Author Archive

By: myadmin • June 17, 2021

The commemoration of the 16th of June every year as the day of the African child calls for much introspection and commitment towards addressing the gross challenges in ensuring education for all children especially in volitile African environments where there is limitations in the application of a child rights based approach in developmental efforts and policies are insufficient to bridge the disparities for the rural ,marginalized and minority groups.This day can only make sense if stakeholders are reminded of their mandate in ensuring equal access to education,health,shelter and food ,critically so during this Covid_19 era which has accelerated the vulnerability of children by a huge margin.

Access to education continues to be threatened especially for the girl child by a surge in child marriages and teenage pregnancy which has continued to sail up in Mashonaland central,the area in which most of ROOTS ‘ activities are concentrated. For the ages of 13- 15 attaining ordinary level education is a near miracle in Mashonaland central where the culture of going to school after primary school is quickly being eroded in preference to marriage and joining the illegal gold panning ,which school authorities have reported as being a major concern for the region as education levels for the populations are direly stunted. Child marriages have also contributed to a vicious cycle of poverty for these young girls and their offsprings.This year’s agenda should zero in the underlying factors which have for the past 30 years huddled the attainment of the Charter’s objectives and probably propose productive,practical and sustainable strategies for the 2040 agenda since no tangible milestones have since been achieved for the Africa that is wanted for an African Child.

By: myadmin • June 7, 2021

The month of May has been busy as usual for us as an organization. We acknowledge the wide gaps that still exist and need our attention in the communities we work in but our mandate stands and the vision is not wavered. We foresee a positive transformation of our society through the work the we are doing. We have successfully supported 21 girls to stay in school and not succumb to early marriage by paying up their school fees,buying stationery and uniforms. As an organization we also got to identify 5 adolescents and young people who we have supported with seed capital to start businesses and had the privilege to do sight visits and saw vibrant business ventures. The month of May also marked the Menstrual health day and as an organization to bridge period poverty we had a sanitary wear drive where women and girls would walk in any of our offices and get a free dignity pack on the day. Our community dialogues still continue physically and we also have online platforms where we deliberate on SRHR issues as girls in the Nhanga and boys in the Dare. ROOTS is appreciative of the overwhelming support from it’s partners, stakeholders and the cooperation of our primary actors.We are geared up for the month of June especially as it is when child marriages and teenage pregnancies escalate.

By: myadmin • June 5, 2021

“How To Make A Police Report For A Rape Or Sexual Gender Based Violence Offense? – HealthTimes” https://healthtimes.co.zw/2021/06/05/how-to-make-a-police-report-for-a-rape-or-sexual-gender-based-violence-offense/

By: myadmin • March 23, 2021

The point of defination to child marriage in Zimbabwe can be highly contested with difficulty in encapsulating into one universal meaning. In most cases child marriage is contextualised only when a girl gets pregnant. However child marriage is simply any act of sexual violation of a minor and starts at the instance of a sexual encounter with or without pregnancy. Sexual activity with minor that is perceived to have been consensual is also excluded as societies believe that the criminal offense is only in coerced sexual activity with a minor which is wrong taking into consideration that the Child Act limits people under the age of 16 to concent to sex. The way our society perceives sex versus marriage has to be immediately revised as sexual predetors of minors realise the marriage gate as an agreeable diversion to a grisly crime. Girls are considered a short term investment to be quickly married off for a sum of money to cushion families from poverty. Most of these girls go through gruesome abuse in their marriages and without an education resort to prostitution and other high risk lifestyles when they eventually leave those marriages. We need to end the scourge and in this Women’s month, communities should reflect on this and strategise around making zero tolerance to child marriage a reality.

By: myadmin • March 16, 2021

With the Covid 19 pandemic disproportionately affecting certain sectors of society, adolescents and young people(AYPs) have been grossly worn down, cutting them from attending schools and having contact with their peers, the chaos at universities and exams debacle combined with the impact of losses in livelihoods at household level together with the resultant mental trauma and a plethora of other  uncertainties lying ahead. It is undoubtedly true that academics have been severely rolled backwards because of the prolonged stay out of school, which also came with adverse repercussions such as teenage pregnancies, early marriages and reluctance to go back to school. Albeit the transition from classroom to online learning being implemented as a stop gap measure, for the AYPs from low income earning families this move was a huge blow that actually widened the poverty gap as now the digital divide became glaring. The pandemic is inflicting multiple shocks on AYPs which have the potential of derailing SDGs gains achieved over the years. Uncertainty over career prospects have also emerged as the job market is rapidly shrinking severely owing to the Covid 19 induced recession. There is a widespread anxiety with the youth about their future which seems to be bleak both in school and when out of school. This situation then spurs the need to comprehensively program for disaster times and have a multi sectorial approach that also touches on crucial facets of life such as education and also includes key populations such as the youths who in most cases are left out of developmental endeavors

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