An alert from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights:

HIV/AIDS ACTIVIST ARRESTED AT COPAC CONFERENCE

POLICE on Monday 22 October arrested Douglas Muzanenhamo, a Zimbabwean Aids activist for distributing constitutional material at the ongoing Constitution Select Committee (COPAC)’s Second All Stakeholders conference.

The arrest took place after some delegates at the conference asked Muzanenhamo for copies of the Working Peoples Red Amendments to the COPAC Draft Constitution prepared by trade unionists, constitutional reform activists, women’s organisations, students and HIV/AIDS activists in October 2012 under the Working People’s Constitutional Convention.

Muzanenhamo was immediately taken into custody and the police intend to charge him with Inciting Public Violence.

In September 2012, Muzanenhamo filed a landmark case in the Supreme Court challenging the denial of anti-retroviral drugs to suspects in police cells. His case was based on the horrendous treatment he received when he was arrested in February 2011 and charged with treason together with 45 other human rights activists including University of Zimbabwe lecturer and ISO leader Munyaradzi Gwisai, where he was denied his medication.

Tawanda Zhuwarara, a senior lawyer with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who is representing Muzanenhamo, is working towards his release and making contingency arrangements to ensure that he is not denied his medication once again as happened in 2011.

On Saturday we held a memorial celebration of the life Nola Kate Reeler
Tony’s mother, who left us 2 weeks ago at the age of 87.

Her hand is one of the oldest Elijah and Daniel – her 2 great grandsons – will ever hold

Who was the oldest hand she ever held?
her Huguenot grandparents?
who left their grandparents in Europe
to come and grow grapes on the other side of the world?

What stories this hand has lived through
from her Afrikaner childhood in the Cape
to a home she and her husband made in a newly developing Rhodesia 60 years ago

A home which held the lives of her 3 children
her neighbours and friends and all of their children
members of the Benevolent Helping Hand, the Citizens Advice Bureau, the Legal Aid Clinic
her political allies in her fight against Ian Smiths ‘illegal regime’
her dinners and celebrations,
the Easter Bunny and Father Christmas

The home she only left only a week before she died

On Saturday her children, and the children of her friends, and the friends of her children
whose lives she had touched
met in her home and spoke of the part she played in their growing
and her grandchildren spoke of the magic she had brought to theirs
weaving together the different threads this grand old lady
had loved, challenged, educated, inspired into being
and fed with her wonderful cooking

Three more of her great grandchildren will be born within the next 5 months

One day these new, innocent  young hands
will be the oldest hands a new life will touch
and their story – threaded together with all the stories that came before them
their light and dark,
the changes and challenges,
the love and laughter
will hold the continuum of our lives

tiny hands holding old fingers
carrying stories that touch through time

Some excellent suggestions from Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA):

1. The government of Zimbabwe should take the responsibility and acknowledge the incapacitation inspired by the underfunding of local authorities and declare the water issue as a national crisis. This will definitely bring on board international partners who will assist the government of Zimbabwe to mobilize funds for water infrastructure, rehabilitation and provision. The government of Zimbabwe released only 18 million for the rehabilitation of water pipes in Harare but the figures coming in from council shows us that the local authority is in need of more than USD 200 million to deal with water alone.

2. Collaboration with residents Associations in forming community water groups responsible for water conservation initiatives and education will go a long way in saving the water we have in its small quantities.

3. Construction and funding of the Kunzvi Dam water project (the Zambezi river water project for Matabeleland) will go a long way in easing pressure on the current water sources we have.

An eight-track poetry album entitled All Protocols Observed was unpacked yesterday by Zimbabwe Poetry for Human Rights at a Food for Thought session hosted by US Embassy Public Affairs section.

Though you can dance to it the tracks on the album address some of the serious challenges affecting our country. From the accumulating dirty debt, to ravaging HIV/AIDS as well as politicians abusing their mandate to represent the people. The messages on the album are straight to the point as no one can dispute the fact that every problem in the country so far has been addressed with an “Operation” or a “Commission” of some sort as highlighted in track 5 of the album “Ma Opareshoni nema Komishoni”. Since Independence a lot commissions and operations have been set up to respond to something or other. From Operation Murambatsvina that demolished people’s houses because they were deemed illegal structures to Operation Zuva Rabuda/Sunrise, which resulted in the slashing of many zeroes on our local currency.

The album can be accessed from Zimbabwe Poetry for Human Rights free of charge and the group is encouraging people to share it so that it reaches a wide audience. Poetry is a powerful tool to provoke thought.

