The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
JAPAN has committed US$462 962 to strengthen sexual reproductive health (SRH) and gender-based violence (GBV) mitigation and response for vulnerable women and girls in Mbire and Shamva districts in Mashonaland Central Province.
This is in a partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.
Said Japanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Satoshi Tanaka: “Zimbabwe’s sustainable development and bright future can only be assured when women are empowered. Japan will support Zimbabwe’s efforts to build an inclusive society, where women and girls have equal rights, and GBV is no longer acceptable in any form and where women and girls can access the full range of SRH services that they need, including psychosocial services and counselling.”
Official data shows that between January and November 2021, 7 664 GBV cases were reported through the national GBV hotline, representing a 16 percent increase compared to the same period in 2020 (6 600) and a 74 percent increase compared with the same period in 2019 (4 405).
Of the reported cases, 94 percent of the survivors are women and girls.
GBV remains under-reported mainly due to economic dependence on the perpetrator (90 percent of cases are intimate partners), fear of stigma and unavailability of multi-sectoral essential services.
In the two districts of Mbire and Shamva in Mashonaland Central Province, women and girls face a number of challenges such as food insecurity and shortages of transport to access key services, which increases their vulnerabilities to GBV.
UNFPA representative Dr Esther Muia said: “The government of Japan has continued to support our mandate areas over the years. We express our profound gratitude to the government of Japan for our continued partnership to ensuring access to GBV and SRH services in Zimbabwe.”
An estimated 10 000 women and girls, including those with special needs, will be reached through the proposed interventions.
