mothers of nations.
The need to enhance regional collaboration among African First Ladies was high on the agenda at the 28th General Assembly of the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development currently underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
First Ladies of Nigeria, Angola and Burundi Senator Oluremi Tinubu (right), Mrs Ana Afonso Dias Lourenço (centre) and Mrs Angeline Ndayishimiye, respectively, during the 28th General Assembly of the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, yesterday. — Pictures: John Manzongo
Technical advisers to the First Ladies, in their minutes, have adopted Dr Mnangagwa’s call for regular meetings and close collaboration to pave the way for greater cooperation on multiple fronts.
The suggestion is among recommendations which the technical team will make to Africa’s First Ladies today, on the sidelines of the ongoing African Union Heads of State summit.
Apart from enhancing collaboration among themselves and getting to know one another, regular meetings of First Ladies afford them the opportunity to identify common challenges and share solutions.
“When we meet, we create a platform where we share ideas, thereby learn from one another and take the experience back to our countries for the development of our countries and the continent,” Dr Mnangagwa is on record as saying.
The technical advisers are of the view that deepening regional cooperation enhances stability among members, provides them with greater visibility and international influence to face the world as one, rather than speaking as separate voices.
Putting her words into practice, Dr Mnangagwa in December last year invited her colleagues for a high-level meeting attended by Mrs Neo Jane Masisi (Botswana), Mrs Isaura Nyusi (Mozambique), Mrs Oluremi Tinubu (Nigeria) and representatives of Zambian, Angolan, Egypt and Burundi’s First Ladies.
The meeting, which was a precursor to the International Conference on Aids and STIs in Africa (ICASA), sought to map strategies on monitoring, treating and realising the dream of ending HIV and Aids in children by 2030.
The OAFLAD Secretariat has since identified the high-level meeting among the major highlights for 2023, not only in Zimbabwe but also in Africa.
The technical adviser to the First Lady, Dr Bernard Madzima, who is representing her at the conference, said the 28th General Assembly for OAFLAD commended Dr Mnangagwa for the highly organised high-level meeting.
“We had great appreciation of the work which Her Excellency, Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, has done, especially the high-level meeting for ICASA, which she hosted in Victoria Falls.
“Representatives of the First Ladies who attended the meeting have expressed their sincere appreciation of the hosting which they received from her Excellency, the First Lady of Zimbabwe, so they were appreciative and they really brought it out yesterday,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s report, Dr Madzima said, was well-received at the initial technical advisers’ meeting, which was left spell-bound by Dr Mnangagwa’s life-transforming initiatives that cut across most sectors and benefit all classes of people.
“The 28th General Assembly meeting of the OAFLAD started on Wednesday with a technical advisers’ meeting and as Zimbabwe, we presented a report on the First Lady’s 2023 activities. We highlighted the OAFLAD activities for Zimbabwe by the First Lady of Zimbabwe, Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa.
“The technical teams and OAFLAD acknowledged the events, which were spearheaded by Dr Mnangagwa. The first one was the #We are equal campaign, which she launched in Chiweshe on November 14, 2023 and in that event, she brought together communities. There is need for equality between boys and girls,” he said.
The theme of that #We are equal campaign, Dr Madzima emphasised, is to ensure that equality is in empowerment, health, education and to end gender-based violence.
“The work which the First Lady of Zimbabwe did during that day was commended by OAFLAD and the technical advisers. The other event, which Her Excellency hosted in Zimbabwe, was on December 2, 2023 in Victoria Falls, the high-level meeting of First Ladies of Africa, where the agenda was ending HIV in children and the First Lady of Zimbabwe hosted many other First Ladies.
“So, OAFLAD said this was one of their major highlights for 2023 not only for Zimbabwe but also for the whole of Africa,” he said.
He continued: “We want to commend the work which the First Lady of Zimbabwe spearheaded in 2023. So, going to 2024, the First Ladies are looking at how to strengthen the activities of OAFLAD and one of the key issues which has been mentioned is regional collaboration. This is where we need to bring together First Ladies in regions to address issues which commonly affect them. We know that her Excellency, the First Lady of Zimbabwe, has been talking about this issue for several years. This ties in really with the work which we have started talking about. Dr Mnangagwa’s stance on collaboration received a major buy-in from OAFLAD and it is an area they said can also support.”
Dr Madzima mentioned how Amai Mnangagwa stayed ahead of the pack by tackling issues that directly affect the people, like empowerment and the need to end child marriages and gender-based violence.
“The issues of girl child empowerment have come up again, the issues of making sure that the girl child is supported, as well as issues which will end negative consequences like child marriages and HIV infections in children. So, as we continue with the OAFLAD meeting, we now are looking at making recommendations on five areas, which have been mentioned and one of them is on increasing visibility of the work which First Ladies are doing,” he said.
“The other areas that we are also looking at include improved collaboration with partners. During the technical teams’ meeting, we have had the opportunity to discuss on behalf of Her Excellency, Dr Mnangagwa. There is a partner that we are working with on the human papillomavirus vaccination programme, which was launched by Amai Mnangagwa way back in 2018.”
Zimbabwe, Burundi, Ghana, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Zambia, Congo, Namibia, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Botswana, Malawi, Uganda have already launched the #We are equal campaign in their countries. Although Zimbabwe and other OAFLAD members have registered advancements in gender parity and other areas, there are other challenges that need collective attention.
