Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) in Zimbabwe calls out for equal opportunities in order to contribute on issues affecting them.
This came out during a three day Adolescent Girls and Young Women Africa Conference that is running from 23 – 25 November 2021, which have representatives drawn from 15 countries in Southern, West and East Africa. The conference is being held virtually and physically.
A LEMSTER Alumini under Tag A Life International, Anna Sande who presented a paper on behalf of AGYW Zimbabwe, said that young people are not being included in decision making processes due to their age.
“AGYW do not have a voice, largely due to ageism. When it comes to key decisions about their lives and the issues that affect them, young people are being denied equal opportunity to contribute. When they do, they are quickly dismissed due to their age and so continue on the peripheries of conversations around development and key priority areas,” noted Sande.
AGYW highlighted key challenges being faced by young women in Zimbabwe in sectors such as education, the economy which has left young people at the receiving end, leadership participation, sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender based violence.
AGYW implored the government to urgently address these challenges.
The conference is being convened by Tag A Life in partnership with International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Gobal Fund for Women, African Woman Development Fund (AWDF) and the Canadian Embassy in Zimbabwe. The agenda is to discuss issues that affect adolescent girls and young women in their respective communities and provide solutions to the problems.