Many artists have been silenced in Zimbabwe for speaking out too loudly about the injustices faced by ordinary people. The work of Zimbabwe Poetry for Human Rights has not been easy as their recent performance in Kadoma was met with resistance when youths from ZANU-PF shut down the event and accused the group of spreading regime change messages.

Toindepi – Where are we headed? is a short sixteen minutes documentary directed by Tenford Chitanana. The film won the Documentary Short Film Award at the Silicon Valley African Film Festival held in California, USA. The documentary focuses on the day to day hardships faced by young people in Zimbabwe after Operation Murambatsvina left them homeless and jobless. The film is a reflection of the shattered dreams of many young people in Zimbabwe who are struggling to make their presence felt in a society where decision-making is done by the elite and powerful. Operation Murambatsvina took place in 2005 leaving many young people wallowing in poverty as their sources of income were destroyed resulting in many resorting to crime and prostitution for survival.

Agricultural Sector Gender Assessment: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Deadline: 26 October 2012

Background and Rationale
Gender issues in agriculture are prominent in today’s development agenda where in most cases, the distribution of private and public resources has ignored or disadvantaged female farmers, and redressing this imbalance will improve the welfare of the whole household. Women have always played an important role in agriculture, undertaking a wide range of activities relating to accessing inputs, production of various products, storage, preservation and processing, marketing and distribution. There is currently limited information on the extent of involvement of women in the agriculture sector, more so the challenges they face. Women remain largely excluded from the decision-making machinery within the public and private spheres. In cases where they participate, they are relegated to work that is not valued and they end up confined to the traditional caring role in the family.

In this regard, FAO wishes to contract a consultant or team of consultants to undertake a study to further interrogate the gender dynamics in relation to the agriculture sector.

Purpose and Objectives of the evaluation
The purpose of this study is to analyze gender issues in the agriculture sector.  and to develop recommendations to address these. Specifically the Consultant/s will consider the following:
-Articulate the gender issues faced by women participating in various forms of agriculture
-Develop a resource mobilization strategy for women’s economic empowerment in the agricultural sector
-Suggest recommendations addressing gender disparities in the sector
-Review the institutional set up of the agricultural sector with regards to gender and
-Review relevant policies to address gender in the agricultural sector.

Scope of the evaluation

The Consultant will:
1. Describe in general terms the agricultural system(s) of the main agro-ecological zones or areas in Zimbabwe
2. Determine the major agricultural activities of men and women, with reference to agriculture including but not limited to fisheries, field crops, livestock, farm forestry, processing, marketing, storage and income generating activities
3. Identify constraints and barriers faced by men and women in carrying their activities;
4. Ascertain the extent to which current technology and agricultural research responds to the needs of men and women
5. Assess how current agricultural extension services meet the needs of men and women farmers, including the focus of extension for women as farm managers or partners
6. Identify the nature and extent of training needed by men and women agricultural extension agents (or other rural agents) to improve their support for farmers, especially women farmers
7. Prepare a descriptive and analytical report on the main findings, suggesting appropriate options and recommendations and
8. Review the institutional framework for addressing gender in the agricultural sector.

Approach and Methodology of the evaluation

The consultant/s are expected to come up with detailed methodology of how to carry out the gender assessment.

Deliverables and Schedule of activities
At the end of the evaluation exercise the consultant is expected to:
a) Submit a descriptive and analytic report of findings with appropriate options and recommendations
b) Present preliminary and final conclusions to the government, FAO and the UN Gender Theme Group, ACWG and other fora deemed relevant

Structure of the proposal and Submission guidelines
Interested consultants are supposed to show expression of interest through submission of proposal to FAO by 26th October 2012. The proposal should stipulate how the consultant is going to achieve the objectives of the evaluation consultancy, taking into consideration the scope of work to be done. The proposal should also stipulate the approach and methods of data collection and data analysis. A detailed budget and Curriculum Vitae stipulating the experiences and technical competences of the consultant.

Final Budget of the Evaluation
The final budget and timeline for carrying out the assessment is going to be disclosed to the successful consultant.

Applications clearly marked “Agriculture Sector Gender Assessment “ should be submitted to:

The HIV and Nutrition Unit
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Block 1, Tendeseka Office Park
Cnr Henry Chapman / Samora Machel Avenue, Eastlea
P O Box 3730
Harare
Zimbabwe

Or send by email to: ZW-vacancy [at] fao [dot] org