By Prince Njagu
Mutoko women have hailed social media as an alternative platform of communication saying it will be a key driver towards women empowerment agenda.
Speaking on the sidelines of a social media training workshop organized by the Media Centre on Wednesday, Mutoko women said the training was an eye opener promising to fully utilize the existing social media platforms to share and exchange information on development issues.
A participant at the workshop, Irene Matsika hailed the training describing it as an eye opener.
“The workshop was an eye opener for us women in living in Mutoko, what I have learnt today will go a long way in empowering me through sharing information with other women who are also taking part in these training workshops in other provinces,” said Matsika.
Matilda Singende who is Mutoko Women Affairs chairperson acknowledged the importance of such training workshops saying they empower women within the rural communities of Zimbabwe emphasizing on the fact that the women who had attended the workshop should go and share with other women on what they had learnt.
“This training workshop does not only teach us how to use social media, but through this project we hope to interact and share more brilliant ideas with other women who are in the other nine provinces of Zimbabwe,” said another participant, Chipo Sambare.
Another participant Charity Makawa described the social media training as an edutainment program which will change the way Mutoko women share and exchange information.
“Through this training workshop I now know that as women we can engage in meaningful discussions on WhatsApp while we are in different locations, we can sent multiple text messages to our colleagues inviting them for meetings or other activities,” said Makawa.
Addressing participants at the training workshop, Media Centre Programs Officer, Charles Saki told the participants of the power of communication in today’s world.
“Communication is of great importance in empowering women and it is the first stage in the campaign to promote women rights,” Saki said.
He added that his organization in partnership with United Nations Development Fund (UNDEF) was conducting several training workshops across Zimbabwe as part of the gender social media women empowerment campaign.
“We are carrying out social media training workshops in ten areas across Zimbabwe and we as Media Centre together with our partners, UNDEF have been giving practical training sessions to women on how to use social media as an alternative means of communication,” said Saki.
